Vintage Doctor Fifty Years of Laughter and Tears. By Miles Hursthouse

Vintage Doctor Fifty Years of Laughter and Tears. By Miles Hursthouse

Paperback / softback, good condition, shelf wear to covers and edges, foxing spots mainly to end papers, and inside boards. Published by Longacre Press, ISBN: 1877251089

Miles Hursthouse MB ChB FACD was a doctor in Nelson for more than fifty years - and outside his busy medical practice he led an action-packed life. Here he writes beautifully of his early childhood (including a vivid description of the Napier earthquake) and young adulthood in pre-war Hawke's Bay and Auckland. Determined to become a doctor but unable to afford to study medicine, Miles gained his opportunity through unexpected circumstances: his service in World War 2 meant that he was able to save towards his goal and realise his ambition of attending Otago Medical School. Miles writes in an extremely entertaining way about his experiences as a student, as a young intern and during fifty years as a GP, anaesthetist and specialist in Nelson. He holds trenchant opinions on the relative merits of the way medicine was practised then...and now. Running through the story of his life is his passion for motor vehicles. He owned many now rare motorcylcles and motor cars and became an amateur racing driver. Miles was also a foundation member of the Nelson gliding club, from where he moved on to become an experience plot - a skill he was able to put to good use in the service of his far-flung medical practice. Miles Hursthouse has written a story that will evoke many memories for older readers and fascinate younger ones. Now over eighty, and still remarkable fit, he is an active member of the Nelson community.