The Guardian

“Literature about medicine may be all that can save us”

“Language, that most human invention,” wrote Oliver Sacks, “can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes.” In the last decade or two, a new generation of doctor writers – including Atul Gawande, Abraham Verghese, Henry Marsh,Danielle Ofri, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Paul Kalanithi and Gavin Francis – have undertaken the mission of seeing in this fashion. More