GOD'S HOTEL A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine

The "slow medicine" ideals of twelfth-century Benedictine nun Hildegaard don't get much attention in modern hospitals. However, Victoria Sweet finds they help in her work at San Francisco's alms house, the last in the nation. Her stories about patients are evenhanded; one about a homeless man who eats coins is followed by one of how a defiant wife ended up being treated as a mental case. Her caring is always evident as she narrates her own book, and her reading is gripping. Sweet's account of how a bureaucratic type became involved in the hospital's life is as mischievous as it is heartfelt. Even dry information is conveyed in engaging style. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2013]