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The Physician

by ballybeg

Set in the Middle Ages, The Physician by Noah Gordon, is a sweeping tale of young Rob Cole’s obsession with becoming a doctor. Not a sawbones, or barber-surgeon, nor one of the self-satisfied doctors who are members of the elite English guilds, whose motivation is mainly money and prestige. Rob’s yearning is to learn healing and understand how it happens, how the body works and why.

Orphaned in London and ‘given’ to a barber-surgeon as an apprentice-helper, he learns quite a bit about doctoring, but it only serves to deepen his desire for more knowledge. He discovers inadvertently that the way to achieve his goal is to study in Persia with the noted doctor Ibn Sina, known to the west as, Avicenna. There are obvious and monumental obstacles to making this happen, not the least of which is the fact that Rob is a Christian and is therefore forbidden to study with Muslims, this fact held by both Christian and Muslim law. How he disguises himself as a Jew and makes the long journey to achieve his heart’s desire is a riveting story.

The 11th century is considered to be the peak of the Islamic Golden Age of culture and learning. A flowering of accomplishment in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, poetry, architecture, science and medicine was happening in the east, when England and western Europe were barely out of the Dark Ages. Avicenna was the most famous scholar and doctor of that era, perhaps of any era. He taught medicine in a university hospital, a concept which did not reach back to England until centuries later. He drew on the classic teachings of Galen and Hippocrates, which had been lost to the west. His students studied philosophy, science, history, language, Islamic teachings and celestial phenomenon. He taught them to question and seek new thresholds of learning, to push beyond the barriers of superstition and religious dogma.

Written in 1986, The Physician never much caught on in this country. It was, however, a huge bestseller in Europe, particularly Spain and Germany. Re-released recently it is making a come-back and it completely deserves to be discovered again. One reason that is bound to happen is the movie, based on the book, which will be released later this year. Starring Ben Kingsley as Avicenna you can watch the trailer here. If you prefer to read books before you watch the spin-off films, get started now.

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