OUTLANDER

The book “Outlander” is the first in an eight-book series written by Ms. Diana Gabaldon.  My wife and I luckily stumbled upon the NETFLIX series some time ago, trying desperately to keep occupied during the COVID-19 “lockdown”.  We also grew extremely weary with horrible news on just about every aspect of modern-day life in America including the pandemic.  We were hoping NETFLIX might provide some form of relief, if not comic relief.  We were not disappointed in the least.

My grandfather always told me to put my money on the jockey and not the race horse.  With this being the case, let’s look at the author of Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon.

DIANA GABALDON:

She was born on January 11 in 1952 in Arizona, where she grew up with her sister and parents.

She was the founding editor of Science Software Quarterly in 1984 while employed at the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University. During her time there, Diana wrote a number of software reviews and technical articles as well as popular-science articles and comic books for Walt Disney. Diana was also a professor with an expertise in scientific compilation at the same university for over a decade – a job she later left to write full-time.

Mrs. Gabaldon is married with three children, one being a son who is also a fantasy writer and is well known for writing Aeons’ Gate series.  The apple does not fall far from the tree.

She began writing Outlander in 1988 – without telling her husband – after seeing a rerun episode of Doctor Who which was titled The War Games.

One of the Doctor’s companions, a Scot from 1745, provided the initial inspiration for her main male character James Fraser and for the novel’s mid-18trh century Scotland setting.

But Diana Gabaldon has also revealed that her husband also served for inspiration for her leading man Jamie.

The author was introduced to literary agent Perry Knowlton after she posted an excerpt from the unfinished Outlander online. From there she went on to sign a deal for a trilogy – later to become a nine book long series.

The first book was published in 1991, and went on to sell more than twenty-eight (28) million copies and has been translated into thirty-nine (39) languages.

But did you know that the book was published under the name Cross Stitch in the UK? American publishers changed the name to Outlander in the US to make the novel sound more exciting.

When her second novel was finished, Diana Gabaldon quit her job at Arizona State University to become a full-time writer.  With the success she has had, who would blame her?

THE BOOK:

The heroine of the book is Mrs. Claire Randall and throughout the book she is forced to lead a double life.  She has a husband in one century and a husband living two hundred (200) years in the past.  The book is classified as science fiction for this reason.  There are other books written about time travel but this one, in my opinion, is one of the very best because the history of Scotland during that time period, the location of certain structures, the Highland landscape, certain kings and rulers, and the medical profession are very real and accurately portrayed.  I would frequently go online to look up events and places named in the book to see if they were fact or fiction. There was an ample sprinkling of both which made the book even more enjoyable.

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband for a second honeymoon.  Claire and Frank Randall were married only two (2) years before the outbreak of WWII.  Frank was an intelligence officer for England during the war and Claire was a nurse primarily stationed in what we would call a MASH unit in France.  After the war, they decided to take a second honeymoon.  While visiting the Scottish Highlands, she innocently touches a boulder in one ancient stone circle that populate the British Isles.  Suddenly, she is a Sassenach-an “outlander”- in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans.  This occurs in 1743.   She is hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand at all.  Her destiny is soon inextricably intertwined with the Clan MacKenzie.  The clan is located at Castle Leoch.  She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life.  This is where she meets James or Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior.  That’s about all it takes for the passion of their relationship to tear her between the fidelity of her husband in the 19^th century and the dashing warrior living in 1743. Frank Randall is a college professor and Jamie Fraser is a warrior. Two very differing personality types. Frank is reserved and greatly conservative and Jamie is “damn the torpedoes-full steam ahead”.

CONCLUSION:

This is a fascinating book BUT, it’s a long read. Six hundred and twenty-seven (627) pages, because of the detail Mrs. Gabaldon puts into each chapter and paragraph.  She uses details like Leonardo described and sketched the human body.  Very precise.  She takes her time.  I can certainly recommend “Outlander” and I can promise I will read all books in the series, if nothing else, to see how closely they compare with the NETFLIX presentation.  GREAT READ.

WILL WE BE READY NEXT TIME?

If you read any of the technical literature you find out quickly that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected EVERY facet of American and global life.   The graphic given below will give you an indication as to what we are facing.

As you can see, Johns Hopkins tracks, on a daily basis, the pandemic and its spread or disappearance from countries across the globe. As for the Unites States:

The “hot spots” across our country are given by the map below:

According to Michael Murphy of the Mass Design Group: “There has been a collapse in our healthcare system, the evidence for which is that healthcare workers are getting sick.  The medical infrastructure was insufficient to combat the disease.  So, we need to come out of this rethinking the roles of hospitals and how we manage surges.” 

And from Michael Compton, AIA, ACHA, EDAC, RS&H: “Until surge capacity and infection control protocols at every entrance to an essential facility are required, we will most likely not be prepared for the next COVID-type event.”

You can see that these two gentlemen are approaching preparedness relative to hospital and healthcare facilities.  Both indicate we were far from being prepared.  With that being the case, what do they recommend?  Let’s look.

• Understand the bio-containment risks unique to healthcare.
• Provide flexible patient care space.
• Prioritize engineering controls over protocols.
• Integrate facility design with operational protocols.
• Control contamination through separation.
• Eliminate airborne spread of infection against by virtue of anteroom filtration and directional airflows, and HEPA filtration of exhaust and vent openings.
• Choose surfaces and finishes for decontamination.
• Minimize the possibility of HVAC system failure.
• Define how to measure containment success.

I think the previous comments imply temporary healthcare structures also.  One final comment.  I do NOT think leadership at the state and federal level has been nor is adequate for the challenge.  We simply have not had the vision to imagine a pandemic such as COVID-19.  I’m going all the way back two and three decades.  Now that we know it can happen, what are we going to do about it?  What will the citizens of the United States demand as an adequate response to future pandemics?