BOOK REVIEWS
The official website of Michael Gordon, MD, MSc, FRCPC.
Looking Through The Lens - Comments from external readers:
Dr. Michael Gordon, Canada’s first certified geriatrician, is a master raconteur whose tales of medicine and life are exhilarating, at times chilling, and always poignant. His far-reaching experiences from the Israeli air force to his own deathbed underlie his erudite analyses of topics from the ethics of artificial feeding to physician payment. Scholars and the public will find simple answers to complex problems. It is hard to put this encyclopedic tome down.
Philip Berger, MD
Officer Order of Canada, Order of Ontario,
-Associate Professor, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
If you like stories, Looking Through the Lens is a book for you. Dr. Gordon has led an unconventional life, and from this has come his stories. They reflect personal experiences, practicing geriatrics and medical ethics, and working in different countries. From helicopter evacuations, to teaching students in a new West Bank nursing school to navigating poignant end-of-life challenges with grieving relatives, every story is told to the readers with empathy, insight, and humor.
- Howard Bergman, MD, FCFP, FRCPC, FCAHS
Assistant Dean, International Affairs| Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences | Professor of Family Medicine, Medicine and Oncology and the Institute for Health and Social Policy | McGill University
It is such a gift to be guided through complex and current topics in medicine by Dr. Michael Gordon’s intelligent and compassionate voice. How to balance the internet’s medical information with the guidance from our attending physician, what evidence-based medicine really means, and gentle suggestions for families caring for their beloved senior relatives - these are only a very few of the topics covered by Dr. Gordon’s latest book. An absorbing book that is not to be missed!
- Jean Blacklock, Former Chief Operating Officer,
BMO Trust Company and Head, Wealth Services, at BMO Harris Private Banking.
Dr. Michael Gordon’s personal experience with aging in his own family, his expertise as Canada’s first geriatrician and his ability to write engaging stories are truly unique. These stories span his childhood in Brooklyn, his medical studies in Scotland, his extensive travel and work abroad, his service as a Medical Officer in the Israel Air Force, and his work in geriatrics and medical ethics. The lens through which he views the world makes this book a must-read for anyone interested in aging, ethics, and society.
- Paula A. Rochon, MD, MPH, FRCPC
Founding Director, Women’s Age Lab, Women’s College Hospital, Professor, Department of Medicine, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
University of Toronto’s Dr. Gordon has managed to write a book which is an artful mix of the personal history and anecdotes of a medical student, doctor, air force physician, specialist geriatrician, ethicist and patient! All this with a profound sense of humor and the ability to see life realistically.
For anyone growing up as a student in the 1960s Dr. Gordon's stories will ring a loud bell. Whether for the American student faced with the Vietnam draft in the USA or the Israeli student with the wars in the Middle East, we all faced similar challenges. He weaves a story moving back and forth between his escapades travelling across Europe interspersed with the young doctor's dilemmas faced with sick patients, growing up in medicine facing the ethical questions which seem to grow more difficult, the older and more experienced we get! Perhaps the most moving part is the recognition of our own mortality when faced with our own potentially fatal diagnosis.
I can highly recommend this book as both a fun and thought provoking read!
- Dr. Yehezkel Caine M.D., M.Sc.
President, Herzog Medical Centre, Jerusalem, Israel - Former Chief Medical Officer Israeli Air Force (IAF)
Great story telling, wisdom, ethical insights, practical advice and a healthy dose of humor. It’s all here as Dr. Michael Gordon “Looks Through the Lens” and tells us what he's seen and learned during his amazingly adventurous life and stellar medical career.
- Dr. David B. Posen, M.D.
Author of Always Change a Losing Game and The Little Book of Stress Relief.
There are a number of very good doctor-writers out there: Jerome Groopman and the late Sherwin Nuland come to mind. But in the field of geriatric medicine and old age Dr. Michael Gordon is clearly the eminence gris. His writings are always intelligent and insightful, many relating to the complex care of old people; but just as important, he is a joy to read. The right balance and mix of personal and professional is not an easy one to manage but Gordon does so with aplomb. From Brooklyn to Bioethics, he seems to be able to write about almost anything - and to make the reading fun. I look forward to every new slip of his artful pen.
- Dr. A. Mark Clarfield, MD FRCPC
Professor (Emeritus) of Geriatric Medicine,Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Dr. Michael Gordon brilliantly weaves literature and medicine to tell his story with the perfect dose of wisdom and humor. It is wonderful to be given a window into Dr. Gordon’s incredible journey to becoming a pioneer in the field of geriatric medicine. He taught all of his students, residents, and colleagues the importance of listening to our patients, learning their personal stories first before delving into their medical histories. He not only inspired us to care for the older adult with compassion but to embrace the art of the narrative to promote excellent and holistic care
- Dr. Daphna Grossman CCFP(PC) FCFP
Palliative Care Physician, Freeman Centre for the Advancement of Palliative Care, North York General Hospital, Associate Professor Department of Family and Community Medicine, Division of Palliative Care, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Dr. Michael Gordon’s book, Looking Through the Lens: Reflections on Medicine, Ethics and Society, is a renowned doctor's description of his medical journey and his important relationship with his grandmother, his American boyhood, is medical education in Scotland and a fifty-year journey through the changes in medicine since that time. He documents his growth in terms of understanding and experience and in particular some important experiences in Israel and on the Arab Israeli border. He has a career not dominated by medicine but enriched by a love of travel, literature, and music These are the reflections of an eloquent and experienced physician, one who has played a key part in the development of geriatric medicine in Canada. He has given not only a vivid insight into the changes in the practice of medicine over the past 50 years, and in particular the development of geriatric medicine but also into some of the important decisions older adult and their families must make about their medical care.
- Dr. Irene Turpie, MB ChB , MSc, FRCPC, FRCP(Gla)
Professor Emerita (Medicine, Geriatrics)McMaster University
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