farmdoc's blog post number 340

In November 2009 it’ll be 40 years since I graduated in medicine. But if you didn’t know that, you could work it out approximately if I told you my medical indemnity membership number (5715) and that the copy of Gray’s Anatomy on my bookshelf is the 33rd edition. Gray’s Anatomy, first published in 1858, has never been out of print; it remains an undisputed classic and indeed one of the most famous books ever written; it’s sold an estimated five million copies; and its 40th edition was launched in September 2008. As I alluded to yesterday, I’ve just finished reading The Anatomist: a true story of Gray’s Anatomy, written by an American, Bill Hayes. The book has three main characters: Henry Gray, his collaborator and illustrator Henry Carter, and Hayes himself. Hayes, a non-medical man, studied anatomy and dissected cadavers, due I think to a love of anatomy, and also to flesh out (pun intended) his book because there’s very little in the historical record about Gray. Hayes writes so sensitively, perceptively and passionately, that I was sorry when I reached the end of The Anatomist – which I reckon is the acid test of a good book. Obviously I’ll never buy another copy of Gray’s Anatomy. Hayes’s book has caused my copy of the 33rd edition to rise several positions up my list of the books that I own and treasure.