glimmerIQs: A Florilegium

by Jack Kevorkian

This book was written by Dr. Jack Kevorkian while he was in prison. It is a memoir. It is an eclectic collection of songs, poems, essays, very striking and beautiful paintings, and much more. Dr. Kevorkian is an artist of the highest caliber. He has a one-of-a-kind worldview. glimmerIQs is one of the most entertaining books the reader will find.

279 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian was an American pathologist, right-to-die activist, painter, composer, and instrumentalist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he said that he assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He famously said that "dying is not a crime".

Beginning in 1999, Kevorkian served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. He was released on parole on June 1, 2007, on condition that he would not offer suicide advice to any other person.

As an oil painter and a jazz musician, Kevorkian marketed limited quantities of his visual and musical artwork to the public.

Reviews

[VoraciousReader]

"glimmerIQs" is a fun read and a fascinating look into the versatile and eccentric mind of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. The book includes copies of his artwork, limericks, medical papers, sheet music, and even revised copies of "Slimmeriks and the Demi-Diet" and "Beyond Any Kind of God." Dr. Kevorkian's other books sometimes involve mental and psychological gymnastics, but "glimmerIQs" is a lot of fun and helps the reader better understand that this man was a lot more than his Dr. Death stereotype.

The only drawback is that, unlike the first version published in 2004 by Kevorkian's own Penumbra, Inc., is that it does not include the "Lost Art" section. Also, if you buy this, make sure to buy it directly from the publisher (World Audience) and get the COLOR EDITION-- previous editions from this hole-in-the-wall publisher are printed at no more than 72 dpi and look like they were made by a high school student.

[Scotty]

In this anthology of Dr. Jack Kevorkian's very own works, the good doctor's ideas are put forth in their most raw, unadulterated format. This can be both a good and a bad thing. Some of the ideas put forth here can be especially hard to follow if you have not read synopses from biographers or researchers. If you have researched those, though, you'll find some new nuance otherwise skipped over. Again, this can be for the better of the worse.

Topics in this book cover the impressive gamut of Kevorkian's passions, from limericks (lots of good ones) to medical research papers, from sheet music to philosophical musings, from the man's paintings and extracts to a brief autobiography. I found most of my enjoyment from the limericks sprinkled, sometimes quite liberally, throughout, as well as the paintings and extracts. The medical writings are what I've read most of before, so there was precious little new to me there. The sheet music, while interesting to see, obviously does not have the same impact as it does when listening. As for the raw philosophy in the last quarter or so, I had a hard time getting through it. The content wasn't bad, mostly focusing on ideas and consequences of monistic solipsism (or as some may call "baby's first philosophy"). However, Kevorkian had a bit of a habit of re-hashing his ideas over... and over... and over. Long story short, I wish the philosophy essay had been a long essay short.

Criticisms and witticisms aside, let Kevorkian's last limerick in the book help you decide if you'll read or skip on this slice of the man's life.

For some this book's ending may be
Sad yearning, for others pure glee;
So your boos or hurrahs
Won't affect me because
It's my liberating soliloquy.

[Will White]

This guy thinks he’s smarter than everyone and super suave, but he’s really just kind of horse-shoe-theoried himself into being close minded, arrogant, and lame.