Opinion: Paging Dr. Topol: Grasping the multidimensional narrative of ‘Deep Medicine’
Depth is all about discovering a new dimension. When you add width to length and height, you create volume, which just happens to be a synonym for “book.” I’ve just finished Eric Topol’s latest tome, “Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again,” and was fascinated by its multidimensional narrative.
Although artificial intelligence (AI) is more than human, Topol took great pains to make “Deep Medicine” a book of human dimensions. It mimics the direction the author wants medicine to take: to become more comprehensive, personal, effective, and humane as AI improves. He goes out of his way to reveal numerous sides of himself (patient, caregiver, husband, son-in-law, father, doctor, and researcher) as a way to embody health care’s holistic future.
Topol begins by talking about his difficult experience following knee surgery. He was put on a course of vigorous physical therapy that included some anguished episodes on a stationary
