The Good, the Bad, & the Homely: Essays from an Old-Fashioned, Country, Plastic Surgeon [Hardcover]

Charles Edwards, M.D. Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1999

Collection of essays, most of which were originally published in the Journal of the Florida Medical Association. For the interested reader.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wry and often laugh-out-loud funny, Moore writes like Dave Barry under the influence of Dickens and Hawthorne. His dense, wordy style takes getting used to, but it's worth the effort. Unlike medical writers who dispense advice and report on trends, Moore, a plastic surgeon in Tallahassee, Fla., and a columnist for the Journal of the Florida Medical Association, offers offbeat commentaries on whatever strikes his fancy. Usually, there's a medical connection (and even some confusing medical terms), but Moore is just as comfortable discoursing about his ancient Toyota and family pets as he is about HIV (which he claims is smarter than the U.S. Congress) and preferred payment plans (he'll accept vegetables in lieu of cash). Occasionally, he turns poignant, as when reflecting on patients such as the one who threatened to kill him only to discover that her condition was the result of a fatal illness, not malpractice. But the bulk of these essays, culled from his JFMA columns, tend to showcase Moore's inability to take much of anything too seriously--himself included. Some readers will likely be turned off by his glibness, but others will laugh along with him as he pokes fun at targets both easy (HMO administrators, malpractice lawyers, chiropractors) and sacred (National Breast Awareness Week, silicone breast implants and the prostate). For those who share Moore's quirky sense of humor, this book will be a delight to read.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Ardor Scribendi; First edition (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893357031
• ISBN-13: 978-1893357037
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,793,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Feline Biased Review, May 6, 2010

By 

John Pocket (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good, the Bad, & the Homely: Essays from an Old-Fashioned, Country, Plastic Surgeon (Hardcover)

This review is "biased" because I am the cat of the author. You will have to forgive me accordingly, but sitting on the lap of one of my slaves I have to say, fascinated as we all are with "plastic surgery" and human beings, this volume is a pleasant read. Its perspective, and I can guarantee it from having lived with the surgeon for 8 years, is altogether a different one from what is presented in slick magazines and talk- shows. With what I am going to call "happy good humor" my slave wanders all over the cosmos using his experience of the practice of plastic surgery (in a small, football town) as the focus of his slightly eccentric ruminations. But I am most proud that this book demonstrates that even in such a "glitzy", thought-to-be-glamorous surgical specialty as his he demonstrates that care and respect for people and their needs are alive and well in the practice of medicine. The book is, I think, really fun; and even if you do not want to read it there are some pleasant pictures of this and that. I am very proud of him. I hope you will buy his book, since he is very eager that the publisher, whom he much respects, makes back what it cost to print!

Also, please admonish my slave to buy the Natural Balance Indoor Cat Formula instead of that cheap dry stuff he always gets, I've had diarrhea for the past two weeks from eating that awful stuff. If he needs a little encouragement, then please inform him that I will be defecating in hidden places throughout the house until I get what I want.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A biased review, January 29, 2000

By 

Lynn Moore (Tallahassee, Fl) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good, the Bad, & the Homely: Essays from an Old-Fashioned, Country, Plastic Surgeon (Hardcover)

This review is "biased" because I am the wife of the author. You will have to forgive me accordingly, but with a cat in my lap as I type this I can honestly say, fascinated as we all are with "plastic surgery" and cats, this volume is a pleasant read. Its perspective, and I can guarantee it from having lived with the surgeon for 25 years, is altogether a different one from what is presented in slick magazines and talk- shows. With what I am going to call "happy good humor" my husband wanders all over the cosmos using his experience of the practice of plastic surgery (in a small, football town) as the focus of his slightly eccentric ruminations. But I am most proud that this book demonstrates that even in such a "glitzy", thought-to-be-glamorous surgical specialty as his he demonstrates that care and respect for people and their needs are alive and well in the practice of medicine. The book is, I think, really fun; and even if you do not want to read it there are some pleasant pictures of this and that. I am very proud of him. I hope you will buy his book, since he is very eager that the publisher, whom he much respects, makes back what it cost to print!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars more HMO polemic than informative medical stories, June 6, 2005

By 

mikemac9 "mikemac9" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Good, the Bad, & the Homely: Essays from an Old-Fashioned, Country, Plastic Surgeon (Hardcover)

If you're looking for a book that describes what its like being a plastic surgeon in private practice, this probably isn't what you're looking for. While there are a few tales of actual medical practice, there are far fewer than you'd expect from the book's title.

What you will find, in abundance, are impassioned railings against HMO's and managed care. Since most of us are salaried or work a standard number of hours each week if an hourly employee, our earnings each month are more or less constant no matter how much extra we do any given month. I'm afraid Dr. Moore isn't reaching the supportive audience he may have found when he originally penned these missives for a Florida medical journal, decrying the injustice of not getting paid for every single thing he does. Join the rest of us, doc.

While there are a few chapters worth reading, including the touching memoir of his mentor, most are better suited for his fellow docs who can snort with indignation at having any limits placed on their decisions or (more importantly) income. Not only is the subject seldom about medicine, the prose itself is that over-wrought college level prose that seeks to impress us with just how erudite the author is with such an astonishing command of english adjectives and adverbs, the more syllables the better. Don't fail to be impressed that Moore must know french, BTW, because he'll drop in a phrase every now and then just to make sure you remember. This book just grates on the ear after a while, and sits in stark contrast to those scientists and doctors who actually CAN write well. You want to read well-written books about medicine try the classic "The Making of a Surgeon" by Nolen, "Complications" by Gawande, or "Second Opinions" by Groopman.

I'll summarize it this way. If you like the overwrought style of Richard Selzer ("Confessions of a Knive", etc.) and want a book written in a similar style but with far fewer connections to medical practice, this is the book for you.