Reciting Robert Frost In The ICU

Surveying the whole field of medicine, Taylor Prewitt, a retired cardiologist, shows himself to be an entertaining guide as he brings us a commentary collection of some sixty books written by or about doctors, patients, and others who help in time of need--such as Florence Nightingale, whose name is almost synonymous with nursing, and Thomas Lynch, a Michigan undertaker who is a poet. This collection illustrates the same variety that doctors encounter at their offices, the same variety that any of us encounter in walking down a crowded street. There are several examples of the history of medicine, going back five hundred years to the time when Theodore de Mayerne was a physician to King James I of England. The world of the twenty-first century is shown in the essays of Atul Gawande and Phillip R. Reilly, ranging from present-day delivery of health care to the genetic revolution. We see front-line primary care and research into the basic secrets of life; life in its beginning and at its end; the care of the poor and the care of the kings; health care on the plains of Kansas and the jungles of Africa; sick folks one at a time and millions at a time. This is hardly a list of the best sixty books about medicine. However, they are good books, and they illustrate the richness and the depth of the field. Times are changing; wherever we are going, these reviews help us understand where we have been and where we are now.