5 comments about William Osler: A Life in Medicine.

1. I purchased 5 of these books as a "Thank you" to 5 excellent physicians who supported me as an oncology nurse practitioner. Since I was retiring, I wanted to say "Thank you" and each physician was thrilled to receive a copy.



2. This is one of the most absorbing and readable biographies of Sir William Osler. Michael Bliss' book is considerably shorter and easier to read than the monumental Pulitzer Prize winning book by Harvey Cushing, Life of Sir William Osler.
   As a retired general practitioner, Sir Willam's life and example is particularly close to what I have been practicing for the past forty years. When one reads this account one can begin to fathom this great man's ability, perception of human suffering, natural curiosity and dedication to the patient's welfare. This book reveals to us some of his other unique abilities and qualities namely his bibliophilia,vast reading, writing close to 170 papers, teaching scores of students, and having the honor of holding responsible and prestigious positions in the fields of medicine and the humanities. In addition to all these were his literally developing Johns Hopkins Hospital and University into the best in the world in his time and marshalled the achievements of hospitals in Philadelphia, Montreal and Toronto. As Regius Professor at Oxford from 1915 to 1919 he was a towering giant . He therefore stands in my eyes as the greatest doctor of the 19th.,20th. and perhaps the 21st. centuries. Not Sydenham, not Hunter, not even Lister could do all that Osler managed to do and do so with so much energy, dedication and humility.
   We doctors who were not with him on hospital rounds, clinical demonstrations,lectures, lunches, teas and dinners and amazing conversations with him are very envious of those who were blessed with these opportunities.
   He set a living example to his protege the way a doctor should live and work to earn that mark of nobility that the profession has had for centuries. He was the healer of all healers and inspired many to literally follow his foot steps. To mention two such would be too few but the likes of Harvey Cushing and Wilder Penfield come to mind and they both became superb neurosurgeons even though their hero, Osler , was an internist. I was astounded to read the great numbers of international luminaries who were treated by him. He ministered to doctors and their families, medical students and staff and was thus a doctor's doctor both as a teacher and physician.
   His love of little children, the youth, the aged and his own extended family was exemplary to say the least.
   How sad that such a doctor left the world at a mere 70 years of age. Three great nations, Canada, the U.S. and Britain all claim him as their own son. That honor and adulation no one and no doctor has the distinction of achieving. He served all of them so well.
   We all stand in awe of this stalwart of modern medicine and Michael Bliss has opened our eyes to this individual so well.



3. Despite almost a century since his death, William Osler persists as the `the grand old man of medicine', a life devoted to doctoring and doctors, who has supplied inspiration for many generations of physicians in the United States, Canada, Britain and the Continent.
   
   Osler's life was a remarkable achievement as a medical teacher, (important in America in giving medical students real medical experience, as clinical clerks in hospitals) physician, prolific author, councillor, researcher and mentor to literarily thousands of men and women embarking on the profession in the medicos. It was the philosopher and great teacher, William James, who commented to Osler, marvelling and his energy and interests. Osler replied, that he was terribly conscious of time that it was a commodity he wished he could buy more of, as there was so much he could do with it. (p. 502) Osler's zest for work and unbounding passion for medicine set the standard for medical women and men in the twentieth century.
   
   After reading Michael Bliss's brilliant biography of the pioneering neurosurgeon, Harvey Cushing, another remarkable medical man, and Osler's first biographer, it seemed only natural to read about Cushing's mentor. Both biographies are first rate and it really would be a disservice to compare them, because both works are thorough, educational, inspiring and definitive contributions to the greats of medical history.
   
   Osler is the author of the currently classic text, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, which became the core textbook for students and practicing physicians during his life. It became a yearly task for the doctor to revise later editions, (sixteen in all) and in present time, for modern doctors, according to Bliss, has now become patient-centred and a historical document of the state of 19th century medicine.
   
   Osler is famous for his bedside manner, the notion of empowering patients and autonomy in clinical practice. The man's faith in medicine and the legendary "aura" of healing that surrounded him, causing patients to regain the faith in their own healing ability, has caused a renewed interest in humanities joining forces with science, a proper balance, ensuring an optimal treatment and outcome for the patient.
   
   How did the man accomplish so much in one lifetime? Similar to the 18th century philosopher, Immanuel Kant, people close to him could adjust their clocks to the second by the philosopher's movements. Osler was the same: his day was usually planned down to the minute, rising at seven and retiring by ten-thirty everyday.
   
   He was also a man born with writing disease, never a day would go by without putting pen to paper, as his articles, correspondence, speeches and books certainly reveal. A consummate bibliophile, his collection of medical texts and related subjects, at the end of his life reached eight thousand, taking many years to catalogue, ending up being donated, as was his wish, to McGill University.
   
   An excellent biography of an extraordinary man of medicine.



