An anthology of writings chosen from a range of sources: from the "Epic of Gilgamesh" through Robert Louis Stevenson to Auden, Laurie Lee and Thomas Largwhiskers, Navaho medicine man. Illness is an experience that everyone shares at some time, and the compiler intends his selection to be a source of comfort and inspiration for both patients and healers. It includes writings on specific illnesses, on mental and emotional troubles, on pain, on the role of the doctor/carer, and on the insights that the experience of illness can bring.