Kore

December 3, 2012
No medical experience necessary: readers need only approach with a love of the human body and an understanding of how it relates to emotion and story. Carrying on a tradition of physician-writers, Dr. Szczeklik (Catharsis: On the Art of Medicine), at one time or another, has written works of poetry, history, philosophy, biology, and theology. He begins by diagnosing the woman in the Raphael painting La Fornarina with breast cancer, going on to explore the history of medicine and question distinctions between ancient theories and modern technology. Finding life defined by NASA and death by medicine, he listens closely when the Polish poet and Nobel Laureate Czeslaw Milosz, nearing his life's end, says: "A new book absolutely has to be written about dying and death." In a rare unambiguous moment, Szczeklik firmly pronounces that doctors need not always tell patients the truth. Otherwise, his fluid stream of consciousness takes precedence over definitive statements and clearly structured chapters, at one point skipping from Greek myths to Norman invasions to Terri Schiavo in just a few particularly memorable pages. Readers may find it difficult to keep up, but few are likely to forget this book.

October 1, 2012
An eminent Polish physician reflects on his lifetime practice of medicine. Szczeklik (Catharsis: On the Art of Medicine, 2005) weighs in on the ongoing debate about the compatibility of religion and science, supporting the view of leading geneticist Francis Collins and rejecting the stance of Richard Dawkins, who embraces atheism. Szczeklik writes that "while evolution can tell us a lot about how life developed, it cannot answer the profound question about the meaning of life, or why the universe exists." He artfully combines insights from art and religion and speculations on the role that viruses may have played in the origin of DNA, and he sees great hope in the advancement of medicine--e.g., in the treatment of coronary artery disease, organ transplants and the potential of stem-cell research. Szczeklik traces how our definition of death has shifted as we have gained the ability to extend life artificially. The classic criteria--the cessation of "circulation and breathing"--have been supplanted by "irreversible, permanent cessation of brain function." However, these new criteria are also problematic, as evidenced by cases cited by the author--e.g., a man in a vegetative state for 19 years who spontaneously recovered full mental ability or the controversial case of Terry Schiavo. While parents and spouses are involved in the decision on whether and when to declare a person dead, writes the author, "it is usually the mute decision of the doctors." Szczeklik suggests that the soul is capable of being found "somewhere between life and death, health and illness, science and art, and also in love." A profound celebration of the human spirit.

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Starred review from December 1, 2012

The late Polish cardiologist Szczeklik (Catharsis: On the Art of Medicine) was a polymath, deeply immersed in art, music, literature, and mythology. Here he writes with characteristic authority, wisdom, and lyricism. Even the title hints at the range of his knowledge: Kore is another name for Persephone, goddess both of the underworld and of the bounty of spring, a powerful and complex metaphor for medicine's duality. It is also Greek for the pupil of the eye, thought by ancient scholars to be the window of the soul. Here Szczeklik writes of this search for the location of the soul, of shamanism, intuition, "love-sickness" and love potions, faith and evolution, as well as more traditional medical subjects such as allergies, genetics, viruses, death and dying, medical ethics, and the frontiers of modern medicine. VERDICT This book will challenge, delight, and inform health-care professionals and serious readers. Combining a scientist's mind with a humanist's heart, Szczeklik offers his readers much to remember and ponder.--Kathleen Arsenault, St. Petersburg, FL

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2012
The profession of medicine is both an art and a science. Eloquently elaborating on the symbiosis of medicine and the humanities, Polish physician Szczeklik mulls over the many connections between the worlds of science and medicine and the spheres of art, literature, music, philosophy, and mythology. A sampling of the figures featured in the bookApollo, Mikhail Bulgakov, Thomas Hardy, Orpheus, Paracelsus, Pope John Paul II, Saint Teresa, Socrates, Richard Wagnersuggests the breadth of the discussion. Artists enjoy a special affinity with anatomy and biomedical science. Raphael seems to have depicted a cancer of the breast in one woman's portrait. Caravaggio studied a decaying corpse that served as the model for his painting, The Raising of Lazarus. Digressions about phrenology, telepathy, and mysticism liven things up. Szczeklik muses on altruism, intuition, the soul, and even the lack of a cure for love sickness. He serves up his best stuff with a dash of sage sensitivity. He writes, From the moment we are born, we carry the world inside us. And what an intriguing and inspiring world Szczeklik shows us.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)