The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine-Watcher by Lewis Thomas
	(from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation series) Viking 1983 xvi+270pp. 0-140-24327-5 GA **

The Youngest Science is more than an analysis of the evolution of medicine based on Thomas's own career. Thomas, a skillful writer, makes points that stick in the reader's mind. These include: medicine has its limits, doctors have their limits, nurses deserve greater respect and recognition, high technology has contributed to the patient's confusion and, in some instances, the lowering of the quality of health care. The author touches on the bureaucracy of hospitals, New York City politics, and the glories of research. His description of his experience as a patient is right on the mark. This book will not be appreciated by physicians who are technocrats or those who see health care as a profit-making industry. On the other hand, it will be appreciated by readers who see health care as affordable and accessible and as a right, not a privilege.

--Reviewed by Herbert S. Goldberg in Science Books and Films