I generously give 3.5 stars despite the often farcical historical howlers this tale is flooded by because the storytelling is very good. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK and expect to be informed about the era allegedly covered.

I had read it many years ago, around age 10 I think and it was this book that generated my lifelong interest in the history of medecine. To be fair to the author I believe the parts covering Judaism and Arabic medicine of the period are broadly accurate but probably no more than that, despite NG's apparent research. Ibn Sina did exist but died in 1037.

I do note the date of publication and historical fiction at that time was apt to have less expected of it, to my mind.

So, a few of the errors I encountered:

Rob J Cole - the main character has a name that would never have been used in England at that time. Even Robert was rare, middle names did not exist for the masses and even today I have never met anyone using their name as a shortened first name plus middle initial in Britian - that is an Americanism. Finally, humble people also did not have surnames but were known by what they (or their father) did. Rob J's father was a carpenter so where did Cole come from? This absolutely basic set of errors sets the tone for the whole book!

Witch pricking and the whole set of beliefs about witches sounds straight out of the Salem witch trials! There is little record of witchcraft in historical record and most of them were wise women, not barber-surgeons, which was an actual profession, albeit ineffective. I think the fear that he and Barber would be thought witches was overstated and the incident from Barber's past was unlikely. The whole issue belonged more in the 16th century or later. An accusation of heresy was a more likely threat if their practice stepped outside the accepted domain.

The language Rob J studies so diligently is no Parsi but Farsi. A Parsi is actually from India and is a Zoroastrian.

Travelling barber-surgeons did exist in England, being first recorded at exactly the time of the novel. However Barber carried out the job more like a travelling quack in the US in a much later era.

The basic premise of the story was impossible - there is no way Rob J could have impersonated a Jew at that time and for that long and without really knowing how to be a Jew! Rob J thought like a modern man not a man of the 11th century. To have even conceived of doing what he did was beyond unlikely. NG also imputed an impossible freedom to women and Mary's father would never have considered a marriage between them as she was socially above Rob J.

Finally (but far from exhaustively!) he would not have been able to practice back in England/Scotland BECAUSE HE WAS A CHRISTIAN and the reason medicine back then was so basic in Christian countries was that vivisection was considered heresy (which was true for many more centuries). The merest hint that he had looked inside a body would have probably ended in him being killed as a heretic.

Here endeth my narrative!

I'll never come to grips with the decision of the writer, Noah Gordon, to extend the chapters, to outstay his welcome. I freely admit to skipping a couple of chapters. That was a thing I didn't want to do, but the relevant chapters were too abysmal.

I'll never read another book by said author. I ought to be thankful that someone can infuse some life, urgency, pathos, and interest in such a big book, but I think the decision to end the book the way it did was treacherous. I happen to think that the author and the reader don't owe each other anything, but instinctively I find it logically incorrect.

The writer owes us something. What that something is, is not clear. Gordon made me hate the entire book by proxy of him exhausting his goodwill with boring and suicidal writing. The one good thing the book did was awaken me to the possibility of reading non fiction by writers like Karen Armstrong. That is the only tangible thing left to me. The rest of my reading experience has been wasted. I won't return to this storyteller, ever.

The story revolves around Rob Cole during 11th century. He became an orphan at very young age while learning his gift to recognize the near death when he held his mother's hand and the his father's hand. His siblings were adopted by many people and he became apprenticed to barber-surgeon. He developed yearning to be a physician. From a Jew physician, he learned that he need to go to Persia to learn from Avicenna, a celebrated physician. However, since he was a Christian, he wouldn't be allowed as they didn't want to have any trouble with the church. The church frowned upon the physicians, barber-surgeons as the priests believed that they were the only guardians of the body and the souls of the Christians. He decided to pose as Jew to learn from Avicenna.

