Laughter is the Best Medicine

Peter Sykes

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

It is said that a surgeon must have ‘the eyes of a hawk, the heart of a lion, and the hands of a lady,’ but have you ever wondered how a surgeon learns to operate, how he ‘cuts his teeth’ progressing from naive newly-qualified doctor to competent surgeon?

In this collection of medical tales, the training of one slightly naive young trainee is viewed through the experiences of the patients he treats as he embarks on this most challenging of careers. We share his joy when things go well, his anguish when they don’t and learn that, at the end of the day, compassion and a sense of humour make wonderful medicine.

Review by Chrissi (010623) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Book Source: Purchased
Rating 8/10
They say that everyone has a book in them, and I suppose that some people encounter circumstances in their lives which are worthy of recording for posterity more than other people. A rich vein of drama, mirth and pathos is available to those who work with the public and in particular in places where the foibles of human behaviour have to be wheeled out for inspection, such as churches, hospitals and gaol cells, or more recently, YouTube and TikTok.

This is a collection of anecdotes from the life of a surgeon, less bald and exposed than some memoires, from a rather more genteel, dignified age where doctors were more revered and less second-guessed by google. The respect and affection with which he describes his patients and most of his colleagues, from the value of nursing staff in the instruction of young medics, to the consultants from whom he learns, comes across very nicely and you feel that he would have been an immensely comforting person to be in charge of your care.

This book is a little further on in the career of Paul, and in part, he has moved on from the City General, but he has cause to return and meet some of the people with whom he had worked. It does feel in places like some of the stories are similar to those in the first book, but they are nicely told and you feel that his learnings from the incidents are illuminating and make for an improved doctor.

I do enjoy hospital memoirs, and having been in the NHS for a fairly long time, his description of the buildings and facilities of the aging Nightingale wards and Victorian plumbing are familiar and nostalgic. If you like your medical memoirs to be a little less grossly comedic, then you will enjoy this.
Chrissi (1st June 2023)