Sunday, June 8, 2025
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Pain and Chronic Pain--New!
New!
I think you might like this book – "Healing the Brain, Second Edition: Pain and Chronic Pain" by David Balog.
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Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Steve Balog, 1955-2025
Steve Balog (Stephen John Balog), 69 of Berkeley, Calif., passed from this world unexpectedly on March 16, 2025. Cause of death was complications from an undetectable form of liver cancer that spread rapidly through his body. Steve passed in hospice care and was surrounded during his final illness by his brother David of New York and dear friends Jayne Sorensen of Oregon and Kym Olson of Arizona.
Steve had a myriad of passions which he pursued. He loved music, particularly jazz, old movies (and new), making friends, sports, cooking and so much more.
But as a gay man, the movies and the music Steve loved were not written for him. The romances were all heterosexual until recent. There were no role models for gay relationships, at least none that were readily discernable. Bullied as a youth, Steve too often found silence and isolation to be a safer choice than engagement. He would withdraw his ready smile and witty personality, "scanning the room," in LGBTQ parlance. Steve lent his support to help his community, delivering meals to AIDS patients and attending churches supportive of the gay community. He recently participated in a gay men's support group for senior gays in Berkeley.
Steve found a niche for himself as a respected accountant in the nonprofit world of the San Francisco Bay area. He took leadership positions at the Jewish Community Center and at the Contemporary Jewish Museum over the past 25 years. He helped every organization he worked for not only with his attention to detail and software skills but with his special interpersonal abilities.
Uniquely, of his many interests, Steve loved Basset Hounds and baseball, as long as the players and owners weren't too greedy. He was a great supporter of progressive causes extending from the Human Rights Committee to the Audibon Society, to Mother Jones, The Nation magazine and the National Wildlife Federation.
Steve was born in Yonkers, NY on August 6, 1955 to Marion and Andrew Balog. He was a graduate of Fordham Preparatory School and Johns Hopkins University.
Steve was cremated and a memorial service is planned for this summer. His brother David is planning a service this summer in upstate New York that will be streamed live. For more information, write to dbalog99@gmail.com.
Thank you.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Heroes of Democracy: Dr. Martin Luther King
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...
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29-minute read...$.99
Also covered....
Harriet Tubman, American Moses
Jackie Robinson, Broke Baseball's Racial Barrier
Ida B. Wells, Documented Lynching,
Pioneered Social Services for Blacks
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29-minute read...$.99
Monday, July 17, 2023
The Twenty Worst Americans: What History Can Teach Us
"Thoughtful and Thought-provoking"
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2023PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
At first glance, David Balog’s The Twenty Worst Americans may seem to be a simple laundry list of villainy. But this is no tirade of personal grievances; nor is it a whining screed against those who think differently than the author.
Instead, Balog has called upon his background in history writing to present the citizens whose behavior he sees as particularly heinous (Harvey Weinstein, Paul Castellano), ignorant (Phyllis Schlafly, Eddie Cicotte, Betsy DeVos), vicious (Dan White, Rupert Murdoch) or simple grifters (Henry Ford, Charles Coughlin, James A. Baker and Donald Trump). There are twenty short essays in all. Each is easy to read, pleasantly brief, but never glib or lightweight. Balog has something to say and he says it plainly.
Balog calls upon an encyclopedic knowledge of history to make his points, which he does not hide behind manipulative propaganda. No, we know where the author stands and he is transparent in his views. What surprises us is his gentle tact while discussing subjects that could infuriate readers if presented by a lesser writer.
"All of which makes some of his choices that much more challenging. Balog has personal knowledge of William Safire. As a fellow history writer, I have certainly read many of Safire’s books. Some are quite good. But his affairs—business and personal—seem to veer far from his written work. It is eye opening, and this begs the question that many of us must face sooner or later: at what point do we toss out the better work of creation because its creator was repulsive? We enjoy the distance of centuries between us and, say, a Caravaggio or Michelangelo. Those who are closer to our time strike us where we live.
There is much to take exception to, of course.
In just one example, I have published enough about the Roosevelts to have different views on FDR than Balog. This is as it should be. The moment we accept every word of any individual as inviolable, we start on the dangerous path that Balog decries in this book. Heated discussions are part of what make this kind of text interesting.
Balog occasionally digresses into information that is only tangentially related. This is when the author is at his best.
In my favorite example, in the chapter on Bill Maher, Balog provides eight fascinating pages on the physical and neurological aspects of gender, well supported by medical experts. As with his section on FDR, Balog demonstrates a rare talent for engendering discussion without badgering or patronizing.
I agree here, I disagree there; but by the time I was done, I had learned something and want to learn more. I can think of no higher compliment.
--David Bannon, author, historian
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