In short, the carnival atmosphere does not work to evoke scientific respect. Nevertheless, I was arrested by a charming little tale inserted almost as an afterthought into the last section of the book. Dossey tenderly recounts a visit to a patient of his who was dying of cancer. The dying man had never been a religious person, but revealed to the doctor that he had been praying frequently. When asked what he prayed for, he replied that he didn't pray for anything.
Somebody say Amen.
Bernard N. Nathanson, M.D. is author of Aborting America and The Abortion Papers . Currently, he is Visiting Fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.