The Staff and the Serpent: Pertinent and Impertinent Observatioins on the World of Medicine

Dr. Weisse, a cardiologist and professor of medicine, shares some of his wit and wisdom in this fine little collection of essays on subjects ranging from the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, the advantages and disadvantages of being short ("vertically challenged"), and advice on getting into medical school, to the silliness of politically-correct language, and some peeks into some odd corners of medical history. Some of Dr. Weisse's topics may be of more interest to his colleagues and students than to the general reader, but there is plenty of meat for anyone interested in meeting a congenial and original mind, and a writer as skilled and entertaining as any in your daily newspaper. (The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)