EXTENT P/H 313p, Kindle Edition (also available in paperback)
PRICE/ASIN/ISBN £3.99 B07SRKJBB5 9781095179031
PUBLISHER Independently published, 2019.
AUTHOR Amy Sun Loony
REVIEWER Gethin Williams
If during these uncertain times you have time to relax, this delightful book is well worth a read! The anonymous authors (spot the anagram!) are two UK consultant general surgeons. They express the story of the changes in British general surgery from a generational as well as a father and son perspective. Both are consultant surgeons (one retired, the other an actively practising surgeon and Annals reviewer!) with different light-hearted stories to tell of the same NHS.
The book draws from over 50 years of surgical experience – the father can truly be referred to as one of the last general surgeons, the younger author is now a colorectal specialist. The recollections are honest and heartfelt. I could put myself in the authors’ shoes frequently and empathise with some of their pitfalls and successes. Their wealth of experience and multiple informative stories to tell all help to make a funny and educational book. Chapter headings including ‘publish or perish, lawyers, stress, new technology’ are all interesting topics to captivate the reader. In the end, they interview five other healthcare professionals to give a separate perspective on how the NHS, surgeons, and patients have changed over the years. I really enjoyed the book and learnt a lot from reading it. There are so many pearls of wisdom! It made me smile and the parts illustrating the slow demise of the NHS also made me angry. Read it yourself!