Perspectives

In 2006 Dr Richard Fieldhouse, the founder and chairman of the National Association of Sessional General Practitioners, asked GP Judith Harvey to review a book for the Association's newsletter. For the next edition she off ered Richard an article about one-time medical student Hector Berlioz. Since then she has fi lled the back page of every issue, writing on anything from wart-charming to robots. So, this book is a collection of ten years of meditations on health and medical matters in the widest sense, originally published in that newsletter or other journals. Seventy-four short articles explore ideas about doctors, patients, the senses, culture, medical practice, careers, ethics and politics, and the future. Though written for an audience of GPs, they should be of interest to anyone, professional or patient - and we are all sometimes patients.