4. William Osler remains an iconic figure in American medicine. Osler is taken often to epitomize the physician who brings a crticial and scholarly approach to the bedside in conjunction with compassion and empathy. In this very well written biography, Bliss traces Osler's life, his achievements, and examines how he assumed iconic status and whether or not this status is deserved. Bliss is particularly well equipped to undertake this task. A well known specialist on Canadian history, he has written other fine books on medical history in a Canadian context.
   Bliss presents Osler as a product of the rising British Victorian middle classes. The remarkable son of impressive parents, Osler was the son of an English naval officer turned Anglican minister and his equally intelligent wife. Raised in rural Ontario when this part of Canada was still a frontier, Osler's parents inculcated respect for learning, dedication to hard work, and clearly taught the value of community service. William Osler was not an outlier in this family. One of his brothers became a prominent businessman and two other brothers became important figures in Canadian law and politics. An early interest in natural history (biology) lead Osler to medicine. Trained in then provinicial Toronto and Montreal, he finished his education in some of the great teaching hospitals of Europe. Spotted by his mentors in Montreal as a future star, he was brought back to McGill to teach at the modest medical school. At McGill, Osler launched the career of careful clinical observation, pathologic correlation, and teaching that would propel him to the apex of his profession. His growing reputation led to appointments at the University of Pennsylvania and then to the nascent Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. At Hopkins, he became the first Professor of Clinical Medicine and introduced the teaching methods that revolutionized medical education in the USA. Relatively little of what Osler did was truly novel. Clinico-pathologic correlation has been standard method for expanding medical knowledge for decades and the clerkship method of teaching had been used in Britain and continental Europe for some time. Osler carried these methods to new heights. In his clinical practice, in his teaching, and in his great textbooks, Osler summarized and codified almost all of 19th century medicine. He was not a notable scientist, though his description and characterization of several important clinical conditions was very valuable, but he brought the best science of his time to the bedside and set clinical medicine on the course of drawing from systematic scientific work. In terms of his personal accomplishments and the example he set for his numerous trainees, his impact on 20th century medicine was immense.
   Osler's reputation as a fine physician was deserved. Bliss shows him to be an warm and compassionate individual who was regarded often with great affection by his patients. Blessed with a generous and kindly personality, he enjoyed a wide circle of friends and a happy family life. In important respects, Osler exemplifies some of the most important and most admirable features of the Victorian period. His sense of virtue and service was very strong but he was not a prig and had relatively liberal values. Traveling in Germany towards the end of the 19th century, he noted and deplored rising anti-Semitism. He appears to have been devoid of overt anti-Semitic feelings and had a number of Jewish trainess, all of whom he appears to have treated with his usual combination of high expectations and civil behavior. Alone among the faculty at Hopkins, he supported the admission of women, though he did not really believe in female equality. Bliss spent years immersed in Osler's extensive writings and tremendously extensive correspondence, clearly likes and admires Osler, and his regard for Osler is reflected in the tone of this biography.

   Osler was also that quintessential Canadian, the provincial boy who achieves fame on the wider stage of the USA or Britain. At the peak of his fame, he was the best known physician in the English speaking world and something of a minor celebrity.
   Like all fine biographies, this book is about more than its central subject. It is valuable on the development of Canadian society, the growth of universities in the USA and Canada, the history of medicine, and the devastating impact of WWI.
   This will be the standard biography of Osler and it is worthy of its subject.




5. This is, quite honestly, a hefty tome, but no less may be expected when writing about the greatest American physician who ever lived. Bliss presents us with a detailed, well-paced, and engaging biography of Dr. Osler, from his childhood days in Canada to his final years at Oxford. Being both a student of medicine and a Baltimorean (currently), I took a special interest to the chapters devoted to his post as the first chief of medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

   Unlike the time-honored work by Cushing, Bliss's book is no hagiography; it makes no false overtures about Dr. Osler's iconic grandeur, instead letting the reader discover for himself (or herself) that Dr. Osler was, in fact, as great a man as people say he was. (All that being said, I still value the two-volume Cushing biography, and there is no way I will rid myself of the precious first-edition set I snatched up last year at the Maryland Historical Society bookshop!)

   One need not practice Oslerolatry (that is, the veritable worship of Dr. Osler expressed by many of the older faculty at Hopkins and elsewhere) to appreciate this book, though having an interest in medicine and/or medical history may help. Critics often lament that American doctors no longer have any professional integrity, and that taking the Hippocratic Oath is a sham. Read this book, and discover how great the American physician can be...and THEN lament that they don't make them like they used to.

5 comments about Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery.

1. The book is a good read, particularly to those interested in medicine and more particularly, medical history. The book is well written, informative and holds ones attention amazingly well. Although I have never read Michael Bliss (author) before, I will certainly be looking out for him in the future. I very much recommend reading the book.



2. Harvey Cushing's life and achievements deserved the very best of a literary recounting and this is it. Previous biographies (including Fulton's "classic") of Cushing, the Father of Neurosurgery, were uniformly dull or disappointing. Michael Bliss has now written the very best Cushing biography and has undoubtedly set the standard for years to come. It is extremely readable despite being detailed in both the technical aspects of neurosurgery and also Cushing's private life. Cushing himself won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of William Osler and this work is at least as good.



3. It is a strange mystery why a man of such accomplishments and medical innovation in the history of neurosurgery, the American pioneer in fact, is not more well known in popular culture. Dr. Harvey Cushing has to be one of the most fascinating, complex and astounding medical personalities in the last century. He became the first of American medical men to be an international leader in this special field. Harvey was part of a long line of medical men, his great grandfather, grandfather and father were all competent physicians. A Yale graduate, later attending Harvard Medical and working at John Hopkins, he paved the way, as he called "The Northwest Passage", in the area of brain tumour surgery, his OR innovations, insistence on sterile working conditions, the use of clips to prevent excessive bleeding and the diagnosis of brain tumours, were all devised and applied by him, having operated on over 2000 patients with brain tumour related illnesses during his long career. This man takes the term "workaholic" and takes it to an entirely new level. A tireless researcher, recorder, bibliophile, surgeon and prolific writer, his drive and obsession for work and life, set the precedent for future surgeons. A truly remarkable individual.
   
