A Life in Medicine: A Literary Anthology
This compilation of essays, poems, short stories, memoirs, and a play excerpt, edited by child psychiatrist Coles (Harvard Medical Sch.; Spiritual Life of Children) and literature and ethics professor Testa (Harvard and Dartmouth), reflects on the human side of medicine. The book includes pieces by famous writers (Raymond Carver, Hart Crane, Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Bulgakov, William Carlos Williams, etc.) as well as by the lesser known, most of whom are surgeons, psychiatrists, nurses, and midwives. The book is divided into four sections, with each part focusing on a particular quality that a physician must have (altruism, knowledge, skill, and a sense of duty). All of the selections reflect a concern for the human aspects of medicine and espouse the rights of the patient over the rigidity of the medical establishment. This anthology will be most useful for colleges that have medical ethics courses; the general reader will likely be less interested in such readings, excellent though they are. Recommended primarily for university libraries that support medical curricula. Morris Hounion, New York City Technical Coll. Lib., BrooklynCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.