# Looking for two medical short story books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-two-medical-short-story-books/560391 "2010-11-12T04:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-two-medical-short-story-books/560391/1 "2010-11-12T04:18:10Z")
The recent thread about science books for a bright teen reminded me, in a roundabout way, of two books I am casually searching for. I don’t remember the name of either of them. I would have read them most likely sometime between 1985 and 1995, probably to the earlier end of that. They were both books I had from the library, which is one reason I can’t recall the titles. The first one - a collection of short stories, perhaps real or based in real events, on semi-medical topics. I retain the vague impression the collection was written by a doctor. One story in the collection has haunted me for years - a small town pharmacist who commits suicide by drinking acid. Another story in the collection was about a marble-carving artist whose daughter dies of Hodgkin’s disease and he does beautiful carvings for her tomb. The stories were mostly dark and depressing, as I recall. I’d like to look at this one again to see if it really was as depressing as I remember it. The other was a collection of historical medical detective type stories. I think there was a story about rabies, and another one about a group of vacationers in Scotland who get botulism from sandwiches made for their fishing expedition on a loch. I remember thinking at the time this book was interesting and I’d like a copy, but I lost track of the title. Any help at all would be much appreciated…especially so many years later! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-two-medical-short-story-books/560391/2 "2010-11-12T04:57:21Z")
Your second book may be _Great Medical Disasters_, by Richard Gordon, first published in 1983. I know it has the botulism sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-two-medical-short-story-books/560391/3 "2010-11-12T13:43:33Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > Your second book may be _Great Medical Disasters_, by Richard Gordon, first published in 1983. I know it has the botulism sandwiches. Thank you, I’ll check it out - sounds like the kind of book I’d like even if it’s not exactly the one! ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-two-medical-short-story-books/560391/4 "2010-11-13T17:53:28Z")
Possibly _The Medical Detectives_, by Berton Roueche. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-two-medical-short-story-books/560391/5 "2010-11-13T20:50:51Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > Possibly _The Medical Detectives_, by Berton Roueche. No, I own that one and reread it quite often. It’s a favorite, and is a good example of the kind of thing I like. Having looked at a bit of the Richard Gordon book mentioned above, I think that’s the right one for the book with the mention of the fishing party and the botulism outbreak. Still no takers on the first book, though. This one really haunts me, particularly that one story. I thought it might be one of Richard Selzer’s books, but a quick poke through Amazon didn’t turn up any likely candidates from his writings.