   Michael Bliss, however, is a competent biographer, revealing Cushing's genius as well as his many faults. Cushing was an irascible perfectionist with zero tolerance for any incompetence in the OR. His arrogance and caustic tongue became the stuff of legend; interestingly, as Bliss implies, his personality has become almost a stereotype for the brilliant surgeon, egotistic, sarcastic with no patience for mistakes while in surgery. He was a difficult man to work with and for, however, his care for his patients took priority over all other actions. Ambitious and single-minded with an insatiable appetite for knowledge, Cushing pioneered brain surgery, writing volumes of medical articles and essays, countless lectures, and even a Pulitzer Prize winning two-volume biography on his mentor and world renowned physician, William Osler.
   
   There are numerous anecdotes in this fine biography, but the one that really stands out is Cushing's first experience with a patient who dies in front of his eyes. A young student at Harvard, he managed to get invited to assist with `etherizing' patients for surgery. Weeks pass and everything is moving along fine until one evening he administers the ether to a young woman under-going an operation for a strangulated hernia, whose chances for survival are next to nil. The patient dies before the operation commences minutes after Cushing etherizes her. This of course devastated the young medical student, who walked the streets of Boston deciding to quit the profession. When he returned and told his teacher of his intent, he berated the boy, calling him "a damned fool" and to buck-up, for they had work to do. He continued on, of course, but remembered this incident over thirty years later.
   
   As any good critical biography should be, it is written with erudition, (explaining medical terms and procedures for the laymen) as well as presenting as a riveting narrative- this is an entertaining and inspiring work of an astonishing individual in American medical history.



4. I must second the other positive review of the book. I had previously read his biography of Osler, when it came out a number of years ago, and found it to the most well-rounded portrait of Osler that I have read. His biography of Cushing is equally is good. Bliss writes well and easily. I think his estimate of Cushing is a fair one. He gives all sides: the driven surgical pioneer and mentor who really established neurosurgery as a legitimate field, but also the workaholic who neglected his family and could be cruel and abusive to co-workers.(Great to be his patient but not one of his children) I found the contrasts between Cushing and Osler that Bliss draws out particularly interesting, and I would recommend that the Osler biography be read in conjunction with this one. Also, I also appreciated that Bliss presents the evidence and allows the reader to make his or her own judgements about Cushing, particularly in regards to his racial prejudice. Bliss limits the amount of medical terms, so I think the book could be read by and appeal to someone with little knowledge of medicine. Overall, highly recommended.



5. Another excellent book from the Canadian historian Michael Bliss. This biography is a companion volume to Bliss's outstanding biography of the great William Osler. Together, these biographies tell the story not only of their subjects but also of the rise of North American medicine from provincial status to equality, and in some respects superiority, with the great clinical centers of Europe. Harvey Cushing was the first great pioneering surgeon produced by the USA or Canada. As much as a single person can be said to generate a field, Cushing was the progenitor of neurosurgery. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cushing was the product of a line of respected physicians of New England extraction. From his parents, he inherited a Puritan sense of mission, rectitude, and a remarkable dedication to work. Educated at Harvard Medical School, he sought post-graduate training at the epicenter of the revolution in American medical education that was Johns Hopkins University Hospital. At Hopkins he became a protege of Osler and started his surgical career under the direction of the outstanding and rather erratic William Halstead. Ambitious and remarkably diligent, Cushing set out to make his mark by pioneering an area of surgery avoided by other pioneering surgeons - brain surgery. A remarkably facile technical surgeon, Cushing was obsessed with improving all aspects of surgical care, including use of careful clinical diagnostic methods, improvement of anesthetic management, and post-operative care. Despite formidable obstacles, Cushing succeeded in creating a new discipline. His methods were adopted widely and his trainees became the founding neurosurgeons in many regions. Bliss gives a vivid impression of surgical practice in this period and of Cushing's innovations. To read these sections is to appreciate the remarkable progress made in the last century. At the end of his career, Cushing was pleased to attain 10% operative mortality for operations on intracranial tumors, a figure that seems horrifying today. Bliss is careful to note Cushing's considerable defects. He was a stringent, sometimes abusive preceptor. His ambition was manifested not only by his drive to do the utmost to improve clinical care but also by considerable arrogance. He inspired great loyalty but seems to have been respected rather than loved by many. He was a difficult husband and an absentee father. But while his relations with colleagues and trainees could be stormy, in his treatment of patients he appears to have behaved with compassion and tact. Bliss does a good job of putting Cushing's achievements in the context of broader developments. While Cushing became the most famous American surgeon with a substantial international reputation, other American surgeons, like Halstead, George Crile and the Mayo brothers, were producing substantial improvements in surgical practice.
   Its impossible to avoid comparing this book with the Osler book. In terms of scholarship and quality of writing, this book is on par with the Osler biography. Still, this is not quite as enjoyable a read, largely for 2 reasons. The Osler biography is also the story of the institutional maturation of American/Canadian medicine, a remarkable story. Cushing's development of a new surgical discipline is not qute as impressive as the institutional transformation accomplished by Osler's generation. As the subject of a biography, Cushing is also not as attractive a personality as Osler. Bliss depicts Cushing as a remarkable man and Bliss clearly respects and admires Cushing. Osler, on the other hand, inspires not only respect and admiration, but also affection. Regardless, this Cushing biography is first-rate and combined with the Osler book, gives a peerless impression of American/Canadian medicine in its first flush of maturity.

