New Books by and about Doctors and Patients
By THE WRITING DOCTOR: NY Hoffman, nywriter@rochester.rr.com,
16 San Rafael Dr, Rochester, NY, 585-385-1515
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Brain Surgeon by Keith Black, MD with Arnold Mann. (New York: Wellness Central, 2009)
Rupture by A. Scott Pearson, MD (Ipswich, Mass: Oceanview Publishing, 2009)
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, MD (Boston: Little, Brown, 2009)
Normal at Any Cost: Tall Girls, Short Boys, and the Medical Industry’s Quest to Manipulate Height
By Susan Cohen and Christine Cosgrove (New York:Tarcher/Penguin, 2009)
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Medical books are bursting at the booksellers’ seams. Keith Black, a brilliant neurosurgeon, writes about his life, an inspiration from early childhood. Scott Pearson and Josh Bazell write about the tortures of medical training, especially surgical training, which make you wonder why anyone becomes a surgeon. Cohen and Cosgrove warn about the dangers of manipulating children’s height.
If you want to inspire the young, have them read Black’s book. If you want them to be satisfied with who they are and what they look like, have them read Cohen and Cosgrove, which should be on everyone’s reading list. If you want to see how doctors write novels, have them read both Pearson and Bazell’s endeavors. Actually, Pearson’s Rupture deserves more attention than Bazell’s, which is filled with footnotes that only interrupt the reader and make concentration a joke.
Let me know what you think and I’ll publish your comments.
