85 cartoons

Perhaps it was my fault but I have given "New Yorker Books" of various cartoon subject matter in the past and have been delighted. This little book is tiny!! It's about 4" X 3" and not a quarter of an inch thick. I would have been happier had I known in advance. There is nowhere in the copy that alludes to this surprise. Many of the tiny little cartoons are very funny, however.

First off, the book is tiny. I mean really tiny. It's about 3 inches square. You can't discern the mini size from the Amazon picture, so be prepared. And, correspondingly, the cartoons are very small and may be hard to read if your eyes are over 45 years of age.

The editors have culled together what are ostensibly the most humorous of the doctor-related cartoons from the New Yorker. Because humor is in the eye of the beholder, I can't say if they succeeded. All I can say is that there were a few gems for me, principally those by Gahan Wilson and Charles Addams. The average entry made me smile a little on the inside, but not much more than that.

The New Yorker Book of Doctor Cartoons can be useful if you are in the position of needing doctor related visual humor on a regular basis. I could see this book of value to people who give presentations about health care, doctors, or medicine. I could also see this book as a nice (but did I mention TINY) gift to give to the doctors in your life. Doctors who can laugh at themselves will appreciate the humor. I know. I laugh at myself all the time (and yes, I'm a doctor).

While not about doctors per se, an alternative to consider is: The Party After You Left

I first discovered The New Yorker when I was a teenager. When I saw how many people subscribed to the magazine, I started asking people why they did. Inevitably, the answer was, "For the cartoons." Since then, I have come to realize that The New Yorker is like the hall of fame for cartoonists.

I became interested in this book after reading the excellent The New Yorker Book of Money Cartoons. I was a bit disappointed in this book by comparison, which explains the four star rating. While the cartoons are terrific, the book would have benefited from having a great introduction like the one that Christopher Buckley wrote for the money cartoons.

There are 86 pages of cartoons and over 90 cartoons in this book. Almost all of them are outstanding.

The humor is aimed at both physicians and psychiatrists. Somehow, the humor about the latter seemed funnier than the former. "Does the doctor hug?" was one of my favorites.

The strong conservative bent of many physicians was well captured by one cartoon that said, "Doctor, you must stop addressing your Medicare patients as Comrade."

Lawyer humor, and the physician's usual conerns about law suits are here, too. "The doctor's lawyer will see you now."

The questionable bedside manners of some physicians and the quirks of patients were equally well represented in the cartoon that said, "Well, Phil, after years of vague complaints and imaginary ailments, we finally have something to work with."

The ever-growing specialization of medicine came in for comment in this cartoon: "I'd like you to see a botanist. You exhibit many of the symptoms of Dutch elm disease."

Finally, some humor was aimed directly at the profession. In a group of ducks, one says "Let me through. I'm a quack."

A strength of this book is that it will definitely appeal to patients and nurses. I also think that many physicians will like it, as long as they have a sense of self-deprecating humor.

Physician, heal thyself!

The book is excellent in pointing out that personal habits, the training of the physician, and philosophical opinions can interfere with delivering good medicine. Humor like this can be a tonic to help bust the stalls that those sources of misconceptions and miscommunications help create. Laughter is not only the best medicine, it can bring about better medicine.

I like to read a whole lot of all kinds of cartoon books, I have always enjoyed the funny papers, and now here is a collection of funny situations based on the numerous kinds MD's that people deal with. I'm thinking of showing this book to my own psychologist. He would get a kick out of this sort of thing, as he has got a great sense of humor to speak of himself, which helps a great deal during our sessions. Anyway, like the rest of the "New Yorker" series, get this cool compilation soon. Each doctor's office should have one for the amusement of the patients! Hey, how about one for dentists or veternarians as well?