imusti Adventures In Human Being

Libro stupendo, scritto in un Inglese molto fluente, lo consiglio.L'autore, Gavin Francis riesce a trasmettere nozioni e fatti legati alla medicinacon molta delicatezza e senza perdere la caratteristica che lo contraddistingue: ''entusiasta della vita''.

Very interesting read. The book seemed a tad technical to me as I have a non-medical career and the last time I took a class which had to do anything with human anatomy/body was in the tenth grade. That said, the author has explained details of the different parts of the body in a lucid manner with clear-cut examples of their workings/failures. The book certainly gets your curiosity going to understand both the physiology and pathology of the living body with authors own vast experience working on the different patients/individuals. It can also be treated as a layman's guide to an individuals' internal and external organs.

Gavin Francis treads familiar territory to me that left similar thoughts, albeit 30 years before with junior appointments in neurosurgery and other specialities. His experiences in medical school accurately reflect the sudden realisation that bodies, both as anatomical subjects to a qualified doctor's real-life breathing people with illnesses and a host of social and medical problems are smoothly depicted. He sensibly orders his chapters from head to toe. This is a humane collection of his life as a medic. His descriptions are written with an insight and a prosaic account of his encounters with patients and his senior colleagues who deliver an expertise tinged with a realistic, sometimes reflective philosophical appraisal of those in their care. We all learnt from their formal teaching and personal anecdotes.The author delivers his essays of his medical career and training with dignity, emphasising confidentiality, delivering the best of ability and care but ultimately patients as individuals along with their relatives and social interactions. Interspersed with his practice are portraits of founders of medical progress with a tour of their historical deeds. They are engaging and well-written.He has combined a versatile career as a General Practitioner and an accomplished author. I took the hospital route, but my empathy with his thoughts are compelling. As Hippocrates stated, 'First do No Harm'. This remains a statement that encompasses all that the NHS and it's many medical and non-medical employees should strive to achieve. This is an excellent narrative of an observant and literate author and doctor who has taken his medical career embracing the subjective encounters. Entertaining, humorous, educating and frighteningly real. Experiences of life from the other side of the bed focus on patient and their relative's' experiences. Managing children and loved ones with leukaemia (blood cancer), taught me more than anything I had encountered in almost 40 years of medicine. Excellent for anyone involved with medical care from patient to doctor or more importantly, general readership, written in a captivating style. The parting shot is understanding, honesty, humanity and communication.

Funny, informative, a great quick read. I highly recommend this for adults and teenagers complaining that they have nothing to do.

Books by doctors and surgeons are becoming more commonplace as the profession acknowledges the need for communication with laymen, and publishers recognise a growing market. Typically, these books attempt to explain something of the science and art of medicine in the context of its practice, by interweaving facts with personal experiences. Gavin Francis’ book treads the same path, but in a way that I have not encountered before. His scope is very wide, the whole body in fact, with chapters arranged to discuss its anatomy from head to toe. Within each there are, as usual, scientific facts and personal anecdotes, the latter written with dignity and in a sympathetic and humane style where they concern patients. But, in addition, there is a rich leavening of information from history, literature, art, anthropology, philosophy and other fields, displaying an impressive depth of research. These are not presented in a ‘look how clever I am’ way, but modestly, so that we appreciate the author’s attempt to relate his medical experiences to a wider context. Not all this material is strictly relevant to the chapter or section it is in, but no matter, overall these ‘asides’ work well, not least because of the clarity and quality of the writing. One criticism is about the illustrations. They are usually historical and beautifully drawn, but being small are often not easy to understand, particularly as they are not referred to directly in the text. Apart from this minor criticism, this is an excellent narrative by a thoughtful and literate doctor who shares with the reader his wide range of experiences. At the end, one remains in awe about the mysterious thing called ‘a human being’.