Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Medical Humanities Review

Giskin Day teaches a course on medical humanities at Imperial College London and contributes to the blog "Medical Humanities," which bills itself as "a conversation about the intersection between medicine and the arts." As a person who's spent a lot of time thinking about the intersection between science and the arts, I find that fascinating.

Ms. Day recently wrote a review of Mom's Cancer and, as self-serving as it may sound for me to say I found it to be extraordinarily perceptive, I nevertheless did. Of course I'm happy she wrote nice things, but she also picked up on details most readers miss. Her review concludes:

Mom’s Cancer is an inspirational work of great love and care. In spite of its serious subject matter, this is not a pathos-saturated book. Fies’s ability to universalise his particular and personal situation affords an authentic, original insight into the realities of coping with serious illness.

Aside from people who've been through the cancer mill themselves, no one's opinion means more to me than that of educators and medical professionals who deal with these issues every day. I didn't expect my book to strike a chord with everyone--no book does--but mine is getting great responses from all the right people. Many thanks to her.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank YOU, Brian. It's rather nice to get a review of a review! I wish you every success with your wonderful book.