Matters of Life and Death: Key Writings

This is the most wonderful book. it goes to the heart and soul of the profession I loved - general practice in the British National Health Service - and describes what made it so uniquely precious. Before, that is, it was changed by the coming of 'progress'. Not entirely changed, and thank heaven for that, but changed. The book will remind some of us of the depth of enquiry that thoughtful GPs achieved, during that heyday, into the nature of their art. It distils great wisdom which is desperately necessary today, but which is so alien to the prevailing, mechanistic culture that some will reject it with the arrogance of total incomprehension. But others will find it a revelation and the most profound inspiration for their lives as doctors. Iona Heath is arguably the greatest philosopher of general practice. The reprinting here of her famous monograph 'The Mystery of General Practice', makes it available to a new generation. We can only hope some read it, and understand.