White Coat Wisdom: Extraordinary Doctors Talk about What They Do, How They Got There, and Why Medicine Is So Much More Than a Job

This is a great book for anyone who enjoys inspiration from the health care field. Physicians get to participate in a dimension of humanity that few others are privileged to experience, and Steve B. does a beautiful job of bringing their stories to life.

I had read White Coat Wisdom not really knowing what to expect. As I begun reading and started to turn every page, I did so with a progressive sense of anticipation. The author of this book lets the reader truly feel the lives of the doctors within the book. Each one has a unique and telling story about their passions, art of healing, hobbies and their overall life in general. The doctors that you encounter in White Coat are some of the most gifted and humanistic of all the profession. You will get a true sense of what you can expect if your considering a career, or should I say life in medicine. What would you do if you were a highly successful surgeon, who had spent their life forming their practice and crafting their art, only to have it all taken away one day by developing partial paralysis? You will find out in White Coat. Never before of all the medical books and interviews I have read by Doctors and those in the profession have I truly gotten the sense of what their really going through, and what it had taken to get there. I highly recommend reading this work of art, even if your not planning on entering medicine. If you have a loved one who is considering going into medicine, or have a loved one who is already going through the process this book will open your eyes and give you a better sense of appreciation. It will also provide you with a sense of motivation and determination, for everyone. You will here of Doctors who work for next to nothing, but still do so happily, because they know they are providing society with a service unlike any other that no amount of money can substitute. I strongly suggest anyone who is about to walk across the stage and enter this blessed profession to eagerly anticipate reading this book and use this as a guide for "How to use my gifts in everyway I know how to help my fellow man" The people you will read about in this book will serve as your guides.

This is how your review will appear: The Central Figures of American Medicine in their Own Words, September 27, 2009 By Dennis Costakos "Simpledoc" (LaCrosse Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews The physicians are at the center of the system, explains experienced physician and medical profession thought leader Dr. Robert Jaeger in Chapter 18."Ignore all the griping...the system does not operate without physicians." In the one chapter about a medical students the reader grts a view of medical school that reminds the reader of "one L" revealing look at Harvard Law School. The chapter Dr D Tox reveals why a doctor devotes his life to help the addicted patient. The altruism of a doctor running a free clinic contrasts with the doctors wishing for tort reform."Somehow, they've developed unrealistic expectations. There was a gal I removed a hemorrhoid on. She came back in the office, and I could tell by the way she was looking at me , that she was really mad. She said,"I don't like the way my [...] looks." I kept the shock off my face. "What don't you like about it?There is a scar where you took the hemorrhoid off." I thought "God, is she an exotic dancer or what? It was probably the most shocking thing anybody ever said to me." Thephysicians live and work in Wisconsin but are born in Turkey, educated at Columbia Univerity, trained at Mayo, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale. Certainly, a great read for patients, students, nurses, and the movers and shakers contemplating change in the the way health care works. The introductions mentions famed astrophyics Professor and author Neil Degrasse Tyson: no wonder , this book is so good it truly an experience from out of this world.Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery

This is a real gem of a book. What first caught my attention when I picked up White Coat Wisdom was the strong endorsement from the venerable C. Everett Coop. So much of medical writing concerns itself with the mechanics of "how" to heal, but here is a book that grapples with the inner workings of the medical mind, and how to create a practice with purpose. The book should be on the syllabus of every medical school. The experienced physician is also likely to find it to be a really good read.

Anyone who wishes to legally call themselves a health care professional must spend years upon years in medical school and college - certainly these people pick up information the general public never hears about. "White Coat Wisdom" is a through and complete compilation of these little tidbits of advice and knowledge to help you maintain peak physical health - and tips on maintaining peak psychological help as well, covering both tips on disease prevention and achieving greater satisfaction in life. "White Coat Wisdom" is packed cover to cover with what its title promotes, and is highly recommended for those reasons.