This one’s a real snoozer folks, and I admit I skimmed a lot of it.

First, it’s extremely dated. Written in the 1970s, it discusses procedures no longer used and gives short shrift to things like heart transplants, which were in their infancy at the time Nolen wrote his book. Second, it is rife with a sexism that – even though it was certainly prevalent at the time – will turn off most modern readers. All doctors are “he”; all nurses (with the exception of one nurse-anesthetist) are “she”. Nolen routinely withholds medical information from his female patients, discusses treatment and prognosis only with their husbands, and apparently considers most women hypochondriacs. He worries about his kids smoking marijuana, but blithely describes adults (including hospital patients) puffing away on cigarettes, and seems to spend a fair amount of time knocking back the booze in the evenings and on weekends as he parties at the country club.

Reading through the first third of the book is like slogging through wet cement. Nolen spends thousands of words on his family history, meeting his wife, producing six children with her in seven years(!), why he began writing about his experiences, how he chose to settle in a small Minnesota town, how the business side of medical practice groups work, etc.

Eventually, he gets to the only portion of the book that is even mildly interesting, where he discusses various case histories. It’s kind of like James Herriott’s ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ series, only with people rather than animals.

Animals are more interesting. ( )