No pain, no gain
It is an unexpected pleasure when fiction has a soundtrack to accompany the work of reviewing. H(A)PPY is ‘best enjoyed…
Bring up the bodies
I grew up with a skeleton in the attic. My mother’s clinical training bestowed on our family a short man’s…
Bedside manners
‘A tricky part of my job,’ the GP said, scrolling through the next patient’s notes, ‘is breaking good news.’ As…
Bedside manners
‘A tricky part of my job,’ the GP said, scrolling through the next patient’s notes, ‘is breaking good news.’ As…
Thoughts on the human condition
This past autumn has felt more uncomfortable than usual to be a woman looking at men looking at women. From…
The key to a hidden kingdom
It’s a modern pastime to hypothesise about what makes a good relationship. One evening not long ago in a Berlin…
An age-old problem
With a title like A Beautiful Young Wife, this is of course about the decline of an older husband. Professor…
Stiffen the sinews
It’s not unreasonable to expect that the anatomy syllabus for a medical degree should include breasts. Last year I performed…
The race from the Big C to the Big D
The ‘journey’ — at least the one played out in public — begins with an announcement that you are incurable.…
A deadly role reversal
Who would you trust to take a blade to your brain? Medical schools and hospitals, arbiters of this outrageous intimacy,…
Oliver Sacks bids farewell in style
‘I cannot say there is no vanity in making this funeral oration of myself, but I hope it is not…
The kindness of strangers is a pleasing mystery
When I applied to medical school, an experienced doctor offered me some advice: ‘Don’t give them reason to think you’re…
