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indulged but infrequently in spirituous Uquors, and dien only ofthe mildest type. However , tremendous numbers ofmy family and my friends have seemed to feel that the deUghts they derive from smoking and drinking are adequate compensation for such hazards as they incur while in die midst ofdieir indulgence. I have never thought to warn diem to change their habits. At die same time I am a strong devotee ofmoderation in all things. Morris Fishbetn, M.D. 5454 South Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois 60615 Morris Fishbein, M.D. By Morris Fishbetn, M.D. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1969. Pp. 18+486. $10.00. Morris Fishbein, M.D. is die fascinating story ofa remarkable man's significant involvement in medicine and in many ofits important issues during a period offifty-five years. Beginning widi his early days as an enterprising student at the University of Chicago, through the long period ofhis association widi the American Medical Association as assistant to die editor, and later as editor oftheJournal ofdie association, foUowed by yet another career as medical consultant and innovator, especiaUy in the field ofcommunication and pubUcations, Dr. Fishbeinhas been actively engaged in die affairs ofmedicine and related fields, and diese experiences constitute die main subject ofdiis biography. Fishbein has combined unusual talents ofinteUect, energy, and insight in the origination and implementation of a host of good medical causes, such as foundations advancing research in poUomyeUtis, arthritis, congenital developmental defects, heart disease and digestive disorders, and in the development of many books and pubUcations (including Hygiea (Today s Health), Worldwide Abstracts ofMedicine, Excerpta Medica, and Medical World News), to better inform the pubUc and the profession ofmedicine's many advances. His successful attacks upon medical quackery, and his lifelong crusade for honest and factual medical reporting are weU known. Less weU known perhaps has been his strong commitment to the strengthening of medical communities everywhere, often speaking in onenight stands at fund-raising campaigns for the construction of new hospitals. Sinclair Lewis provided an apt description ofhim: "Fishbein is a wonder! Science, logic, immense knowledge not only of medicine but of history, Uterature, a hundred tilings ... as he talked you would find him opening up new worlds and smashing bad old ones with relentless knowledge and sanity" (p. 106). He has traveled extensively in this country and probably no single medical person in our time has been as weU known as he. (In answer to die question ofhis occupation, aJapanese coUeague in Tokyo repUed proudly, "IJapanese Fishbein.") All ofdiese activities are described widi interesting personal sideUghts. Fishbein's effectiveness and accomplishments reflect chiefly his close relationships with the great and near-great, die affluent and not so affluent, and widi die accomplished and the ordinary. He functions dirough and widi people, stimulating their interest and enlisting dleir cooperation by thehonesty ofhis purpose and die force and logic ofhis views. The biography dlus is a chronological personal account ofDr. Fishbein's energetic Ufe I28 Book Reviews Perspectives in Biology and Medicine ยท Autumn 1969 and his numerous roles as editor, writer, adviser, organizer, and innovator, presented chiefly in anecdotal form and spiced UberaUy with his weU-known humor. He obviously enjoyed "reUving again many remarkable days ofUfe and love, offriendship and frustration , ofactivity and accomplishment." The reader, too, wiU not only enjoy this highly entertaining and informative biography depicting some of die important medical developments ofthe past fifty years, but also will be pleased diat at die age ofeighty Dr. Fishbein's prodigiously busy program continues undiminished. Joseph B. Kirsner, M.D., Ph.D. Pritzker School ofMedicine University ofChicago Pebbles on the Hill of a Scientist. By Florence B. Setbert. Saint Petersburg, Florida: Published by the audior, 1968. Pp. 162. fllus. $5.50. This autobiography, beginning with an account of a calamitous epidemic ofpoUomyeUtis in Pennsylvania in 1900 and extending to notes on a tranquil semiretirement in Florida in 1968, offers a rare perspective ofmore dlan a half-century ofdevelopments in medical sciences. To young people who may now be setting out on careers in scientific research, the opening chapters wiU be especiaUy poignant, as they describe the audior's groping for directionamongextraordinary obstacles.Thehelp ofawonderfulfamilyandloyalfriends is not always appreciated at the time, but diis book...

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