This is one of the most satisfying novels I've read in a long time. One of my rare six-star selections. There's a consistency of quality from cover to cover, owing to the perfect marriage of fine writing and graceful editing.

Rob J. Cole is a man who feels called to be a healer. He stays true to that calling, even when surrounded by other physicians who are motivated by greed and glory. He risks and sacrifices all for the chance to study in Persia with Ibn Sina, the greatest physician of the 11th century.

The story is especially fulfilling because it comes full circle. Rob returns to London after many years in foreign lands. Through comparison with those who have never left home, he realizes how he has grown in compassion, tolerance, and critical thinking. He's so far ahead of the doctors around him that he doesn't fit in, but he does finally find a place where he can put down roots and be surrounded by a loving family and community. This is a sweet relief for him after having been an orphan and an outsider since the age of nine.

I read the final paragraph of the book three times in a row with tears in my eyes. There are no spoilers in it, so here is that paragraph:

"As the seasons slipped by, only one thing was constant. The extra sense, the healer's sensitivity, never abandoned him. Whether he was called lonely in the night to a bedside or hurried of a morning into the crowded dispensary, he could always feel their pain. Hastening to struggle with it, he never failed to know--as he had known from the first day in the maristan--a rush of wondering gratitude that he was chosen, that it was he whom God's hand had reached out and touched, and that such an opportunity to minister and serve should have been given to Barber's boy."

That sense of duty, of being one chosen to ease suffering, has completely disappeared from the practice of modern medicine. That is a tragedy beyond reckoning.

I was captivated by this book. Although, as the author states in the acknowledgements, there is not a great deal known about details of the practice of medicine during the Middle Ages, I found what was written was interesting. The daily life of those living during this time is realistically presented. I'm certainly glad I don't have to endure the hardships, dirt & foods they had. The long journey that Rob J Cole made to Persia to study medicine was a little unbelievable, but during that period merchants did travel in the known world. The part of the book that takes place in Asia was more difficult for me to read as the names are so strange. I enjoyed the interaction of the Jewish people--I'm fascinated by Jewish history & culture.
If you are interested in historical fiction, especially about the middle ages, I highly recommend the book.

Es un libro que leí hace mucho tiempo pero que se queda para siempre en la cabeza. Lo disfruté tremendamente.

Rob J. tinha um dom.
Desde criança que Rob. J. pegava nas mãos dos doentes, e podia sentir se a morte estava próxima. Sentia também uma grande curiosidade em relação às doenças; como surgiam, como evoluíam, o desejo de encontrar a melhor forma de aliviar o sofrimento e, se possível, curar os doentes.
Esta vontade levou-o a perseguir um sonho, impossível para muitos. Sem família nem nada que o prendesse a uma Inglaterra atrasada e ignorante, nos primórdios do séc XI, lançou-se à aventura e, montado numa carroça durante dois anos, atravessou a Europa rumo à Pérsia, (hoje, Irão) para aprender medicina com o melhor e mais consagrado físico (médico) da época.
Pôs-se à prova, por vezes nas mais primitivas condições humanas, e enfrentou sozinho, os desafios de tão grande jornada, sem outra ajuda além das suas mãos e da sua mente.
Conheceu pessoas e aprendeu a distingui-las; àqueles tão maltratados pela vida quanto ele, abriu o seu coração e acolheu-os para a vida toda, com outros provou o sabor da traição e do desprezo. Aparou os golpes sem nunca vacilar ou pensar em desistir.Com todos aprendeu e fez-se um homem melhor. Por vezes, foi obrigado a passar ao lado da lealdade, a mentir e fingir, desafiando regras impostas por religiões primitivas, na ânsia de descobrir mais para poder fazer melhor. Foi além dos objetivos e,humilde, viu o reconhecimento das suas capacidades. Regressou a casa com profundas cicatrizes na alma e um grande sonho: criar em Londres um hospital como quele onde aprendera.
Não terminou exatamente como estava à espera. Os sonhos são sonhos, não são a realidade e, por vezes, a vida pode levar-nos por caminhos imprevistos e mostrar-nos a felicidade em locais inesperados.

De escrita fluida sem grandes floreados, devora-se com avidez enquanto nos vamos enredando, prazenteiramente, na força das personagens e nas emoções da história.
Um livro que me vai ficar na memória, uma história avassaladora, que gostaria muito de ver bem passada ao ecrã.

The Physician (Cole Family Trilogy #1), Noah Gordon

The Physician is a novel by Noah Gordon. It is about the life of a Christian English boy in the 11th century who journeys across Europe in order to study medicine among the Persians.

Part One: Barber's Boy: It is the year 1020. Rob Cole is the eldest of many children. His father is a Joiner in the Guild of Carpenters in London. His mother, Agnes Cole, is his father's wife. Robert has a particular Gift: he can sense when someone is going to die. When his mother and father both die, the Cole household is parceled out to various neighbors and friends. The Cole children are parceled out likewise. ...

Part Two: The Long Journey: Rob travels, as a Christian, from London throughout Europe to Constantinople. Here he becomes Jewish in appearance, and travels eastwards with a group of Jewish merchants, learning their ways as best he can. ...

