The life of Isidore Snapper (1889-1973), the son of a diamond worker, was defined by ambition, cosmopolitanism, conflict, and antisemitism. As a Professor of Medicine in Amsterdam, Beijing and New York, he played a major role in important developments in medicine during the first half of the last century. He was a medical celebrity who combined supreme bedside skills and diagnostic acumen, masterly integrated with basic science at a time when big egos were still tolerated and accommodated. Never living a boring moment, Snapper acted as a football referee and sport scientist at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928, was a POW of the Japanese and a consultant to the US War Department, and finally fell in love with a CIA agent. His Bedside Medicine became a bestseller. This book presents the story of one of the last great generalists, a race of physicians that is now extinct, and a great champion of the holistic approach to patients. His legacy is still refreshing, topical and challenging for anyone with an interest in all matters of health.

These essays about various unrelated medical history subjects were composed over some three decades; some written recently, others published in my previous books. The title word meandering suggests randomness, but should not be mistaken for pointlessness for each vignette was prompted by something which at the time seemed relevant to my professional or personal life. The emphasis is on narrative history, stories of physicians at different times and places, for as my famous namesake Professor Allan Nevins once wrote, history should be enjoyed, not endured.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

The life of Isidore Snapper (1889-1973), the son of a diamond worker, was defined by ambition, cosmopolitanism, conflict, and antisemitism. As a Professor of Medicine in Amsterdam, Beijing and New York, he played a major role in important developments in medicine during the first half of the last century. He was a medical celebrity who combined supreme bedside skills and diagnostic acumen, masterly integrated with basic science at a time when big egos were still tolerated and accommodated. Never living a boring moment, Snapper acted as a football referee and sport scientist at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928, was a POW of the Japanese and a consultant to the US War Department, and finally fell in love with a CIA agent. His Bedside Medicine became a bestseller. This book presents the story of one of the last great generalists, a race of physicians that is now extinct, and a great champion of the holistic approach to patients. His legacy is still refreshing, topical and challenging for anyone with an interest in all matters of health.