Medicine and the arts have in common a concern for all aspects of people's lives. This delightful anthology celebrates the many ways in which they interact. Robin Downie has mixed together a rich concoction of poems, stories, prose extracts, music, paintings, and drawings which illustrate the fundamental issues of birth, life, and death. From reviews of the hardback edition The best presents are often those you want to buy for yourself and part with only grudgingly. The Healing Arts falls headlong into this class. New Scientist This book is really much better than any anthology has a right to be... remarkably handsome: large format, good paper, spacious layouts, colour plates, and photographs... but the most striking aspect is the quality and variety of the selected items, and the way in which they flow and are mutually reinforcing.' Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London ' a splendid anthology ... Downie's anthology is interesting, varied ... and fun to dip into.' The Lancet Here's some cultural diversion for anyone on the mend from the surgeon's knife or fighting illness, or indeed for the hypochondriac. Read Betjeman on nurses, Larkin on ambulances, and C S Lewis on grief. And more in the same vein.' Focus ... a delightful collection of poetry, essay, and musical score, punctuated by carefully selected drawings and paintings. It is undoubtedly a delightful gift for almost anyone in medicine, and a goodly number outside the profession. British Journal of Anaesthesia He has compiled a beautiful and inspiring collection of poems, drawings, paintings, cartoons, music and excerpts from books and journals to give pleasure, to heal and inform, and to "stretch the imagination, deepen the sympathy and enrich perspectives" ... It superbly fulfills Downie's goal of bringing pleasure, stretching the imagination, and deepening sympathy. I strongly recommend it to those of you who value the arts and have some association with the medical profession. The Medical Humanities Review This book is a gem which will have wide appeal.... It breaks new ground in using art, prose and poetry to explore interactions between medicine and the arts. Journal of Medical Ethics

About the Author
Robin Downie is Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University, and the author of several OUP books, including Health Promotion (2/e, 1996) and Healthy Respect (1994). An accomplished pianist and composer, he is also the convenor of an interdisciplinary group which meets to discuss medicine and its relation to art, music, and literature.

Reviews
The task of gathering works that illustrate the issues of birth, life and death is not an easy one. Given the plethora of material available to him, Downie has amassed a collection that spans centuries and languages, and has neatly compiled them into a highly accessible anthology. This is a stimulating and emotive compendium in which everyone will surely find something of intrigue. * Cambridge Medicine, Vol 18, No 1 *
"This wonderful anthology . . . draws together some of the best that the artistic world has to offer on the subject of healthcare . . . in one easily accessible and well presented volume." * Bulletin of Medical Ethics *



Book Information
ISBN 9780192632579
Author Robin Downie
Format Paperback
Page Count 352
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 247mm * 190mm * 22mm