Part Three: Isfahan Rob arrives in the city of Isfahan, in the heart of the Abbasid Caliphate (in present-day Iran), and tries to enter into the school of physicians there. He is not allowed access. He struggles to survive in the city, homeless, while searching for a way to enter the school.

Part Four: The Maristan: A chance encounter with the Shah of Persia opens for Rob the door to the school of physicians (Bimaristan). Here he begins the study of medicine—the first formal study he has ever had in his life. At the same time he immerses himself in the life of a Persian Jew.

Part Five: The War Surgeon: Comparable to a surgical residency or similar term of practicum, Rob goes to a war-torn (and plague-torn) land to practice his medical knowledge. His journeys with the Shah's armies take him as far as India, where he encounters elephants, spices, and Wootz steel. He makes friends among the Muslim students of the school. ...

Part Six: Hakim: He is passed as a physician and helps to instruct new physicians in the school. Rob and Mary's son is named Robert James Cole. She, at one point, is visited by Ibn Sina, who tells her that the Shah requested her presence, otherwise he'd kill Rob. Mary understood that it meant that the Shah intended to have sex with her, and goes to him. After having sex with Shah, she gets pregnant. When the child, named Thomas Scott, is born, the Shah sends him a rug, and Rob realizes that Thomas is not his son. Mary, however, tells him that she kept them both alive, and leaves his bedroom. However, when Mary beats him for thinking that he had been with prostitutes, the two are able to tell the truth and reconcile themselves.

Part Seven: The Returned: Rob struggles to locate his lost brothers and sisters, likewise to make his place amongst the terribly ignorant physicians of London. Despairing, he returns with his wife and family to Scotland, where he acts as physician to his wife's people high in the hills.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «حکیم - از لندن تا اصفهان در محضر ابن سینا»؛ «پزشک: روزهای ابن سینا از سرگشتگی تا شکفتگی»؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سوم ماه اکتبر سال1999میلادی

عنوان: حکیم - از لندن تا اصفهان در محضر ابن سینا؛ نویسنده: نوآ (نووا) گوردون؛ مترجم: جواد سیداشرف؛ تهران، زرین، سال1375؛ در687ص؛ موضوع ماجرای ابن سینا از نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده20م

مترجم: طاهره صدیقیان؛ تهران، روشنگران، سال1388، در784ص؛ شابک9789641940067؛

با عنوان: پزشک : روزهای ابن سینا از سرگشتگی تا شکفتگی؛ مترجم: کیومرث پارسای؛ تهران، قصه پرداز، دبیر، سال1379، در632ص؛ چاپ دوم سال1387؛ شابک9789646916487؛

هشدار اگر داستان را نخوانده اید این نوشتار ممکن است داستان را افشا کند؛

داستان حکایت جوانی «انگلیسی» است، که از شهر «لندن» به «ایران» و شهر «اصفهان» میرود؛ تا در پیشگاه «حکیم الحکما ابن سینا» علم طب فرا گیرد؛ او پا به پای حکیم به درمان بیماران میپردازد، و تا پیش از درگذشت «ابن سینا» همراه ایشان بوده است

چکیده داستان: سال1020میلادی است؛ «راب کول» بزرگترین فرزند خانواده است؛ پدرش عضو اتحادیه صنف نجاران «لندن»؛ و نام مادرش «اگنس کول» است؛ «رابرت» یک ویژگی دارد: او میتواند آنگاه که کسی میخواهد بمیرد، آن را حس کند؛ وقتی مادر و پدرش هر دو میمیرند، خانواده «کول» بین همسایگان، و دوستان پذیرش میشوند؛ «رابرت جریمی کول» شخصیت اصلی داستان، در کودکی، با یک دلاک دوره گرد، همسفر میشود، و مدت هفت سال، با وی میماند؛ در این زمان شعبده بازی، تردستی، اندکی نیز طبابت، میآموزد؛ با آن دلاک دوره گرد، سراسر «انگلستان» را، زیر پای میگذارد، و رویدادهای گوناگونی را میآزماید؛ پس از مرگ آموزگارش، تصمیم میگیرد پزشکی بیاموزد؛ آوازه ی «پورسینا» پزشک نامدار «ایرانی» او را وادار میکند؛ به دیدار او برود؛ اما نه «مسلمانان» میتوانند، در کشورهای «اروپای مسیحی» زندگی کنند، و نه «مسیحیان» حق آموزش و زندگی، در کشورهای «اسلامی» را دارند؛ به ناچار خود را به شمایل یک «یهودی» درمیآورد، و نام «یسوع ابن بنیامین» را برمیگزیند؛ به «ایران» میرود، و مورد لطف و عنایت «پادشاه» قرار میگیرد، و خلعت شاهانه دریافت میکند؛ او را در مدرسه ی «علم طب» میپذیرند؛ با اشتیاقی ستایش شدنی، به فراگیری علوم میپردازد، و در کمتر از سه سال، به مقام «طبیب» نایل میشود؛ در شرایطی که کالبد شکافی از نظر هر سه دین «اسلام»، «مسیحیت»، و «یهودیت» جرم است، او پنهانی به کالبد شکافی میپردازد، تا از راز بیماریها پرده بردارد؛ چند سال در «اصفهان» میماند، و در این مدت ازدواج میکند؛ در پایان عمر «شیخ الرئیس»، در کنار ایشان مینشیند، او پس از درگذشت استاد خویش، عزاداری میکند؛ اما دیگر کاری در «ایران» ندارد؛ با همسرش به «لندن» بازمیگردند؛ و سرانجام هم به «اسکاتلند» میروند، و زندگی آرامی را آغاز میکنند؛ گفتگوهای میان شخصیتهای داستان، بسیار زیبا، ژرف و عرفانی است؛ شگفت آور است، که نویسنده، این چنین توانسته «ایران کهن» را، به تصویر واژه های خویش بکشاند