5 comments about I Remember Running: The Year I Got Everything I Ever Wanted - and ALS.

1. I was hoping that this book would be an uplifting account of hope to encourage my husband who was recently diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. It was NOT. Would not recommend it.



2. This is a book I find myselfing re-reading a couple times a year (and I don't tend to re-read books). Inspiring, truthful, I feel I could really relate and understand the author. Love this book! Truly beautiful. She left a precious gift to her readers. Highly recommend. Please read other reviews to learn about the content of this book.



3. This book is very easy & quick to read - good for those who don't like to spend a lot of time reading one book.
   
   As I was reading this book, I could easily relate to Darcy's frustration. A few years ago, I had a neurological problem where my muscles were slowly becoming weak, and I could hardly walk or move. It was extremely exhausting just getting out of bed. Thankfully, my problem was resolved, but I remember at the time watching other people go about their normal business, like walking etc, and thinking "They are walking so easily, like they don't have to think about it", yet I had to think about everything I did, just like Darcy.
   
   I felt genuine empathy for Darcy, and I am so happy that she lived her last year with so much happiness, despite her terminal illness.
   
   This book reminds me of another I have read recently by Kim Dalton "The Real Fight". Recommended reading.



4. Years ago I took an essay writing class with Darcy Wakefield. She was an aspiring writer and a pleasant person. I'm sorry that her first success at publishing came under such tragic circumstances. Reading her memoir, I wish I had known her better. She is smart, funny, and real. I'm glad she found personal happiness, motherhood, and spirituality before she died.



5. I went to a reading by Darcy shortly before her death. Her sister read short passages, as Darcy with ALS by that time could not do so. Darcy, herself, answered audience questions. She was alight with life and her book, with its candor and humor is a beacon of hope and a challenge for us all!

5 comments about All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs.

1. Elie Wiesel may be best known as the author of "Night", his harrowing and sparse account of his time spent in the concentration camps. His literary works have focused around the events that shaped Holocaust survivors and the questions those survivors had about their faith afterwards. His life's work is heavily imbued by those events early in his life, his novels vast testaments to making sure the world never forgets the atrocities man inflicted upon man.
   
   Yet there are many sides to this amazing man, which can often be forgotten when one dwells solely on his literary works. The first volume of Wiesel's memoirs, "All Rivers Run to the Sea", is a brilliant introduction and elucidation of the author. He relates quickly his early childhood and his time in the camps, but moves onto and focuses on his path after those events. As he forges a career as a journalist, meeting statesmen and celebrities, he finds himself and what causes he is willing to fight for. As a stateless person, his life is often difficult as he arouses suspicion, and he struggles constantly to make ends meet. Reading about his personal adventures, the reader sees how he is passionate, full of empathy, timid and captivating, a brilliant man with many stories to tell.
   
   For anyone who has read Wiesel's writings, the style of "All Rivers Run to the Sea" will be just as familiar: while it is divided into sections, his reminiscenses are as tangential as his fictional stories. Learning about his real-life adventures, readers can easily see how Wiesel has woven his experiences into all of his fictional works. The praises and accolades he has received are more than well deserved, for as long as he writes, his people will have a testimony to their past and to their faith.



2. This spectacular memoir of Elie Wiesel, the great author and voice of conscience, begins with his boyhood in the small Transylvanian village of Sighet.
   
   A pious child, with a great thirst for Jewish knowledge, a student of Torah and Talmud, and fascinated with the Kabbalah. Elie is swept into the Nazi ghetto and then death cams where he loses his parents and his beautiful little blond sister Tzipora, all of whom perished in the Nazi furnaces.
   
   He writes in memory of his losses:
   
   "If only I could recapture my father's wisdom, my little sister's innocent grace. If only I could recapture the rage of the resistance fighter, the suffering of the mystic dreamer, the solitude of the orphan in a sealed cattle car, the death of each and every one of them. If only I could step out of myself and merge with them".
   
   Wiesel writes of the prophecy told to his mother by the Wizhnitz Rabbi that her son would become a gadol b'Israel (a great man in Israel) but that she would not live to see it.
   
   Wiesel records some of the horrors he witnessed in the death camps such as live children being thrown into furnaces by the Nazis, and laments the inaction by the Allies to do anything about the extermination they knew was taking place of the Jews- saving Jews was not a priority for the Allies either.
   
   He mentions that most of the Jews who collaborated with the Nazis were intellectuals- not surprising in light of the fact hat most Jews who have thrown themselves into the campaign of hate against their fellow Jews in Israel.
   
   He writes about the liberation of the death camps by the Allies after the war, and how one of the youngest child survivors of Buchenwald was eight year old Israel Meir Lau, later to be the Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Israel. In his section of his travels around the world as a young man during the early 1950s he writes of his great compassion at the plight of poverty-stricken children in India.
   
