Noah Gordon (1926–2021)

Beautiful writing, clear and clean. Gordon takes you into Medieval Spain with a believable story and terrific character development. The story is sad yet triumphant. Looking forward to exploring more of Gordon's works.

The Physician describes the journey of an eleventh century Englishman to become a healer. Rob Cole starts by learning how to become a barber-surgeon. He yearns to become a physician and sets a goal to study with: “The outstanding physician in the world. Avicenna, whose Arab name is Abu Ali at-Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sina.” To do so, he embarks on a journey across Europe to Persia. Along the way he encounters and adapts to Christian, Jewish, and Islamic cultures.

He learns effective study show more from the Jewish communities he interacts with.
“Rob read and studied his book and the Jews, behaving too much like the rest of them to stay a novelty. For six hours every day—three hours following the morning prayer service, which they called shaharit, and three hours after the evening service, ma’ariv —the study house was jammed, for most of the men studied before and after completing the day’s work by which they earned their living.”
(This really struck me, I often do a similar amount of study each day but not consistently…)

Eventually, Rob Cole reaches the medical school headed by the polymath ibn Sina and gains acceptance. He learns that he must gain a well-rounded education:
“You make a common error. If you have not studied philosophy, how can you reject it? Science and medicine teach of the body, while philosophy teaches of the mind and the soul, and a physician requires all these as he needs food and air. …. “You have the mind, for we see you grasp a new language, and we detect your promise in a dozen other ways. But you must not fear to allow learning to become a part of you, so that it is as natural as breathing. You must stretch your mind, wide enough to take in all we can give you.” …. Now he knew why God had given him a great, strong body and good eyes, for he taxed himself to the limit of his endurance as he sought to make himself a scholar.

He struggles and eventually succeeds in becoming a physician and scholar. Eventually, he is able to extend medical knowledge by breaking the taboo of dissection: “The ancients didn’t cripple their science with admonitions of sin, and what little we now know came from the early Greeks, who had the freedom to open the body and study it. They dissected the dead and observed how man is fashioned within. For a brief moment in those long-ago days their brilliance illuminated all of medicine, and then the world fell into darkness.”

Our physician continues his journey, both intellectually and geographically. I’ve just illustrated a few of the many points that captivated me while reading Noah Gordon’s complex historical novel. I highly recommend this book and hope the other two books in this trilogy are as interesting. show less

"But it came to seem that Kilmarnock (in Scotland) had always been his life, and that what had happened before was a tale he had heard told around the fire when the wind blew cold."

My favorite line from this fascinating, historical novel set in Saxon England and 11th-century Persia. Bob Cole is orphaned in London and apprenticed to a barber surgeon. As he grows to manhood, he wants to study more about medicine and learns of a legendary physician teaching at a Persian University where show more Christian students are forbidden. The adventure includes not only a dangerous journey, but a risky impersonation as he wins the Shah's favor, falls in love and becomes a well-regarded man of medicine.
The research Gordon has done is formidable, covering medieval medicine, the settings in both Britain and Persia, and in addition the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions of the time. Compelling, entertaining and informative, I highly recommend it. This book has been around for decades and I just discovered it, but stories never grow old. show less

Poco credibile polpettone storico basato sulla vocazione per la medicina di un giovane inglese dei tempi di Canuto, che per la propria istruzione si traveste addirittura da ebreo, cosa a quei tempi improbabile e pericolosa tanto quanto ai tempi di Hitler ... e dopo tante peripezie finisce per fare l'equivalente medievale del medico condotto in un barbaro paesino della Scozia
Nonostante ciò il libro è scritto piacevolmente e la ricostruzione degli usi e costumi delle varie comunità del show more tempo ha diversi punti di interesse. show less