James Maskalyk (Book order)

James Maskalyk Book order

James is a physician whose medical practice, particularly in emergency and trauma care, deeply informs his writing. His experiences with organizations like Doctors Without Borders and in developing medical education in East Africa provide a rich source for compelling narratives. He also explores the potential for personal and social change through mindfulness, offering readers a unique perspective that bridges medicine, humanism, and inner life.

Life On The Ground Floor

304 pages
11 hours of reading

Masterfully written and artfully structured, Life on the Ground Floor is a celebrated humanitarian doctor's unique perspective on sickness, health and what it is to be alive. Deeply personal in its scope, doctor and activist James Maskalyk--author of the highly acclaimed Six Months in Sudan--draws upon his experience treating patients in the world's emergency rooms. From Toronto to Addis Ababa, Cambodia to Bolivia, he discovers that although the cultures, resources and medical challenges of each hospital may differ, they are linked indelibly by the ground floor: the location of their emergency rooms. Here, on the ground floor, is where Dr. Maskalyk witnesses the story of "human aliveness"--our mourning and laughter, tragedies and hopes, the frailty of being and the resilience of the human spirit. And it's here too that he is swept into the story, confronting his fears and doubts and questioning what it is to be a doctor.