   Wiesel records his life in a youth home for Jewish refugees in Paris and the fate of displaced Jews after World War II, his life as a journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot for whom he covered the Eichmann trial, civil rights struggles, the Six Day War, the 1968 Student insurrections in France, and other world events.
   
   He has always been greatly interested in philosophy and parapsychology and writes of his discussions with such great leaders as Golda Meir and David
   Ben-Gurion, as well as the greatest thinkers of the day. He writes of his great love for Israel and it's people for which he has been attacked by the hate-filled bigots of the International Left. He also took a strong stand for persecuted Soviet Jewry during the 1960s and 1970s. Elie Wiesel also writes of his great compassion for humanity as a whole, such as his pain at seeing the suffering of destitute children during his travels in India. But unlike certain Jews of the Left, he does not see a contradiction between this and his great love of Israel and the Jewish people- Ahavat Israel.
   
   He writes with great compassion, passion, anger, sadness and hope.
   In a plea for the plight of his own people today, especially the youth and children of Israel today targeted by terror and forces of genocide (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Ahmadinejad regime- as well as all who are sympathetic to these anti-Jewish elements) he penned an open letter to President Bush stating: "Please remember that the maps on Arafat's uniform and in Palestinian children's textbooks show a Palestine encompassing not only all of the West Bank but all of Israel, while Palestinian leaders loudly proclaim that 'Palestine extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, from Rosh Hanikra (in the North) to Rafah (in Gaza). Please remember Danielle Shefi, a little girl in Israel. Danielle was five. When the murderers came, she hid under her bed. Palestinian gunmen found and killed her anyway. Think of all the other victims of terror in the Holy Land. With rare exceptions, the targets were young people, children and families. Please remember that Israel--having lost too many sons and daughters, mothers and fathers--desperately wants peace. It has learned to trust its enemies' threats more than the empty promises of 'neutral' governments".
   Elie Wiesel is a true voice of truth and conscience.



3. I found this a very compelling read, lasting over several readings. It's true the author did not stick tightly to chronological order, but anyone who has read his fiction knows his style tends to be very esoteric and rather free-floating (I personally do not care for his fiction, which I admit I do find to go over my head). However, as a reader, I certainly got a feel for emotions he felt throughout different experiences in his life. I found the last scene describing his emotions before and during his wedding to be really profound. It's true that there is a lot of Jewish content in this book, which may cause some of his analogies etc. to be less accessible to someone from a different background. However, for someone who wants to read a first-hand Holocaust experience without very strong graphic details, I do recommend it. (As a side note, just last week I actually attended a speech by Mr. Wiesel, and he is really a personable, funny, self-effacing and sweet man, not the really sad and somber person you might expect from his writings. I was surprised by this, pleasantly so!)



4. I would strongly recommend that all readers on Amazon read the review whose title caption is ' Remember'. It is far more extensive and far better than the small remarks I am about to post.
   Elie Weisel is the one human being who more than any other has helped the world understand the horror of the Shoah , the Holocaust the Nazi destruction of one - third of the Jewish people six million human beings.
   For this he should always have a place in the historical consciousness of both the Jewish people and mankind.
   His memoir is at times very moving .For those who know his other work and his masterpiece ' Night' there will be much familiar here, though here the story is enriched by greater detail.
   I find myself whenever I am reading Weisel unable to really judge in abstract or purely literary terms. His significance as a human being, as a witness as one who has spoken to me in my own life is so great that my feeling is closer to reverence than anything else.
   I read this book with the idea that any additional detail about his life and work, any additional understanding of his thought about Man's relation to G-d would be worthwhile. I read this work as I will read all his future works as an admiring student of a great teacher.
   May he be blessed by many more years of great creative work.



5. This is one of the times when I think we should be able to go higher than 5 stars. Elie Wiesel's All Rivers Run to the Sea gave us a more in-depth look to the concentration camp survivor. He really gives us a rich experience in weaving together the threads of his past, from his days in school to the horror in the concentration camps, right up to his days of being a journalist, and ending with him as a groom. You really get a feel for the type of person he is as well - a wonderful, compassionate, and intelligent man. If you've read Night already, you're definitely going to want to check this out.

5 comments about A Whole New Life: An Illness and a Healing.

1. THis is a great inspirational book for anyone suffering from a major life changing injury.



2. The best compliment I can provide is I'm buying more copies to give to friends. The book is thought provoking as well as extraordinarily uplifting.



3. Should be mandatory reading of all Medical Students and Residents. Disease process as seen and documentd by a patient. The physical, emotional, and spiritual swings a patient goes through during a long protracted illness.



4. 
   This is a book about severe illness and recovery. It is a true story of hope and healing told without self-pity. Price writes of being faced with a diagnosis of severe cancer of the spine. "Some vital impulse spared me needing to reiterate the world's most frequent and pointless question in the face of disaster - Why? Why me? I never asked it; the only answer is of course: Why not?"
   
   In the same candid, sometimes funny, yet always affecting words, the popular and prolific author tells of his battle with disease. First struck down in 1984, he suffered through surgery, days of agonizing pain and was eventually confined to a wheelchair, unable to function professionally or personally.
   
