John Hunt (23)

The subtitle says it all: A Surgeon’s Life in Apartheid South Africa. Hunt was born and raised in South Africa, and, after completing all his training, chose to stay at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, as a surgeon, researcher and teacher, rather than open a lucrative (and much easier) private practice. During Apartheid, Baragwanath treated only Blacks – a poor and relatively uneducated population, without easy access to preventive medicine. As is true in any inner-city show more charity hospital, the ravages of alcoholism, malnutrition, and lack of hygiene or preventive medical care resulted in a patient load that was sicker on presentation than would be true in a “whites only” hospital. With few resources – both staff and supplies were stretched thin – Hunt and his fellow physicians used their brainpower to provide an excellent level of care with sometimes extraordinary results.

I like reading about medicine. I am not bothered about the sometimes very technical language or detailed descriptions (and pictures) of diseases or the procedures intended to treat them. Hunt does a good job of balancing medical terminology and “every day, every man” prose. I was a little annoyed by the many footnotes, but will admit that they are probably necessary for the majority of readers. (I work in healthcare so am familiar with most of the terms and procedures he outlines.) Some of the descriptions of “innovative” therapies caught me by surprise, as I’m used to reading about these very procedures now performed routinely. However, I found the general organization of the book choppy. It didn’t flow easily from chapter to chapter. My general interest in medicine is what kept me reading, not Hunt’s skill as a writer. That makes it difficult for me to recommend to a wide audience, and why I don’t give it a higher rating. show less