From Scalpel to Spade: A Surgeon’s Road to Ithaka

Arthur van Langenberg

Aug 2021 · The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

About this ebook

The book is a recollection of significant events that steered the course of the author's surgical career, citing reports of actual cases and operations that remain firmly in the consciousness. It encapsulates the author's perspective of how medical practice deals with the grim reality of being sick, and how practice has evolved over the years. Dry humor appears from time to time to lighten the mood whenever it is needed. The author goes on to describe how his passion for gardening has provided balance throughout his life and enhanced his respect for Nature. In the subtitle to the book "A Surgeon's Road to Ithaka," the author likens his life journey to Odysseus’s road to Ithaka, a metaphor for finally reaching a desired destination. ARTHUR VAN LANGENBERG has lived in Hong Kong all his life except for four years in Macau during World War II and two years in Britain undergoing medical training. He has practised surgery for some 50 years, first at the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, and then in private practice. His lifelong interest in reading and gardening has helped him morph from surgeon to gardener and writer, finding fulfilment and a simpler way of life over the years. He is the author of Growing Your Own Food in Hong Kong (2014), Urban Gardening: A Hong Kong Gardener's Journal (2005), and a regular contributor on gardening to various periodicals.

Ratings and reviews

very interesting

About the author

Arthur van Langenberg has lived in Hong Kong all his life except for four years in Macau during World War II and two years in Britain undergoing medical training. He has practised surgery for some fifty years, first at the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, and then in private practice. His lifelong interest in reading and gardening has helped him morph from surgeon to gardener and writer, finding fulfilment and a simpler way of life over the years.