Books like The Medical Detectives

Updating this rating to 5 stars (January 6th, 2008), because it was one of the five best books I read in 2007.This "classic collection of award-winning medical investigative reporting", published in 1988, is an excellent book. Each of the 25 case studies originally appeared as an "Annals of medicine" piece in the New Yorker, and there's not a dud in the bunch. It's like 25 "House" episodes, but without the gratuitous obnoxiousness, condescension to the reader, or the ridiculous constraint that only a limping, misanthropic painkiller addict can be right. I found these essays much more satisfying than those in the Oliver Sacks collection I also sampled over the weekend ("An anthropologist on Mars"). Not sure why, but there is something about Dr Sacks that rubs me the wrong way - at the very least, I'd be happier if he cut all his chapters by 50%, I don't find his ruminations nearly as fascinating as he apparently does. I suspect I'm in the minority on this one, as each new collection of his seems to receive universal acclaim. Furthermore, to be fair, the possibility has to be acknowledged that my vague "I do not like thee Doctor Fell" reaction to Sacks can be traced back to nothing more than damning him by association with Robin Williams. Because didn't Williams portray the Sacks-figure in "Awakenings"? After which there are just two words left: PATCH ADAMS ....Note to self: strive to be a less shallow person in 2008. In conclusion, Roueche's "The Medical Detectives" is an awesome collection. 25 fascinating case studies, each concisely and elegantly presented. 4.5 stars.