Listening in medicine: the whiplash mystery and other tales

OVERALL RATING Good

STRENGTHS Enjoyable; wonderful stories; good material to share with students

WEAKNESSES A bit fragmented

AUDIENCE Family physicians (especially those who teach students)

If you’re like me and like stories about family medicine, then you’ll enjoy this book. Listening in Medicine is an eclectic collection of short stories or anecdotes about Michael Livingston’s own long experience as a family doctor and the lessons he’s learned from patients, research, students, and general practice “giants,” who made astute observations that formed the foundations of family medicine.

Like many of us who have practised for a few years, Livingston enjoys the history of medicine and shares with us compelling stories of such eminent family medicine researchers as Edward Jenner and William Pickles. He brings history closer to home by highlighting Canadian contributors to family medicine, such as Mary Percy Jackson, who were unknown to me.

The most compelling message of this book is held in its title, where Livingston reminds us of our greatest asset in understanding our patients: our ability to listen. Here he is referring to the kind of deep listening that happens over extended relationships with our patients, their families, and our communities.

Like much of family medicine, this book has immediate appeal. Livingston humbly tells wonderful stories about his patients and about what he learned from them. Also like family medicine, the book has after-effects, which take time to reveal themselves. There were times in the latter part of the book when I thought I had lost track of his theme and felt subject to rhetoric about whiplash research, alternative medicine, and teaching students in the community. The book seemed fragmented; however, I kept on reading. Then I discovered how these seemingly disparate chapters or parts fit into the whole.

There are excellent examples throughout the book of how family doctors have contributed to our understanding of people. What I read affirmed a perspective I share with the author about listening and brought to light a few Canadian physicians who, although not well known, have contributed much to our discipline.

Read it. You’ll enjoy it, and it will provide you with ample material to share with your students on the history and principles of family medicine.

• Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada