Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
London : Macmillan, 1986.
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML: An orphan leaves Dark Ages London to study medicine in Persia in this "rich" and "vivid" historical novel from a New York Times�bestselling author (The New York Times). A child holds the hand of his dying mother and is terrified, aware something is taking her. Orphaned and given to an itinerant barber-surgeon, Rob Cole becomes a fast-talking swindler, peddling a worthless medicine. But as he matures, his strange gift�an acute sensitivity to impending death�never leaves him, and he yearns to become a healer. Arab madrassas are the only authentic medical schools, and he makes his perilous way to Persia. Christians are barred from Muslim schools, but claiming he is a Jew, he studies under the world's most renowned physician, Avicenna. How the woman who is his great love struggles against her only rival�medicine�makes a riveting modern classic. The Physician is the first book in New York Times�bestselling author Noah Gordon's Dr. Robert Cole trilogy, which continues with Shaman and concludes with Matters of Choice..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member OscarWilde87
The Physician by Noah Gordon is set in the eleventh century and follows the life of Rob Cole, whose parents die right at the beginning of the novel. Trying to find a place, Rob becomes the apprentice of a barber-surgeon in London and learns to entertain crowds with magic tricks and juggling on the
While the protagonist's life is marked by hardships and obstacles, there is also the component of finding the love of his life and eventually happiness. On his journey to Persia, Rob meets his later wife Mary, a Scottish woman traveling with her father in order to buy Turkish sheep. Since Mary and Rob have different destinations, they leave each other shortly after having fallen in love with each other. As fate would have it, they meet again in Persia and Mary becomes Rob's wife and they have children. Having to flee from their home in Persia, they eventually return to London where they part ways again, only to be finally reunited in Mary's Scottish home.
One integral issue in this novel is religion. Rob, the protagonist is Christian throughout his life. However, on his journey to Persia he learns how to behave like a Jew. As part of his training to become a physician he also has to study the teachings of the Quran, which gives him insight into another different religion. While one might be tempted to say that Rob only pretends to have a different faith in order to achieve his goal of becoming a physician, there is also a part in him that is actually very interested in Islam and Judaism. Throughout the novel, Rob compares the different religions, but not in a judgmental way. He is interested in the different commandments and parts of scripture and sees benefits in each of the three religions. This knowledge makes him become a very open-minded character and serves him well in his life. Generally, Rob is presented as a very curious person who takes interest in many things, especially in medicine and religion. Only when science and religion oppose each other in the matter of dissecting human bodies, Rob chooses to further scientific knowledge at the cost of breaking religious rules. The dichotomy of being a physician while at the same time having a profound knowledge of several faiths spices up the plot of The Physician.
On the whole, I liked the exploration of differences between the western and the eastern world. While I enjoyed reading the novel a lot, I have, however, never really felt the urge to devour it. Summing up my reading experience, I have to say that although The Physician was not a real page-turner for me, it was quite an interesting read because of the themes that are explored. 4 stars.
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one hand, and curing minor illnesses on the other hand. Intrigued by the latter and driven by the death of his mother, he decides that he wants to dedicate his life to medicine so as to be able to understand and cure illnesses. During his apprenticeship with the barber-surgeon, Rob soon discovers that he has a gift. He is able to tell if a person is going to die by taking their hands into his own. As he sees the limitations of being a barber-surgeon, a trade that is not regarded very highly, the protagonist strives to become a physician. When he hears about a medical school in the far away Persia, Rob sets out on a long and hard journey. Seeing that being Christian makes his life harder, Rob Cole decides to turn into the Jew Jesse ben Benjamin, which eases things at the beginning but also has its disadvantages when he finally arrives in Persia. Once there, Rob manages to get accepted for the training as a physician. As part of his training he becomes acquainted with the Shah of Persia, who develops a special relationship with him that influences great parts of Rob's life in Persia. The protagonist spends a very important period of his life in the eastern world, only to return to London after a several years.While the protagonist's life is marked by hardships and obstacles, there is also the component of finding the love of his life and eventually happiness. On his journey to Persia, Rob meets his later wife Mary, a Scottish woman traveling with her father in order to buy Turkish sheep. Since Mary and Rob have different destinations, they leave each other shortly after having fallen in love with each other. As fate would have it, they meet again in Persia and Mary becomes Rob's wife and they have children. Having to flee from their home in Persia, they eventually return to London where they part ways again, only to be finally reunited in Mary's Scottish home.
One integral issue in this novel is religion. Rob, the protagonist is Christian throughout his life. However, on his journey to Persia he learns how to behave like a Jew. As part of his training to become a physician he also has to study the teachings of the Quran, which gives him insight into another different religion. While one might be tempted to say that Rob only pretends to have a different faith in order to achieve his goal of becoming a physician, there is also a part in him that is actually very interested in Islam and Judaism. Throughout the novel, Rob compares the different religions, but not in a judgmental way. He is interested in the different commandments and parts of scripture and sees benefits in each of the three religions. This knowledge makes him become a very open-minded character and serves him well in his life. Generally, Rob is presented as a very curious person who takes interest in many things, especially in medicine and religion. Only when science and religion oppose each other in the matter of dissecting human bodies, Rob chooses to further scientific knowledge at the cost of breaking religious rules. The dichotomy of being a physician while at the same time having a profound knowledge of several faiths spices up the plot of The Physician.
On the whole, I liked the exploration of differences between the western and the eastern world. While I enjoyed reading the novel a lot, I have, however, never really felt the urge to devour it. Summing up my reading experience, I have to say that although The Physician was not a real page-turner for me, it was quite an interesting read because of the themes that are explored. 4 stars.
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LibraryThing member richard.thurman
The Physician by Noah Gordon is an excellent work of historical fiction based in the eleventh century. Rob J. Cole is orphaned as a young child in London and apprenticed to a traveling barber/surgeon. Rob discovers he has a calling to be a healer, but the Church takes a dim view of this type of
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work, believing that healing should be left to God. Rob hears about a hospital and a great man who teaches the art of healing located in Persia. He begins an epic journey to the East in order to pursue his dream. Christians are not permitted in Muslim schools, so Rob claims to be a Jew. The book is story driven and proceeds at a brisk and even pace. The book was published in 1986 (I'm surprised I've never come across it before) and yet very enlightening about things that most of us in the West have only learned about since the turn of the century; like Shari'a law, Muslim culture, and the long standing tension between Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. I strongly recommend The Physician. Show Less
LibraryThing member CindaMac
"But it came to seem that Kilmarnock (in Scotland) had always been his life, and that what had happened before was a tale he had heard told around the fire when the wind blew cold."
My favorite line from this fascinating, historical novel set in Saxon England and 11th-century Persia. Bob Cole is
The research Gordon has done is formidable, covering medieval medicine, the settings in both Britain and Persia, and in addition the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions of the time. Compelling, entertaining and informative, I highly recommend it. This book has been around for decades and I just discovered it, but stories never grow old.
My favorite line from this fascinating, historical novel set in Saxon England and 11th-century Persia. Bob Cole is
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orphaned in London and apprenticed to a barber surgeon. As he grows to manhood, he wants to study more about medicine and learns of a legendary physician teaching at a Persian University where Christian students are forbidden. The adventure includes not only a dangerous journey, but a risky impersonation as he wins the Shah's favor, falls in love and becomes a well-regarded man of medicine.The research Gordon has done is formidable, covering medieval medicine, the settings in both Britain and Persia, and in addition the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions of the time. Compelling, entertaining and informative, I highly recommend it. This book has been around for decades and I just discovered it, but stories never grow old.
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LibraryThing member brewbooks
The Physician describes the journey of an eleventh century Englishman to become a healer. Rob Cole starts by learning how to become a barber-surgeon. He yearns to become a physician and sets a goal to study with: “The outstanding physician in the world. Avicenna, whose Arab name is Abu Ali
He learns effective study from the Jewish communities he interacts with.
“Rob read and studied his book and the Jews, behaving too much like the rest of them to stay a novelty. For six hours every day—three hours following the morning prayer service, which they called shaharit, and three hours after the evening service, ma’ariv —the study house was jammed, for most of the men studied before and after completing the day’s work by which they earned their living.”
(This really struck me, I often do a similar amount of study each day but not consistently…)
Eventually, Rob Cole reaches the medical school headed by the polymath ibn Sina and gains acceptance. He learns that he must gain a well-rounded education:
“You make a common error. If you have not studied philosophy, how can you reject it? Science and medicine teach of the body, while philosophy teaches of the mind and the soul, and a physician requires all these as he needs food and air. …. “You have the mind, for we see you grasp a new language, and we detect your promise in a dozen other ways. But you must not fear to allow learning to become a part of you, so that it is as natural as breathing. You must stretch your mind, wide enough to take in all we can give you.” …. Now he knew why God had given him a great, strong body and good eyes, for he taxed himself to the limit of his endurance as he sought to make himself a scholar.
He struggles and eventually succeeds in becoming a physician and scholar. Eventually, he is able to extend medical knowledge by breaking the taboo of dissection: “The ancients didn’t cripple their science with admonitions of sin, and what little we now know came from the early Greeks, who had the freedom to open the body and study it. They dissected the dead and observed how man is fashioned within. For a brief moment in those long-ago days their brilliance illuminated all of medicine, and then the world fell into darkness.”
Our physician continues his journey, both intellectually and geographically. I’ve just illustrated a few of the many points that captivated me while reading Noah Gordon’s complex historical novel. I highly recommend this book and hope the other two books in this trilogy are as interesting.
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at-Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sina.” To do so, he embarks on a journey across Europe to Persia. Along the way he encounters and adapts to Christian, Jewish, and Islamic cultures. He learns effective study from the Jewish communities he interacts with.
“Rob read and studied his book and the Jews, behaving too much like the rest of them to stay a novelty. For six hours every day—three hours following the morning prayer service, which they called shaharit, and three hours after the evening service, ma’ariv —the study house was jammed, for most of the men studied before and after completing the day’s work by which they earned their living.”
(This really struck me, I often do a similar amount of study each day but not consistently…)
Eventually, Rob Cole reaches the medical school headed by the polymath ibn Sina and gains acceptance. He learns that he must gain a well-rounded education:
“You make a common error. If you have not studied philosophy, how can you reject it? Science and medicine teach of the body, while philosophy teaches of the mind and the soul, and a physician requires all these as he needs food and air. …. “You have the mind, for we see you grasp a new language, and we detect your promise in a dozen other ways. But you must not fear to allow learning to become a part of you, so that it is as natural as breathing. You must stretch your mind, wide enough to take in all we can give you.” …. Now he knew why God had given him a great, strong body and good eyes, for he taxed himself to the limit of his endurance as he sought to make himself a scholar.
He struggles and eventually succeeds in becoming a physician and scholar. Eventually, he is able to extend medical knowledge by breaking the taboo of dissection: “The ancients didn’t cripple their science with admonitions of sin, and what little we now know came from the early Greeks, who had the freedom to open the body and study it. They dissected the dead and observed how man is fashioned within. For a brief moment in those long-ago days their brilliance illuminated all of medicine, and then the world fell into darkness.”
Our physician continues his journey, both intellectually and geographically. I’ve just illustrated a few of the many points that captivated me while reading Noah Gordon’s complex historical novel. I highly recommend this book and hope the other two books in this trilogy are as interesting.
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LibraryThing member creighley
Rob J. Cole has lived a difficult life. HIs parents died when he was young and his siblings were forced to be divided among various families. Rob ended up with a Physician-Barber. From this experience Rob finds his passion: medicine. He travels to Persia to study with the best of the best.
LibraryThing member Limelite
Not often does historical fact, atmosphere, and action get blended in such a seamless way, but Gordon has done it in this easy reading tale of a boy-to-man pilgrimage from orphan to physician in 11th C. Europe and Middle East.
