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Personal Effects
Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living | Robert A. Jensen
5 posts | 4 read | 12 to read
The owner of the worlds leading disaster management company chronicles the unseen world behind the yellow tape, and explores what it means to be human after a lifetime of caring for the dead. You have seen Robert A. Jensenyou just never knew it. As the owner of the worlds largest disaster management company, he has spent most of his adult life responding to tragedy. From the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and the Bali bombings, to the 2004 South Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haitian Earthquake, and the Grenfell Tower Fire, Jensen has been at the practical level of international incidents, assisting with the recovery of bodies, identifying victims, and repatriating and returning their personal effects to the surviving family members. He is also, crucially, involved in the emotional recovery that comes after a disaster: helping guide the families, governments, and companies involved, telling them what to expect and managing the unmanageable. As he explains, If journalists write the first rough draft of history, I put the punctuation on the past. Personal Effects is an unsparing, up-close look at the difficult work Jensen does behind the yellow tape and the lessons he learned there. The chronicle of an almost impossible and grim job, Personal Effects also tells Jensens own storyhow he came to this line of work, how he manages the chaos that is his life, and the personal toll the repeated exposure to mass death brings, in becoming what GQ called the best at the worst job in the world. A rare glimpse into a world we all see but many know nothing about, Personal Effects is an inspiring and heartwarming story of survival and the importance of moving forward, Jensen allows his readers to see over his shoulder as he responds to disaster sites, uncovers the deceased, and cares for families to show how a strong will and desire to do good can become a path through the worst the world can throw at us.
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Librariana
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"Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living" was my favorite March read.

As the owner of a disaster management company, Jensen doesn't shy away from talking plainly about recovery work after mass casualty events, from the Oklahoma City bombing to the Grenfell Tower Fire.

Not necessarily a book for everyone but one I found fascinating.

#12booksof2022 @Andrew65

Andrew65 It does sound fascinating. 1y
tpixie Sounds incredible. And I need to keep purging!! 1y
21 likes2 comments
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Librariana
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#weeklyforecast @Cinfhen

Audio
• Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living - by Robert A. Jensen
• La Maestría del Amor (The Mastery of Love) - by Don Miguel Ruiz

Print/Visual
• American Decay: Inside America's Forgotten Homes - by Bryan Sansivero
• Call Us What We Carry: Poems - by Amanda Gorman
• Gender Queer: a memoir - by Maia Kobabe
• The History of Love - by Nicole Krauss

Cinfhen Hi Ana!!!! So glad to see your update 🥰Hope all is well ❤️ 2y
Librariana @Cinfhen - Cindy!! 😊😊😊 My sincere apologies for not replying sooner! Thank you so much for your sweet, thoughtful post 🥰💜 I've been trying hard to get back into a better reading rhythm. I feel like after my little car accident back in October, I fell into a slump and got very preoccupied with car repairs and life in general. Things are certainly better and I hope they're lovely for you as well! 2y
Cinfhen Oh no! I had no idea you were involved in a car accident 😢I‘m glad you‘re well - reading slumps are understandable…just take care 😘😘 2y
Librariana @Cinfhen - Oh, no worries, Cindy... I know I'm not a very active member of the Litsy community, so I can understand my post about it was quite a while back, but I do hope to improve on my participation here with time. Accident was in October, car didn't go into the shop till November, and I got it back sometime in late January? I was the 2nd car hit as a result of another accident, but I wasn't at fault and am A-OK! 😊 Thank you for your concern! 2y
Cinfhen My daughter got married back in October, so I was not very active on Litsy myself during that time. But still. I‘m sorry. I‘m really glad you‘re ok, both physically & emotionally. 2y
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fredthemoose
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Head of a disaster response company who has responded to plane crashes, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks reflects on the practical aspects of that response, including recovering bodies, managing relationships with survivors, and coordinating with multiple stakeholders with overlapping or competing goals and jurisdictions. A lot of interesting anecdotes and experiences.

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Reviewsbylola
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Just some light beach reading (of course I happened to be reading all about plane crashes on our flight down. 🤦🏼‍♀️)

At least my scenery is uplifting. 🏖

BarbaraBB You can say so 😍 2y
LeahBergen A beach! Lucky you! 👏🏻👏🏻 2y
69 likes2 comments
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sebrittainclark
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3.5/5

Jensen writes about his experience in his career dealing with the aftermath of mass casualty events, generally retrieving the bodies of the deceased or helping to identify bodies to return them to their families. I think the concept I found most interesting in the book, was Jensen's point that we tend to be prepared for the last disaster and not for the disaster that is on the horizon. It felt like a really important idea in this time.

51 likes3 stack adds