Avicenna (Ibn Sina) was a real person who is regarded as the father of early modern medicine. He was a Persian polymath. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna

It took more than 20 months to reach Persia. His travels included joining caravanserai, multiple countries through silk road from Anatolia to Persia and residing in Jewish community. Initially, I wanted to learn how Rob become a physician and how he himself become famous physician. So these diversions irked me. However, I caught with the author's enthusiasm on various areas. I read about caravanserai before. I learned a bit more. Jews learn multiple languages to do the business in various countries, Rob learn Persian from the Jew, also learning their culture. When caravanserai had to rest for winter, he went to live with Jews in Jewish villages where he learned a lot more about Jewish customs which became helpful to him when he posed as Jew.

Then comes Persia and the hospital setup. It is like our traditional gurukul. How many Persian words are in usage in Hindi now :) I discussed with my friends about how one religion/country considered the other religion/country as barbarians when they themselves were. The middle-eastern countries were advanced in medicine during 11th century when compared to England, the eastern countries were advanced than the middle-eastern countries before that. The Greeks were more advanced in medicine before that, as they dissected humans and learned the anatomy to treat the patients. However, much of that knowledge was lost because of the destruction of Alexandria library.

The story even provided glimpse of bubonic plague.

In the end, Rob flee Persia because of Seljuk Turks invasion. I looked up wiki to know about the difference between spice route and silk road. Learned that Seljuk Turks occupied Persia and blocked Europe's travel through the silk road resulting in crusades which resulted in Europe occupying/colonizing eastern countries. In every war, the religion and the economic advantage were the basic reasons. Though I don't know everything about crusades, but economic advantage makes sense.

A very satisfying read :)

4,5 stars - English Ebook

An orphan leaves Dark Ages London, taking a dangerous journey and posing as a Jew to study medicine in Persia, in an adventurous and inspiring tale.

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.


When you find a book this good, the opportunity to enjoy it is multiplied when it is also huge!

This is the first book in a long, long time that told a story that kept my interest all the way through.

Characters were perfectly developed and editing was superb.
The main character who was so smart to go as a Jew and gave us the inside of a fascinating inside look of an Arabic school, that's a character I will not forget soon.

The subject was unique and the research which obviously had to have been done was unexpectedly fascinating and never left me feeling as if anything was unanswered or confusing.

I think the book was phenomenal. Realy highly recommend it!

My rating 4.7

The historical novel “The Physician (Cole Family Trilogy # 1) by Noah Gordon is a well-written novel set in the 11th century that draws you to read it to the very end. The writer with his distinctive writing leads us with ease to the world of the Dark Ages where people are dying from diseases that are curable today. Doctors were quite ignorant at the time because knowledge of medicine was at a very low level. All faith that time did not allow the study of human anatomy and whoever would only think to do that was finishing on a bonfire as a witch or would be most cruelly killed. Every doctor, barber-surgeon had to be careful about how he treated his patients. After all, their lives depended on little things, because they could be called witches for the slightest mistake. The story follows little boy Rob Cole who in early childhood during the deaths of his mother and father discovers his gift to sense when someone is going to die. The gift itself is very dangerous and if anyone knew about it they could declare it a witch. That is why he is silent and does not tell anyone about it. After the death of his parents, his siblings are sent for adoption, and he is a barber-surgeon who takes him for his apprentice. During his apprenticeship he learns some basic things but when he knows a Jewish doctor who says he can cure cataracts on his eye it intrigues him. When he learned that a Jewish doctor was teaching at the Persian College of Medicine run by Ibn Sina. But the only problem is that they don't admit Christians to that college, but if that prevents Rob who wants to become a real doctor, you will have to find out in the book. I would recommend the book to all lovers of historical novels.

Una obra fantástica, tanto en lo referido a la historia que contiene y su protagonista como a su calidad literaria, pues la tiene, sin abusar de recursos estilísticos pero con un tratamiento del lenguaje placentero y bastante bien estructurado.

