Taking the World in for Repairs [Paperback]

Richard Selzer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1994

A collection of a dozen short stories, essays, and memoirs originally published in 1986, and now available in trade paperback. Richard Selzer retired as a surgeon in 1984 to write about his profession. His books include Letters to a Young Doctor, Confessions of a Knife, Mortal Lessons, Rituals of Surgery, and most recent, Raising the Dead.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

These 12 essays (some cast as "stories") seem to have grown easily and naturally out of Selzer's professional life as a professor of surgery at Yale; as a teacher of writing, also at Yale; as the author of bestsellers, Mortal Lessons among them. He can arrive at a hushed universality by the simplest means, writing wtih sensitivity and compassion lightened by ironic insight and humor. Most moving is his tale of a growing boy's love for a bedridden girl who is dying of tuberculosis. No morbidity here, only tragic beauty. On the other hand, Selzer's realism may shock some as he describes what goes on in a slaughterhouseyet that same realism makes absolutely compelling his detailed recapture of his stay with monks in an island monastery off Venice. Selzer lifts scientific description to a rare level, as in his story of the life cycle of a worm in a man's bowels. He caps his book with an unforgettable humanistic description of the work of a visiting crew of surgeons in Peru, where they correct the birth defects of Indian children come down from the Andes for the healing miracle.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Since the publication of Mortal Lessons and Confessions of a Knife a decade ago, surgeon Selzer has been recognized as a unique and very talented literary stylist and a humanizer of an increasingly technological profession. The 12 gracefully written essays and stories in this collection display the human qualities that characterized his previous books: compassion for the afflicted; awe of the natural order; awareness of the complexity and contradictions of life; and a special ability to understand what makes people tick. In one essay, for example, Selzer examines with painful candor the blood and guts of slaughterhouses, only to admit at the end his own need to eat meat. And, in most of the pieces, he tells how he has tried to help peoplenot through the art of healing as much as through the art of piecemeal repair of what needs fixing. In this, he wields the pen as skillfully as the knife. Jack Forman, Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Michigan State Univ Pr (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870133632
• ISBN-13: 978-0870133633
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #781,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "DOCTOR AS WRITIER", October 23, 2000

By 

Jacqueline Farritor (Hastings, NE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taking the World in for Repairs (Paperback)

After personally meeting Mr. Richard Selzer, I was compelled to read all of his writing. This book-- much like the others--displays Selzer's rich use of the English language while illustrating the deep understanding he has of the human spirit and body. Selzer's unique literature isn't only about medicine and surgery, but also life and humanity. I recommend reading any and/or all of his work.