Robert Jeremy Cole (Rob), in order to achieve his dream of advancing from
Once in Ispahan, he is befriended by the beautiful Moslem runner/medical clerk, Karim Harun, and Mirdin Askari, another medical clerk and an observant Jew (like “himself"). More dangerously, the shah, King of Kings Ala, gathers Rob into his circle of intimates and coerces the three of them to accompany him on a raid into India to capture elephants and “blue” steel weapons. To what outcome?
Gordon painlessly instructs the reader about ancient medical training, military conquest, Islamic law (Fiqh and Shari’a), Jewish same (Talmudic commandments), and plague history. From politics, to religion, customs and culture, Gordon paints what feels like a realistic picture of the world and how people lived in the ten hundreds CE. Here is a book that succeeds both as entertainment and education.
Robert Jeremy Cole (Rob), in order to achieve his dream of advancing from
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barber-surgeon to physician, must travel to Ispahan, Persia to get his education, an accomplishment that would get him excommunicated by Rome and executed by the mullahs if, as a Christian, he attempted it. So, Rob disguises himself as a Jew, calling himself Jesse ben Benjamin, and undertakes the journey to the school where he hopes to study under the renowned teacher, Ibn Sina. He bears another terrible secret – the ability to detect when someone is going to die by laying on his hands.Once in Ispahan, he is befriended by the beautiful Moslem runner/medical clerk, Karim Harun, and Mirdin Askari, another medical clerk and an observant Jew (like “himself"). More dangerously, the shah, King of Kings Ala, gathers Rob into his circle of intimates and coerces the three of them to accompany him on a raid into India to capture elephants and “blue” steel weapons. To what outcome?
Gordon painlessly instructs the reader about ancient medical training, military conquest, Islamic law (Fiqh and Shari’a), Jewish same (Talmudic commandments), and plague history. From politics, to religion, customs and culture, Gordon paints what feels like a realistic picture of the world and how people lived in the ten hundreds CE. Here is a book that succeeds both as entertainment and education.
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LibraryThing member RandomMichelle
I got about halfway through and then just lost interest.
LibraryThing member konrad.katie
Whew, I should've reviewed this book closer to the date I actually finished it. My memory is fading. The Physician is a tome - a long, imaginative read with many vibrant characters and colorful settings. I was drawn to this book by it's oriental setting: Persia (be warned, you don't get there until
It reads like a history novel so I hope to God it's accurate (because I would like to say that I learned something). Like a history novel, there aren't many surprises. The story just unfolds without many twists or turns. Maybe you'll enjoy it?
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you've reached the 30% mark). And Wales. I'm a sucker for W(h)ales. It reads like a history novel so I hope to God it's accurate (because I would like to say that I learned something). Like a history novel, there aren't many surprises. The story just unfolds without many twists or turns. Maybe you'll enjoy it?
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LibraryThing member janerawoof
This was a very good story of an orphan, Rob Cole, in 11th century England. He apprentices with a barber-surgeon, Barber, travelling all over England. He feels there is more than what Barber can teach him and heeds the call to be a physician after he KNOWS by just holding a sick person's hands
I read the whole 600+ pages in one afternoon; the novel was so fascinating. The pages flew by. However good the story and writing were, I felt it fell short on history; so don't expect to learn much. The author even says as much in his acknowledgments: "it should be understood this is a work of the imagination, not a slice of history." I don't know if the author may have been completely accurate on Jewish and Muslim customs of that period. Characterization was well done; I feel Rob was an amalgamation of earnest and serious physicians and some of their discoveries through the years. One strong point I liked was the theme of religious tolerance. And we read of instances of its dark face: intolerance of those with other beliefs and customs.