   He later sought treatment with a hypnotist at Duke University's psychiatric department with beneficial results. Throughout, Price gives credit to the power of prayer, which he calls "the first strong prop beneath my own collapse."
   
   This is not only the story of an illness and recovery, it is the saga of resolve when confronted with a frightening enemy, and it is a tale of family and friendships, the human network that supports us.
   
   Highly recommended.
   
   - Gail Cooke



5. A very honest emotional description of experiences while dealing with a cancer, a surgery, radiation, learning how to live with pain as a companion, learning how to live as a "gimp"--word used by the author, and many other superbly described experiences. Just the right touch, just the right doze. Very subtle and lithe. Joy to read.

4 comments about Peeling the Onion: Reversing the Ravages of Stroke.

1. this story tells what one doctor does for his stroke patients. if more doctors use ultrasound like this, it is not widely publicized. some people have remarkable improvement.



2. I don't know if this treatment is "for real", but it certainly sounds promising. I do know that there is research on this exact topic being pursued at Duke University (there were a number of posters on it in the neuroscience intensive care unit). I was interested in the family dynamics surrounding the author (her sister was the main caregiver and she had a brother, but he was seemingly removed from the situation by distance), but this was not discussed in any detail. Book was well written and resonably informative.



3. What a wonderful story told from a daughter's devotion, wrapped in Love. Robin shares with us all of the emotions, science, trials and triumphs of her journey to find more than a remedy but a healing for her Dad. If you know anyone who is suffering from a life of physical limitations, whatever the cause, have them read this book!



4. A must read for everyone! Robin's story of her journey with her father is heartwarming as well as information we all need to know. Not just a tale of a journey back to health it is also a story of a relationship between a father and a daughter. Beautifully written. I recommended this book to all my friends and also to my book club.

5 comments about Cutting Remarks: Insights and Recollections of a Surgeon.

1. I liked Dr. Swab's book very much..I think he is a clever and interesting person who knows how to tell a story well. I like his blog stories too! Lynne in Oregon



2. I bought this as a gift for my son, currently attending medical school. I happened to look through the book before wrapping it up and became so engrossed I had to read it cover to cover, trying hard to be very careful not to crease the pages or spine. A slop of coffee spilled on a page as I shook with laughter at one of the stories in the book, gave away that I was now gifting a not so pristine book. No matter, my son loved it and has shared it with his friends. Meanwhile, I have become a daily reader of Dr. Schwab's blog at http://surgeonsblog.blogspot.com.



3. Every medical student should read this before starting third year. Above all, this gives insights into the mindset of a first rate surgeon. The culture and work ethic of surgeons has not changed much since the 70's when I trained as a pathologist. As a bonus, the book has beautifully written explanations of the surgical details. And unforgettable humor. This will leave you a lot more inspired than "The House of God". Hospital administrators, RN's and surgeon's spouses would also benefit from this book.



4. This book is hysterical. There were parts when I could not stop laughing. It gives a nice, well-rounded view of this surgeon's life. Interesting read.



5. I found this book to be interesting for the fact he tells what surgery and the medical field was like back in the seventies. You can see how far things have come since then. He sounds like an awesome and insightful doctor. Wish there were more like him instead of some of the ones he describes in this book.

5 comments about Undercurrents: A Life Beneath the Surface.

1. This book was difficult to read but I recognized so much of my own experience in Dr Manning's writing. She gives and incredible insight into the suffering of depression. I feel like giving this book to all my family members and friends to read so that I can stop hearing annoying "just snap out of it" type of advices.
   It is impossible to appreciate what suffering from manic depression means unless you've been there, a fact that you can see when reading some of the reviews posted here.



2. Having dealt with depression, I found this book (true story) very insightful. Those who haven't dealth with it personally, or those who have someone going through depression should really read this book. It's inside the mind of an older women with severe depression. Interesting, informative, and truthful. A must read!



3. This is a journey through the major depression that takes hold of a therapist and professor. In this book, Manning shares her insightful, painfully honest and often humorous journal entries and provides a powerful and personal look at depression. (This is also a great book for anyone who is interested in hearing a positive perspective on ECT.)



4. I bought this book several years ago and have read it about five times by now. This time I read it after suffering through the self-indulgent whining of Elizabeth Wurtzel in Prozac Nation. Reading Undercurrents right afterwards really showed me - once again - the merits of this book. Martha Manning write honestly, she reveals how much she suffers from her depression without ever descending into self-pity. This alone is a remarkable achievement. In addition, she manages to combine the sad passages with some wry humor which is never out of place, but enriches the reading experience. This book is a wonderful and informative account of depression and also helps to shows the background of ECT - while ECT was a horrifying experience for Ms. Manning, she shows how much the treatment helped her. This is a book I highly recommend to anyone suffering from depression or wanting to know more about depression. It is definitely the best first-hand account about this illness that I ever read.



5. Margaret does an incredible job in this book of truly expressing just how it really feels and the true thoughts of someone who has been depressed for a fairly long period of time. She writes in a way that is true, honest, and humorous.

5 comments about All My Patients Have Tales.

1. This is a very easy read and certainly illuminates the life of a vet! It's so interesting to hear the story behind the person. My wife and I both read this book in our spare moments each day. We always looked forward to to our opportunities to read about the next 'adventure', often sharing a chuckle between us! After the last chapter, we found ourselves wanting to read still further!



