However, just like every other person on Earth, his life began just like every other one: in total ignorance. After many years of teaching, experimenting and learning, he has decided it was time to write his autobiography telling the whole story from his earliest chaotic days, and he titled it The Wonderful World of Bernies.
Bernard M. Patten's Unusual Path
Though they are relatively few when compared to the rest of us, notably great people have come and gone throughout history in greater numbers than we'll probably ever fathom.
After all, not every sort of greatness will lead to public and historical recognition, and many of the people standing behind humanity's greatest feats and discoveries will largely remain mysteries, at least for the majority of us.
Thinking about these great people which we did and didn't know, we can't help but ask ourselves how exactly do they come to be?
Are they born with irrevocable talents?
Do they simply happen to be at the right place at the right time?
Where do their drives and ideas come from?
Where they always destined for greatness?
How do their lives differ from a regular person?
The questions requiring answers are many, and surprisingly enough we get quite a few of them in Bernard M. Patten's The Wonderful World of Bernies.
Now, I'm certain most of you aren't exactly familiar with the author, and I'm only assuming it because I had never heard of his name before picking up the book.
As it happens, Doctor Patten is one of the world's leading experts on Myasthenia Gravis, one of the physicians who discovered the modern treatment for Parkinson's disease, as well as a highly renowned professor currently offering courses on neuroscience, memory and logic at Rice University.
He's the sort of person whose greatness very much passed under the radar for most people, his accomplishments perhaps eclipsing his own name.
Nevertheless, he played (and still does) a very important role in the modern development of medicine, and his peers in the field will doubtlessly recognize him for decades, if not centuries to come. Having accumulated a lifetime of experience, Patten felt it was time to pen his autobiography, ultimately being split into two parts.
This first one details his very early life, delving profoundly into his extensive family and tracing his rather eventful life from his days as a baby to a young adult beginning his foray into medicine, an infinite realm of unexplored possibilities.
It's All About Family
Perhaps slightly unusual for an autobiography, much of the focus is actually placed on Patten's family, contrasting his father's Irish side with his mother's Italian.
He takes us on a rather exclusive tour of the various members of his family, how they were, their occupations, the acts and thoughts he remembered them for, and how they eventually met their ends.
While he never really lingers too much on anyone, his sharp and humorous style helps us to form quick bonds with the various members of his family as we see them depicted in a comical light more often than not.
Even when it becomes a question of death Patten has this very unusual quality of making it feel as normal as anything else, a concept with its rightful place in our existence.
Additionally, I believe the fact he chose to focus so much on his family is a character statement about the author and what he truly values in this life.
From a purely anthropological standpoint, it's quite fascinating to see how his early life was coloured by two rather different cultures which people kept trying to impose on him.
The contrasts between the Irish and Italian ways of doing things are more often than not drawn with playful intentions, and ultimately the author does recognize the invaluable benefits of being so profoundly immersed in two cultures at once.
This idea of the Irish and Italian sides competing is something which remains alive throughout the whole book, making droll appearances here and there... an aspect of Patten's life likely to follow him until the end.
An Unusual Banality
As Patten takes us further into his life the focus shifts from his family members to himself, which only makes sense as it would have been rather boring to focus on a baby.
He discusses in great detail his academic inclinations, the pressure his families put on his shoulders to become a politician, and the fateful glaucoma which ran in the family and ultimately pushed him down the path of a doctor. This is more or less where I expected his life to take a turn for the less banal, where his road to greatness would begin.
However, what I got instead was a very welcome surprise, in the sense that there weren't really any tremendous events one could point to and claim they defined and shaped him into a who's who of today's world.
On the contrary, he delves into the countless little details which influenced him along the way, the accumulation of countless and often regular experiences which ended up shaping him.
Patten's entire writing style really helped to drive the point home that inherently, there wasn't really anything all that special about him as a person. His learning experiences came largely from outside sources and his childhood was spent being groomed for politics rather than medicine.
He talks about the various failures and successes which educated him with equal lightheartedness, commending them for taking him on a path from numb-nut to actual savant.
I really enjoyed his down-to-Earth perception of his own life and the people in it, how he accepted the good and the bad alike while always remaining his humble and comical self, never lost to money or fame.
The Final Verdict
While The Wonderful World of Bernies by Bernard M. Patten isn't exactly a book for readers seeking action and excitement, I feel it's a hilarious, heartwarming and poignant first part of a very interesting biography.
Even if you have little stock in the world of medicine and never heard his name, his rather unique way of perceiving life remains quite enjoyable and is likely to push you towards your own reflections.
If you're the sort of person who enjoys biographies or wants to learn about one of the more important figures in modern medicine, then I highly recommend you give this book a read.
 | Bernard Michael PattenBernard Patten is an American author, former Vice Chair of the department of Neurology as well as the Chief of Nerve and Muscle diseases at the Baylor College of Medicine.Most notably responsible for helping discover L-Dopa, the current treatment for Parkinson Disease, as well as being one of the, if not the premier leading expert on Myasthenia Gravis. He has published quite a few books over the years on varying subjects, including The Logic of Alice, Truth, Knowledge or Just Plain Bull and Colossal Wrecks |
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