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whether they'll die soon or not. He wants to study with Avicenna, the famous medieval Persian physician; this obsession is so overwhelming, he makes the long journey to Persia--through France, Germany, Bohemia, Hungary--finally reaching Persia, even assuming the identity of a Jew, as Christians are not permitted to study there. He attains the status of hakim [physician] and the book follows his Persian adventures, even into India. He and his wife, the red-haired Scotswoman, Mary, return to the land of his birth, and finally to Scotland, her homeland.I read the whole 600+ pages in one afternoon; the novel was so fascinating. The pages flew by. However good the story and writing were, I felt it fell short on history; so don't expect to learn much. The author even says as much in his acknowledgments: "it should be understood this is a work of the imagination, not a slice of history." I don't know if the author may have been completely accurate on Jewish and Muslim customs of that period. Characterization was well done; I feel Rob was an amalgamation of earnest and serious physicians and some of their discoveries through the years. One strong point I liked was the theme of religious tolerance. And we read of instances of its dark face: intolerance of those with other beliefs and customs.
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LibraryThing member MohammedLR
Rob Cole is a young boy who holds the strong and powerful dream of studying medicine and travels across Europe facing several difficulties in his journey to become the phyisician he always dreamt of.
LibraryThing member fiverivers
It is no secret I adore historical fiction. It is also no secret I become impatient with historical fiction which isn't particularly well-researched and riddled with modern intrusions and perspectives.
Unfortunately, such is the case with Noah Gordon's first book in his Cole Family Trilogy.
The
When his employer dies, he takes it upon himself to travel to Persia, disguised as a Jew, in order to study with a physician purported to be the best in the world.
While a consumable read, for this reader the story just didn't hang together, primarily because there were so many plausibility questions, outright material culture errors, and stereotyped gender and cultural points.
Altogether disappointing, and not enough interest to want to continue with the series. Your mileage may vary.
Unfortunately, such is the case with Noah Gordon's first book in his Cole Family Trilogy.
The
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story follows a young man's need to find gainful employment in medieval England, a search which lands him with a charlatan medic who operates an itinerant snake oil show. There is something of the paranormal in Gordon's story, an ability the protagonist develops whereby he is able to feel the health of imminent death of a patient. When his employer dies, he takes it upon himself to travel to Persia, disguised as a Jew, in order to study with a physician purported to be the best in the world.
While a consumable read, for this reader the story just didn't hang together, primarily because there were so many plausibility questions, outright material culture errors, and stereotyped gender and cultural points.
Altogether disappointing, and not enough interest to want to continue with the series. Your mileage may vary.
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Young boy in 11th cent London is apprenticed to a barber who recognizes the boy's gift for healing. Eventually the child grows up and seeks the education he needs to be a physician.
LibraryThing member nossanna
This book is a fascinating convergence of history, religion and medicine, following Rob Cole's journey from orphan to training in the middle east as a physician. I highly recommend this read.
LibraryThing member bezap
Very lengthy engrossing read for those who love historic fiction. Rich in details of medieval life, medical history and Persia. Many descriptions of the brutality and ignorance of the times, and of course how religions, both Christian Church and Islam control the people through fear and
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intimidation. Also rich in details of Judaism in medieval times. Show Less
LibraryThing member waldhaus1
Rob Cole born in England is orphaned and apprenticed to a barber surgeon. After the Barber surgeon’s death he meets a Jewish physician and learns of a great physician Avicina who lives in the Middle East. He knows that to travel is dangerous and will be challenging but he braves the trip and
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becomes a disciple of Avicenna. He excels as a medical student and then as a physician given the limits of the time. The story takes place about 40 years before the time of William the Conqueror. He marries a Scott’s woman who happens to also be traveling in the far east looking for special sheep. Rob becomes a confidant of the Shah and a court physician at times. The Shah becomes embroiled in a war with a neighboring ruler, looses the war and then his life. Rob his wife and their children decide to dare the return journey to England. The journey succeeds. They stop first in London. Rob’s wife Mary is unhappy in London so he helps her return home to Scotland. When Rob is accused of being a heretic because he had disguised himself as a Jew in order to travel to the Middle East he realizes he also must travel to Scotland and rejoin his family. She helps him set up as a physician in Scotland. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1986
Physical description
604 p.; 23 cm
ISBN
0333429192 / 9780333429198