2. "A breath of fresh air" applies to Jeff Wells' collection of stories that demonstrate "why veterinary medicine is a true calling." Sure, he's sloshed through a lot of poop, been rained on by vomit, and reached into the abyss of numerous cows and horses, but he's also treated a leather clad chihuahua named Megadeath, released puppies stuck in their father's? birth canal, and experienced a lifetime of opportunities to laugh at himself. Read ALL MY PATIENTS HAVE TALES. Inhale deeply.



3. This book is so well written, and truly IS a modern-day James Herriot book, like I read in the other review. If you love animals, this is a MUST read. You will have a new appreciation for what veterinarians do on a daily basis, and the people that they come across, too. I highly recommend this book!



4. The title of this book is what first caught my attention; I loved the "play on words" with tales and the picture of those wagging tails on the cover!
   
   Being an animal lover, I enjoy reading stories of people sharing their experiences with pets. My husband and I joke that our two cats are cheap entertainment as we watch them slide across our floor to bat at a toy, chase their tails or chirp at the birds outside. When I began reading Jeff's stories about his experiences with animals and their owners, I found I could not put the book down until I reached the last tale. Jeff is a wonderful story-teller; one moment, you experience the emotional heartache of owners and Jeff as a vet tending to a sick or injured pet, and the next, you are roaring with laughter at the antics of the pets - and owners!
   
   A great read and wonderful book to take with you when traveling.
   
   Kelly Johnson
   Cornerstone Virtual Assistance, LLC



5. Dr. Wells has brought the world and challenges of being a Veterinarian into your home in this wonderful and well written book about his experiences. I bought the book for my niece, but had to read it before she ever got it. She is in Vet school and bought more for her friends. My brother, a M.D., enjoyed it immensely. We ordered more for other members of the family and friends. It is not only stories about dogs (as the cover indicates) but animals - large and small - that Dr. Wells has helped. It is touching, warm, educational, interesting, intriguing and a most enjoyable read! Any Vet wannabes or just people loving animals will enjoy this book. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about The Hand of God.

1. Being a pro-life college student in a liberal university has its challenges. But after reading Dr. Nathanson's book I am no longer at a loss for words when it comes to arguing the abortion issue. I have written many 15-20 page papers on this issue ranging from its moral significance to its relationship with our government, (federal & state). I used much of the information that was in this book. Nathanson gave so much insight and honesty to the history of the issue that it would be impossible not to question any pro-choice stance. I challenge any pro-choicer to read this book. You might find that it is much more challenging to agrue with Nathanson; if it weren't for him you wouldn't have an argument.



2. I think that this is a great and true story by an abortion doctor. It would be good for all, pro-life and pro-choice.



3. As the title explains, Dr. Nathanson was once a bona fide abortion doctor. In fact, as the back cover explains, he "was co-founder in 1969 of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL, later renamed the National Abortion Rights Action League), and was director of the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health, then the largest abortion clinic of the world. In the late 1970's he turned against abortion to become a prominent pro-life advocate."
   
   
   
   This semi-autobiographical work provides a look behind the sterile abortion clinic doors that populate our country. He openly talks of how the abortion movement intentionally manipulated the public to repeal the once restrictive laws concerning this barbaric practice. This included providing bogus statistics to the media and exaggerating existing reproductive problems. He carefully details the history of abortion, explains the many different techniques of performing abortions, and explains what convinced him to forsake his livelihood and give up his lucrative work.
   
   
   
   What to like: Nathanson is intimately familiar with the abortion industry and goes into great detail about what actually goes on at a clinic. He also provides an insider's view on the machinations behind the early abortion movement.
   
   
   
   As I was writing my extensive series on abortion, his book proved to be invaluable. He systematically explores each and every credible pro-choice argument and points out their faulty logic and shortcomings. Believing himself to be a man of science, he increasingly found himself questioning his abortion practice as ultrasound and sonogram technology developed. Soon these fledgling concerns grew to absolute horror as the overwhelming evidence that life begins at conception and not birth, convinced him to abandon his position as the director of New York's largest abortion clinic.
   
   
   
   Nathanson carefully explores the scientific data that clearly shows life begins at conception, not at birth. He also works through the different definitions which philosophy has given to personhood, and details the dangers behind "endowing" a more exclusive group to "personhood". At the end of the book he also talks about proper and improper responses to abortion.
   
   
   
   What not to like: The book starts out a little tedious. I am pretty sure the readers of this book are going to be interested in Nathanson's story only as far as it relates to abortion. Yet the first three and a half chapters of the book barely breach the subject. Instead he goes into painstaking detail on his childhood and upbringing. These do help us understand why he first entered the medical field and later started performing abortions, but they do not warrant the attention he gives them.
   
   
   
   Memorable Quote: "It was ultrasound, which for the first time threw open a window into the womb. We also began to observe the fetal heart on electronic fetal heart monitors. For the first time, I began to think about what we really had been doing at the clinic. Ultrasound opened up a new world. For the first time, we could really see the human fetus, measure it, observe it, watch it, and indeed bond with it and love it. I began to do that."
   
