Coming to Texas: A newly qualified Scottish physician arrives in the Lone Star State in 1960 and becomes a country doctor. [Paperback]

Eric Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2000

A young Scottish doctor looks back on the unforgettable characters who became his patients in East Texas. Qualified as a doctor only 18 months before, he leaves the security of his medical school, his hospital and his heritage to start a single-handed rural practice in the wilds of Texashis only resources: his ex-flight attendant, pregnant wife and their year-old baby. They exchanged their city sophistication for a rustic life, their temperate climate for the appalling heat and humidity of Texas, and their culture and language for a behavior and speech based on one of America's last frontiers. Deceived by those who invited them to American and left briefly penniless; befriended by a nearby village without medical help and miles from a hospital, they cared for their new patients, covering, in an old Ford with a hole in the floor, a house-call area larger than New Hampshire and Rhode Island combined. Like their patients, they survived. Because they had each other.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eric Anderson has written three books on aviation and more than 1900 articles in the medical or popular press. British-trained, he got his baptism as a physician in rural practice in East Texas in the early 1960's. Memories of his most unforgettable patients form the basis for this book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (September 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595144039
• ISBN-13: 978-0595144037
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,105,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A doctor's tale with a difference, August 21, 2003

By 

Mr John Snowden (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coming to Texas: A newly qualified Scottish physician arrives in the Lone Star State in 1960 and becomes a country doctor. (Paperback)

Once started I found it almost impossible to set this book aside to carry out other tasks. Eric's story is indicative of the outstanding achievements by pioneering Scotsmen practising medicine in most trying conditions. His anecdotes are both humorous and tragic, and warmly told. It is clear that he and his wife Margaret became well-beloved within the community they served, which in turn received the caring attention at the hands of a young medic at the outset of his career as a country doctor.