The Physician

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 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 show more 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 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 show more 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

An amazingly good read ... if I could give it more stars than 5, I would. The book is a long one and you follow Robert Cole as he starts as a young orphaned boy, apprenticed to Barber (a barber-surgeon) then on a journey to Persia to really learn the craft of being a Physician and then returning back to Britain with 2 children and a red headed Scot woman that he met on his journeys.

Don't expect wild action in this book, the character development is slow but that is the beauty of the book...you live the scenes as though you are there. The flow of the book is smooth and steady. I enjoyed especially his life as a barber-surgeon and later as a student in the Persian medical University but really there was little dead time in the read.

Highly show more recommended....two thumbs up with vigour :) 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 tempo ha diversi punti di interesse.

The Physician by Noah Gordon is an excellent work of historical fiction based in the eleventh century. Rob J. Cole is orphaned as a young child in London and apprenticed to a traveling barber/surgeon. Rob discovers he has a calling to be a healer, but the Church takes a dim view of this type of work, believing that healing should be left to God. Rob hears about a hospital and a great man who teaches the art of healing located in Persia. He begins an epic journey to the East in order to pursue his dream. Christians are not permitted in Muslim schools, so Rob claims to be a Jew. The book is story driven and proceeds at a brisk and even pace. The book was published in 1986 (I'm surprised I've never come across it before) and yet very show more enlightening about things that most of us in the West have only learned about since the turn of the century; like Shari'a law, Muslim culture, and the long standing tension between Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. I strongly recommend The Physician. show less

An epic novel. It may be old, but it is still a vivid imaginative descriptive story of life at the beginning of the 11th century. It highlights the state of medical knowledge of that era, mentions the loss of hard-won knowledge during the sack of Constantinople, shows the leading role of Persian researchers in preserving and sharing effective methods, and the role of religious beliefs in limiting what is acceptable.
As the oldest child, Rob is responsible for his younger siblings after their mother's death. He is determined to not be like his drunken, unfaithful, father. Later in life, he recognizes how hopelessness and defeat can lead a man into that behavior, but by then he is also driven by the urge to learn how to heal.
The tale show more flagged a bit towards the end, but pulled off an ending I hadn't expected. show less

It is no secret I adore historical fiction. It is also no secret I become impatient with historical fiction which isn't particularly well-researched and riddled with modern intrusions and perspectives.

Unfortunately, such is the case with Noah Gordon's first book in his Cole Family Trilogy.

The story follows a young man's need to find gainful employment in medieval England, a search which lands him with a charlatan medic who operates an itinerant snake oil show. There is something of the paranormal in Gordon's story, an ability the protagonist develops whereby he is able to feel the health of imminent death of a patient.

When his employer dies, he takes it upon himself to travel to Persia, disguised as a Jew, in order to study with a show more physician purported to be the best in the world.

While a consumable read, for this reader the story just didn't hang together, primarily because there were so many plausibility questions, outright material culture errors, and stereotyped gender and cultural points.

Altogether disappointing, and not enough interest to want to continue with the series. Your mileage may vary. show less