The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine-Watcher (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Series)

Lewis Thomas recounts his professional life in medicine, spanning from the 1920s when he observed his father—a general practitioner who made housecalls and wrote prescriptions in Latin—through his own medical career. He witnessed medicine's transformation from an art into a sophisticated science. Thomas describes his medical training in Boston and New York, his service in the South Pacific during wartime, his research work, his roles as an administrator in hospitals and medical schools, and his experiences as a patient. He examines the relationships between research and clinical practice, language and meaning, and human error and accomplishment. Beyond autobiography, the book serves as both a celebration and a cautionary reflection on the nature of medicine and the future of our planet.