La manera en que adentra al lector en diferentes culturas, ámbitos religiosos y paisajes es hermosa, quizá no espectacular como otros autores han conseguido, pero sí muy bien desarrollada. El argumento sobre el que se sustenta la trama es especialmente original, hasta el punto de que, con seguridad, muchos de los escritores actuales y los que están por venir estarían deseosos de tener tal idea en sus manos para plasmarla en palabras. También es digno de mención el trabajo de documentación tras la historia misma.

En cuanto a la expresión de sentimientos, queda claro que consigue plasmarlos perfectamente en la imaginación del lector sin facilitarle la tarea excesivamente. Es decir, en el libro no abundan extensos párrafos o explícitas frases con las que se evoquen dichos sentimientos, sino que son algunos detalles, toques, personajes y diálogos con los que, brevemente, se recrean a la perfección. Es un libro para "entender" y leer más allá de lo escrito.

Las aventuras narradas en él no son apoteósicas ni esplendorosas. Tampoco se encontrarán momentos muy épicos. Es un libro confeccionado con sucesos más cotidianos y discretos que, sin ser grandes, conforman en su conjunto una gran historia.

Un acertado final pese a que quizá podrían existir otras alternativas para engrandecerlo, aunque no hay mucho objetarle tampoco. La evolución del personaje es patente y se disfruta mucho al notarla conforme se avanza en la lectura de la obra. Tanto es así que incluso pueden compartirse muchos pensamientos y sentirse cierto orgullo por algunas decisiones y acciones del protagonista, pensando que seríamos nosotros mismos los que lo hubiéramos empujado hacia el mismo camino.

Quizá un pequeño apunte para El médico, como opinión personal, es que no hubiera estado de más un toque más exótico del que tiene (que no está ya nada mal), así como algo más de magia y narración con tintes más épicos, aprovechando una de las culturas centrales en las que se basa. Sin embargo, esto es más bien una salvedad.

Varios son los párrafos y citas profundos que descansan en esta gran obra literaria, endulzando el paladar y la mente. Además, hay muchos mensajes ocultos que merece-y mucho-la pena descubrir poco a poco.

La medicina es un arte bastante próximo a mí por gratas circunstancias de la vida y por ello a este libro siempre le guardaré un muy especial cariño, porque sin haber llegado a parecerme espectacular, ha sido muy hermoso y gratificante y eso, a fin de cuentas, es mucho decir y es un gran regalo, como lo será también para todos los profesionales que dedican su vida al servicio de la de los demás. Los que crean en "vocación" y los que no encontrarán aquí algunas respuestas y una historia y testimonio bellos en los que seguramente se vean reflejados todos los que aman la medicina como razón y luz de su vida, aquella misma que, varios siglos atrás, guió a Robert Jeremy Cole entre las arenas del cálido desierto.

DNF page 70 of 618.

I was sick of juggling balls.



Where are the guts? The blood? The everything?

I loved the movie, though.

But they have nothing to do with each other.

*3'3

The Physician is the first book of the excellent trilogy (Cole Family) of Noah Gordon I read. A book that I highly recommended if you like such novels "The Pillars of the Earth" in which generations of different eras are mixed, the history of medicine and exciting travel through exotic places.

Spanish version:
El Médico es el primer libro de la excelente trilogía del escritor Noah Gordon. Un libro muy recomendable si te gustan las novelas tipo "Los Pilares de la Tierra" en el que se mezclan generaciones de épocas diferentes, la historia de la medicina y viajes apasionantes a través de lugares exóticos.

n   Bettie's Booksn

When I read it, over ten years ago, I was quite taken with it. Though not taken enough to persue the series further. I also remember ranting about the movie which I've seen a shorter while ago for being lacking in many departments, putting too much emphasis on a love story that didn't exist in the book in that way, and being a lot more "eurocentrist" in who is the hero than the book was.

I've completed the entire trilogy and highly recommend it. The Physician was the lead-in to a multi-generational story that is well researched and beautifully written. I'm ready to read all three again.