The Physician by Noah Gordon

The story begins in 11th century England when Rob J. is orphaned and then apprenticed to a barber surgeon/entertainer. He later travels to Persia where he must pose as a Jew in order to attend medical school. While the gory descriptions of early surgeries and plagues were somewhat engaging, I didn’t think Gordon was a phenomenal writer by any means. He seems to have trouble weaving the history in with the narrative, which makes the entire book oppressively long. Yet, it was kind of interesting to learn about Middle Eastern history and medicine. You would have to judge for yourself on this one – but abandon it if you don’t like it by pg. 50. Had I not been stuck on planes and in airports for 20 hours, I may have given up on it. Favorite Quote: “Science and medicine teach of the body, while philosophy teaches of the mind and the soul, and a physician requires all these as he needs food and air.”