Although medicine uses science, doctoring is a human art. Books, movies, and TV dramas show physicians making brilliant diagnoses, reaching breakthroughs, and saving lives. Dr. Rockoff, who has practiced dermatology for forty years, tells us what doctors like him actually do every day: manage chronic problems, reassure the anxious, negotiate with patients and their families rather than order them around, battle with bean-counters and bureaucrats, and worry–about patients, about themselves, and about a profession increasingly dominated by profits and numbers at the expense of humanity and compassion. Along the way Rockoff shares many stories–some poignant, others hilarious–taken from a lifetime of caring for people, and expresses his gratitude to the practice of medicine for letting him do that,