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Of course this book will be compared with the innumerable number of other writings about William Osler, most notably of course the Cushing version. And Bliss clearly acknowledges the plethora of carefully collected documentations and personal correspondences that Cushing had accumulated in crafting his tale. However, I think this book stands on its own as a unique rendering of Osler mainly because of one simple fact. Bliss has had the luxury of time on his side to not just document the time and lives and the state of Medicine in the late 19th century, but most importantly, he relates it to the current, modern day state of affairs in those areas as well. He has woven a story that encompasses through the life of the great Osler, the tremendous influences of 19th medicine on modern day medicine. Even if one is not in the health-related professions or the biomedical sciences, one cannot miss the fact that this is a book as much about humanism as it is about medicine.
Biography, like history is riddled with biases, especially if it is about people and events that have revolutionazied mankind. This is particularly so in regards to William Osler, whose life and work have been immortalized, and a man who had acheived a legendary status even during his own life time. Bliss's work is as unbiased as it could possibly be given the already intrinsic biases about his subject. In this sense, this book is also unique from the previous biographies of Osler.
Overall, this is a most enjoyable read. This is definitely a "page-flipper" that takes you into the life, struggles, and triumps not only of Osler, but in a sense, of the entire human race.
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Thankfully, we have this new book from Duke University Press. With more annotations than a Harvard Law Review issue, this well-selected sample of Dr. Osler's most well-known papers and addresses presents an effective "translation" to satisfy all medical scholars who, though they seek to emulate Osler's compassion and skill, just can't understand all of his references. When I first read "Aequanimitas," I felt like an ignoramus. After reading it again in this present volume, I felt like an enlightened student eager to carry the Aesculapian staff into the new milennium (or something like that). I highly recommend this book to all medical students and physicians who seek a model of professional excellence in Dr. Osler, but who have heretofore scratched their heads when reading his papers. Revisit "A Way of Life." Read the footnotes. Then don your white coat, tend to your patients, and be proud of the great American medical tradition set forth by Dr. Osler so many years ago.
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Sir William Osler could be thought of as the philisophical founder of modern medicine, and this book is filled with quotes from Dr. Osler and others in the profession. The pictures capture, in black and white, what the ideals of the medical professions (nurses, doctors, etc.) look like in daily practice.
Superb reproduction and powerful images go together to produce a book that really captures, with insight and compassion, Osler's legacy. Mr. Grant maintains, with this work, his place at the top of the profession of photojournalism.
A must-have for doctors' coffee tables, and for anyone who loves true documentary photojournalism. Just make sure those tables are strong, this one big book!
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Unlike the time-honored work by Cushing, Bliss's book is no hagiography; it makes no false overtures about Dr. Osler's iconic grandeur, instead letting the reader discover for himself (or herself) that Dr. Osler was, in fact, as great a man as people say he was. (All that being said, I still value the two-volume Cushing biography, and there is no way I will rid myself of the precious first-edition set I snatched up last year at the Maryland Historical Society bookshop!)
One need not practice Oslerolatry (that is, the veritable worship of Dr. Osler expressed by many of the older faculty at Hopkins and elsewhere) to appreciate this book, though having an interest in medicine and/or medical history may help. Critics often lament that American doctors no longer have any professional integrity, and that taking the Hippocratic Oath is a sham. Read this book, and discover how great the American physician can be...and THEN lament that they don't make them like they used to.