I guess you must have heard of James Joyce's famously impossible novel, Ulysses, or you wouldn't be reading this. You may have had a go at the book but soon given up; probably in the third 'episode', which is quite challenging. You may have bought a guide to Ulysses and found that was quite hard to understand too! I have been reading and studying Ulysses on and off since I first discovered it in my parents' bookcase at the age of 12. Later on, I looked at some of the guides to the book and...

‘Medicine and Literature’ is the doctor's guide to the classics. How can a doctor best understand the emotions and behaviour of his or her patients? An effective and deeply satisfying route is through an appreciation of literature, and the profound understanding its authors have of the human predicament. In this extraordinary and enlightening volume, general practitioner John Salinsky guides the reader through some of the world's finest works. In each chapter he describes a classic novel, ...

You (Desmond) are woken in your hotel room by the bedside phone ringing at 2 a.m. A damsel in distress is calling you from the room immediately above. She begs you to come and rescue her at once as two men are about to attack her.The damsel, who is young, blonde and beautiful, explains that she is an MI5 agent and her assailants (who are identical twins) are employees of a foreign power in search of a mysterious brief case, known as 'The McGonagall.'You suddenly find yourself in dangerous ...

Alvin Green has ‘accidentally’ committed a violent crime and is on the run. The police are after him and so is his victim, bent on revenge. He decides to flee on a train travelling to Scotland. But the 9.35 to from King’s Cross to Edinburgh is no ordinary train; as Alvin soon discovers, it is populated by glamorous young women from films by Alfred Hitchcock who want to draw him into their own plots. In case he needs legal advice there is also a barrister in attendance.Can this be a...

‘When I want to know the real rock-bottom truth about what happens all the time in this doctoring life, what happens to us, and to the folks who bring us their hearts and worries to be heard, that’s when I turn, every time, to the novelists, the playwrights, the poets, the essayists, who have given us the sights and sounds, the feel, of all that goes on, minute by minute. What Tolstoy and Chekhov knew, we need to know for ourselves, for our own sakes, as we live out our medical lives.’ Wil...

This collection that was first published in 2009, and is recommended reading for doctors and others includes: The Green Bookshop opens its doors; Books that won prizes; Great books that should have won prizes; Two books by one writer; A handful of classic novels; Short stories and essays; Books and the cinema; Biography and memoirs; Classic books about general practice; Best new books about general practice; Consultation and communication; Education for primary care; Psychiatry, psychology...

Guidelines are powerful instruments of assistance to clinicians capable of extending the clinical roles of nurses and pharmacists. Purchasers and managers perceive them as technological tools guaranteeing treatment quality. Guidelines also offer mechanisms by which doctors and other health care professionals can be made more accountable to their patients. But how can clinicians tell whether a guideline has authority and whether or not it should be followed? Does the law protect doctors who...

A fascinating history of motion pictures through the lens of the Academy Awards, the Best Picture winners, and the box-office contenders.In Best Pick: A Journey through Film History and the Academy Awards, John Dorney, Jessica Regan, and Tom Salinsky provide a captivating decade-by-decade exploration of the Oscars. For each decade, they examine the making of classic films, trends and innovations in cinema, behind-the-scenes scandals at the awards ceremony,...

A fascinating history of motion pictures through the lens of the Academy Awards, the Best Picture winners, and the box-office contenders.In Best Pick: A Journey through Film History and the Academy Awards, John Dorney, Jessica Regan, and Tom Salinsky provide a captivating decade-by-decade exploration of the Oscars. For each decade, they examine the making of classic films, trends and innovations in cinema, behind-the-scenes scandals at the awards ceremony, and who won and why. Twen...