Our intent was to provide a book that would let the everyday practitioner understand that he or she had stories to tell roads to walk pictures to paint tunes to play--and that there is life outside even after medicine.--from the preface This book examines the lives of twenty-seven physicians--twenty-one men and six women--who have combined the aim to heal with other pursuits such as art writing music or politics. Their fascinating testimonies illustrate the personal gratification and inspiration that can be gained from integrating medicine with another passionately engaging activity. The book includes a wide array of individuals and interests from the toymaker A. C. Gilbert and the writer Gertrude Stein to a wine grower an astronaut a coin collector a cabaret singer and a minister. Most of the stories are told by the principals themselves; the lives of the four deceased subjects are related by others. Although a few physicians tell of giving up medical practice for a new field of endeavor most attest that the partnership between medicine and another interest has invigorated them and given them new energy to care for and relate to patients. Howard M. Spiro M.D. professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and Mary G. McCrea Curnen M.D. D.P.H. clinical professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine are director and associate director respectively of the Program for Humanities in Medicine. Deborah St. James is manager of editorial services pharmaceutical division Bayer Corporation. A quirky, intriguing collection of portraits of an extraordinary group of physicians21 men, 6 womenwhose leisure time is spent immersed in creative pursuits. To Curnen and Spiro (both professors at Yale's School of Medicine) the range of their subjects' extracurricular interests attests to ``the continued presence of creative energy in their lives. . . . A sense of adventure and exploration leads doctors afield into realms that complement or supplant their calling in medicine, and we are richer for these strayings. Each subject, after a brief introduction by the editors, tells his or her own story, and they are, on the whole, remarkable. From painting (Sir Roy Caine and others), music (``F. Norman Vickers: Jazzdoc''), and writing (``Rafael Campo: A Prescription for Poetry''), we head all the way to astronautics, learning how William Thornton found himself doing physical exams on board the space shuttle Challenger. Although psychiatrist George W. Naumburg Jr. graduated from the Yale School of Medicine, ``Yale also contributed to his career in wine making by providing him a background in chemistry and biology.'' Back in the roaring 20s, Naumburg recalls, ``we tried unsuccessfully to make beer, and our Concord grapes proved worthless for anything but jelly''but he now owns his own Westchester County, New York, winery. Others have followed a calling to ``The Spiritual Life'' (including a prison priest), to government, and to collecting (old maps, medals). The editors keep themselves in the background, letting these physicians' often passionate voices be heard, as when Andrew W. Nichols chronicles years of public-health work in the Third World and among the US poor, followed by his triumphant election to the Arizona House of Representatives: ``No longer the supplicant before policy makers, I could influence those policies so consequential to the lives of my constituents. A diverting glimpse into some unusually creative minds. (40 b&w and 8 color illus.) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Physicians may actually be inquisitive, fascinating people with a wide spectrum of "outside interests."...Doctors can know lots of special moments, poignant life-moments, if they'll just let them happen... Richard F. Jones III Connecticut Medicine Howard M. Spiro, M.D. , professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and Mary G. McCrea Curnen, M.D., D.P.H. , clinical professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine, are director and associate director, respectively, of the Program for Humanities in Medicine. Deborah St. James is manager of editorial services, pharmaceutical division, Bayer Corporation.