Title: The Making of a Physician: This Was My Calling
Author: Harry L. Graber, MD, FACC
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5245-1278-1
Pages: 192
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Reviewed by: Allison Walker
Pacific Book Review
Author Harry L. Graber was not always a physician. Before his calling to medicine, Graber was a teacher. How does a person find and choose their calling? In his book, The Making of a Physician, Graber tackles the complicated topic of why people come to choose their careers and how he, in particular answered his calling.The Making of a Physician address how genetics, environment and faith influence the choices people make in deciding their careers. Most of all, it tells the narrative of how Graber became a teacher and then a doctor. Several keystone moments are landmarks in his story: his mother dedicating his life to God a teacher telling him God had plans for him besides becoming a teacher; and several movements within his career as a physician.
While Dr. Graber tries to explain the ways genetics and environment can affect a person’s calling, his book reads more like a journal than a study into the influence of genetics on a child’s life choices. For example, the first chapter he describes the author’s parents, the purpose being to illustrate how nature creates and influences a person. However, as the author spends more time delving into the personalities of his parents and the environment of his childhood, he spends less time on how these things have been shown to directly affect people and the overall affect is one of a journal. As a personal narrative, without the greater nature versus nurture theme, Graber excels. His story includes snapshots of his family and colleagues, clips from his published abstracts and snippets of self-written poetry.
Dr. Graber has a gift for storytelling, maybe from his years of practice writing abstracts for medical journals. He has a gift for explaining medical school terminology without seeming overbearing. The poetry he writes and includes is homely and comforting. His poetry won’t satisfy the intellectual desires of a poet laureate, but it does illustrate the novel and adds diversity to the text. Poetry is Graber’s way of communicating with his Creator and expressing appreciation for His creation, and this is important as faith is an awning theme in the background of Graber’s journey. Graber’s story is as much discovering his career path as it is constantly rediscovering his faith. While a reader could never accuse this author of being preachy, God plays an important role in Graber’s life and an equally important role in his novel.
The Making of a Physician is an inspiring, entertaining and satisfying read. It’s the kind of book you read to remind yourself to appreciate life’s little moments; the personality quirks and childhood memories which are so easily forgotten yet play such an important role in destiny. Dr. Graber proves that the ordinary things in life are what make you so extraordinary; whether it is from nature, being nurtured, or simply left to pure blind faith.
