Ben Skute
Think it’s tough to get into medical school today? Try traveling the hazardous journey from England to Persia in the 11th century, pretending to be from another religion and a different culture, just to have the chance to study in a medical school. That’s the story of young Rob Cole in author Noah Gordon’s The Physician, the first book in a trilogy.
While Cole eventually winds up learning at the feet of legendary healer Avicenna, he also must choose between marriage and his medical career-and he chooses medicine. Although the book was not a major success when published in the United States in 1986, it was an enormous bestseller throughout Europe. Library Journal praised the novel as An adventurous and inspiring tale of a quest for medical knowledge pursued in a violent world full of superstition and prejudice.
Contributor: Monica Starkman from University of Michigan Medical School
