How Not to be a Doctor: And Other Essays

An essential guide on how not to be a doctor - and how to be a better one.

How Not to Be A Doctor contains a selection of essays by John Launer, doctor and medical columnist, on the practice and teaching of medicine. Taken together, they set out an argument that being a doctor - a real doctor - should mean drawing on every aspect of yourself, your interests and your experiences, no matter how remote they seem from the medical task at hand.

Originating from the popular columns Launer has written for medical journals over his career, How Not to be a Doctor includes over fifty essays covering a range of topics including music, poetry, literature, and psychoanalysis, as well as contemporary medical politics and the personal experiences of being a doctor. From lessons on what they don’t teach you in medical school to the author’s poignant account of being a patient himself as he received treatment for a life-threatening illness, the essays in How Not to Be a Doctor combine erudition with humour, candour, and the human touch that will inform and entertain readers on both ends of the stethoscope.