A beautiful literary collection that tells of today's country doctor, somewhat removed from our romantic black-bag image of days gone by, but still fulfilling an essential need in caring for spread-out populations. At times, with today's advances in technology, medicine in rural America looks very like it does in America's cities, but the variety of practices is enormous. The Country Doctor Revisited captures the trials and tribulations of medicine, but also the satisfaction and the extraordinary rewards that come to those who embrace such a practice.

When I wake to the gift of yet another sunrise my first thought is to rouse him and say, I owe you the sight of morning.

When a man is a mystery to himself you can hardly call him mysterious.

Wasn't that the definition of home? Not where you are from, but where you are wanted

Be careful! Travel expands the mind and loosens the bowels.

What we need in medical schools is not to teach empathy, as much as to preserve it. The process of learning huge volumes of information about disease, of learning a specialised language, can ironically make one lose sight of the patient one came to serve; empathy can be replaced by cynicism.

To be around someone whose self-confidence is more than what our first glance led us to expect is seductive.