I am usually fond of works by physician-writers, as I aspire to be one myself. This is a charming set of stories about the doctor-patient interaction. Yet since Sherwin Nuland aimed for this collection of bedside tales to be a "sort of Cantebury Tales of medicine," unfortunately I would have to say it fell short of his goal.
Dr. Nuland might have asked his friends and colleagues for the story about their most memorable paient. Each chapter is called the 's Tale; some are followed by his Narrator's Commentary. It was a bit confusing as to whose voice was actually speaking since both are written first-person, but the Tale itself was written down and fictionalized by Dr. Nuland (to protect identities.) They take place in "Cantebury" -- a thinly-veiled Yale where Dr. Nuland practiced surgery. Most of the stories revolve around surgery, depsite the "author's" speciality. Usually such stories are most profound when they focus on the patient-doctor interaction and the medical case, but many had substantial prefaces which delayed the story. Nonetheless, I would recommend The Soul of Medicine to those interested in medical stories.
Dr. Nuland might have asked his friends and colleagues for the story about their most memorable paient. Each chapter is called the 's Tale; some are followed by his Narrator's Commentary. It was a bit confusing as to whose voice was actually speaking since both are written first-person, but the Tale itself was written down and fictionalized by Dr. Nuland (to protect identities.) They take place in "Cantebury" -- a thinly-veiled Yale where Dr. Nuland practiced surgery. Most of the stories revolve around surgery, depsite the "author's" speciality. Usually such stories are most profound when they focus on the patient-doctor interaction and the medical case, but many had substantial prefaces which delayed the story. Nonetheless, I would recommend The Soul of Medicine to those interested in medical stories.
