Writer and artist, John Berger, is a global treasure. In 1972, he won the Booker Prize for his novel G and in December 2009 he was awarded the Golden Pen Award for a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature. Back in 1967, in collaboration with the photographer, Jean Mohr, he produced what is considered by many to be the best book ever written about general practice. A Fortunate Man is an account of the life and work of a single-handed GP in a deprived rural area in the Forest of Dean. What is absolutely remarkable about the book is that it demonstrates an understanding of the transactions of general practice care which holds true to this day and yet it was written from outside general practice by a writer and a photographer who simply observed the work of a doctor over the course of a few weeks. It is an extraordinary achievement of empathic imagination. One of the legacies of this enduringly wonderful book is that John Berger has now offered this remarkable description of his recent experience of undergoing cataract surgery, to be distributed as widely as possible for patients facing the same procedure. We will be making it freely available on our website for downloading.
- © British Journal of General Practice, 2010.
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