A Surgeon's Odyssey - Hardcover

Moss M D, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1480859516 ISBN 13: 9781480859517

Publisher: Archway Publishing, 2018

Synopsis

From 1987 to 1990, author Dr. Richard Moss traveled extensively through Asia while working as a cancer surgeon in four different countries including Thailand, Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. His work was voluntary, however the “payoff” was in the rich, fascinating, and, often bizarre experiences he had both as a surgeon and wanderer.

Based on this three-year excursion, A Surgeon’s Odyssey delves into the true-to-life adventures, struggles, and quandaries of a young surgeon from humble beginnings who found himself in a strange and tragic but beautiful world, striving to save those suffering from horrifying disease under hellish circumstances. In this memoir, Moss shares his story that includes insights into life, other cultures and religions, and the tragedy of intolerable disease amidst destitution and scarcity.

A Surgeon’s Odyssey tells of a young man’s decision to forgo comfort and financial security for the adventure of a lifetime, pitting himself against the specter of overwhelming suffering and illness. It narrates the unique journey of a cancer surgeon who, against conventional wisdom, embarked on a pilgrimage of healing and experienced surgical triumphs and setbacks amidst some of the most beguiling and fascinating cultures in the world.

"A Surgeon's Odyssey" by Richard Moss MD wins the Independent Press Award for 2019 for best book in the category of Travel.

About this title

About the Author

A New York City native, Dr. Moss is an Otolaryngologist-Head and Neck Surgeon in private practice in Jasper, Indiana since 1991 where he resides with his wife and four children. He is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine. He was board certified in 1986. He is also a columnist, businessman, and local investor. Between 1987-1990, Dr. Moss traveled extensively through Asia while working as a cancer surgeon in four different countries including Thailand, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. This is his second book.

From Kirkus Reviews

In this memoir, a newly certified New York City ear, nose, and throat specialist goes to Thailand to help the underprivileged and learn about the world and himself.

As one of five sons of a divorced mother, Moss grew up in the mean streets of the Bronx with little reason to expect that he’d someday get a degree in medicine. However, after overcoming several roadblocks and changes of mind, he committed himself to long years of medical study. Even after achieving his goal of becoming an otolaryngological surgeon, he was faced with an agonizing choice—set up a practice and start making good money, or travel to aless-developed country and assist those in desperate need. Urged on by his interest in Eastern religion and a timely fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant (“Do not forsake your dreams for material security”), he took a job at a clinic in northern Thailand. Young and inexperienced, he dealt with horrific cancers and infections and an overwhelming lack of resources. However, he was deeply impressed with his colleagues’ resourcefulness and his patients’ calm acceptance of their conditions. He also fell in love with the leisurely pace of Thailand, where people walked more slowly than they do in New York. As he continued his practice in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, Richard learned from his patients, other native people, and expatriates, and he even unexpectedly got married along the way. Overall, Moss (Matilda’s Triumph, 2013, etc.) has constructed a moving and persuasive memoir that will draw the reader in from the very first chapter. By interspersing italicized flashbacks of his early life among his evolving experiences in foreign lands, he adds texture and depth to both storylines. His portraits of the people he meets, his chronicle of his spiritual development, and his anecdotes about occasional culture clashes are all vivid and compelling. Some of the clinical and surgical scenes are grisly, but many also have the urgency and drama of an episode of ER—if not the pat, happy ending that such fiction often provides.

An engaging account of a three-year odyssey of medicine and personal growth in the East.

- Kirkus Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1480859516
• ISBN 13: 9781480859517
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 398