   
   
   Conclusion: For the American grieved by abortion, this book is a valuable resource. Its chronicles of the early abortion rights movement help the reader understand how the practice was legalized in the first place. Nathanson's arguments for the pro-life cause are damning to the abortion movement. His clear scientific analysis of the beginning of life is, perhaps, the best I've ever read and leaves the reader with no doubt that life does, indeed, begin at conception. This book is essential for anyone who wants to learn more about the abortion debate embroiling our country today.



4. This book is a truly fascinating account of one mans journey from the heights (if indeed it can be called that) of abortion fame as a well known abortionis who performed many, many abortions in his time as well as one of those who was instrumental in helping make abortion legal. Now, to see that turnaround, that has to be something. I was interested to see how he began to change his mind and just how difficult that in itself can be when your fame and career (not to mention your self-esteem) is built on it. I admire this man for his courage in coming out and speaking up.



5. Many people, mostly pro-life advocates, see the abortion issue as the modern equivalent of the fight to put an end to slavery. Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson, a founder of NARAL and once one of America's premier abortion providers until he saw the light and changed sides, draws parallels between pre-Civil War America, specifically the Dred Scott decision, and Roe v. Wade in "The Hand of God: A Journey from Death to Life by the Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind." Those are heady claims indeed. To argue that abortion could bring the country to civil war seems a bit melodramatic. Certainly the other side, the pro-abortion advocates, don't see the issue this way. To them Roe v. Wade and subsequent court rulings expanding the ability of a woman to terminate her pregnancy is a right, pure and simple. It's a right that grows out of the Supreme Court's recognition of an inherent privacy right guaranteed by many of the amendments contained in the Bill of Rights. Any effort to curtail or roll back abortion, they argue, would not only allow the government to exercise control over a woman's body, it would also strike at the heart of the gender equality feminists have worked so hard to achieve over the past four decades.
   
   Don't expect Bernard Nathanson to resolve the issue in this slim book. This is no "Uncle Tom's Cabin" for the pro-life crowd. It's close, though. "The Hand of God" tells the story of how a lowly physician came to embrace abortion, how he began to question what he did for a living, and how he found God when he embraced the pro-life movement. According to the author, his early life played a big role in his later decision to become an abortionist. His father, a Jewish physician with misanthropic tendencies, dominated most aspects of his son's life until his death at the age of ninety-four. An imposing presence with a keen intellect and a hardscrabble background, Nathanson's father passed on to his son a suspicion of the Jewish religion and a distrust of women. For example, he encouraged his son to disrespect his mother. The father also dominated Bernard's sister, interfering in her marriage and all other aspects of her life until she committed suicide in her forties. It's obvious we're not dealing with a kindly soul here, yet Nathanson's father did do a few things to help his son. He secured him a place in medical school, for instance, and passed on a love of learning that, if this book is any indication, served Bernard Nathanson well.
   
   Unfortunately, the Hippocratic Oath Nathanson took after completing medical school didn't quite make the desired impression. His specialization in obstetrics and gynecology coupled with the tumult of the 1960s soon brought the good doctor into contact with several physicians interested in overturning the nation's abortion laws. The author plunged in with both feet, and soon found himself overseeing a clinic in New York that performed tens of thousands of abortions. Before his conversion to the pro-life movement, Nathanson went through a couple of marriages and even personally performed an abortion on a woman pregnant with his own child. The last several chapters of the book move beyond the personal into philosophical and medical discussions on life, death, and the ethics of the abortion debate. Nathanson convincingly argues that new medical techniques prove that life begins much earlier than previously believed. He also contends that abortion is a gateway that could, if it continues to be the law of the land, lead to legalized euthanasia and the establishment of third world "fetus farms" that would supply stem cells and organs for those suffering from various diseases in this country. "The Hand of God" paints a pretty bleak picture of the abortion scene.
   
   By far the most effect part of "The Hand of God" deals with Nathanson's discussions of the types of medical doctors that inhabit abortion clinics. Think alcoholics, drug users, quacks, and bottom of the class physicians. It's ugly beyond belief. He provides a few names and cases concerning doctors who had their licenses yanked for maiming and/or killing patients while performing abortions. One surgeon actually quit performing the procedure at the halfway point and sent the woman home because her husband didn't have enough money to pay for the operation. She later died. We tend to think of these things happening in the bad old days before Roe v. Wade turned the back alley butcher into a white coat wearing surgeon in a licensed clinic, but Nathanson's carefully documented accounts show the fallacy of that sort of thinking. Abortion clinics still draw the bottom feeders because of the morals involved. Most doctors don't want anything to do with terminating pregnancies unless the mother's life is in imminent danger. Perhaps most physicians still take the Hippocratic Oath seriously. Whatever the case, ethics still play a big role in who will or will not perform abortions in the nation's clinics.
   
   I decided to read Nathanson's book after reading about his conversion to Roman Catholicism in Dave Shiflett's "Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity." I'm glad I did. I've never been a knee jerk pro-lifer despite being a strident conservative, but this book has moved me further in that direction. There is something seriously wrong with a culture that endorses abortion as a means of birth control, and there is definitely something amiss about allowing a minor to terminate a pregnancy without parental consent. I won't even get into the immorality of partial-birth abortion; I was against that procedure long before I read this book. I heartily recommend "The Hand of God." Prepare yourself, however. You might just find yourself agreeing with the good doctor by the time you turn the final page.