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 23/03/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 28/12/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

A long rambling tale that contained numerous historical inaccuracies, especially in how the Qur'an views Christianity and Judaism. As this is very much the essence of the story (Rob J is a healer who disguises himself as a Jew so he can go to Persia and study doctoring skills) it places doubt in what other errors exist. It also portrays Muslims to be drunks, and their minarets are modelled on the female breast. Please no more....

From my participation in various Goodreads groups, I realized that many readers, like myself, enjoy historical fiction because they learn about different times and places from the novels. If that is the case, do not read this book!!

From what I know of English and Byzantine history, this book contained so many anachronisms as to make it virtually worthless from the perspective of learning any history. Maybe the information on medieval Judaism and Persian medicine was correct, but I doubt it. Among the inaccuracies I found were:

Anglo-Saxons in pre-1066 England named Robert, William, Stewart, Jonathan; Anglo-Saxons in pre-1066 England with not just last names, but middle names (almost no one even had last names unless it was a patronymic (these weren't) until hundreds of years later); the mention of merchants trading velvet - a fabric not developed until hundreds of years later; the statement that Anatolia was long overrun with Seljuk Turks about 1030, even making their way into Greece at that time, and calling Anatolia "Turkey" - in 1030 the Seljuks were still well to the east of Armenia and did not begin their incursions into Byzantine territory until about 1048, and really making their conquests starting in 1071; the book has a caravan of 300 Bactrian (two humped) camels traipsing through Greece when these were Asian camels who probably never even made it to Constantinople; the comment that the Roman emperor Constantine conquered Byzantium when it had long been a part of Roman territory - he just made it the Roman Empire's eastern capital.

I gave the book 3 stars because the writing is above average and the author knows how to tell a story. At one point, I almost put it down, but decided I was interested to see how it all ended, which does say something good about it. Still, the historical inaccuracies were so prolific as to make the book almost seem to be a fantasy.

El médico es una novela atestada de información histórica

More 3.5/5, 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 to doctoring 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 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; notably, Rob discovers the appendix. 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.

Una palabra serena a un hombre sensato vale más que un año de súplicas a un tonto.

Noah Gordon nos narra la historia de Robert Cole, un barbero/cirujano inglés del siglo XI que queda huérfano. A partir de este suceso, descubre que posee el “don” de percibir si alguien está próximo a la muerte con solo tocarle.

Esto lo llevará a encaminarse a un viaje a Persia (actual Irán) para estudiar en la escuela de medicina más importante de su época, bajo la tutela del sabio doctor Ibn Sina (basado en la vida real).

Este libro de ficción histórica cuenta con una interesante perspectiva sobre la resiliencia, la persecución religiosa, la fuerza de la pasión y la vocación. Una historia que cautiva, absorbe y transporta, de tal forma que sin duda alguna está en la cumbre de las novelas de este género.

La verdad, no tenía clara mi opinión sobre este libro cuando lo terminé. Si bien seguimos la historia de Rob y su objetivo de convertirse en médico, hay muchas páginas con información innecesaria y otra parte que, si bien, transmite el contexto de la época... tiene una conexión medio forzada.

Me explico. Más allá de conocer la vida de Rob, pasamos muchos capítulos con instrucciones sobre como hacer malabares, otras describiendo una carrera en Persia de un personaje que, aunque sea amigo de Rob, no es una situación que aporte a la trama, toda la trama de la guerra es demasiado extensa para el papel que acaba teniendo y toda la información histórica llega a parecer una lección de historia, alejándose del argumento y de la parte que más interesa al lector. En resumen, muchas páginas que me sobraron.

Eso sí, admirable el trabajo de investigación del autor, además de mostrar las discrepancias en temas religiosos de una forma muy clara y dejando ver que, aunque no compartas las creencias y consideres que las prácticas son tontas, hay que respetar a los demás, estableciéndose una amistad muy fuerte entre Karim, Rob y Mirdin. Y, en general, la historia principal es muy interesante y esperas lo mejor de Rob. Una pena que el final me resultara algo anticlimático.

De lo único que me arrepiento al terminar este libro es de no haberlo leído antes.

Es una obra magnífica que todos deberíamos leer. Se va directo a mis favoritos.