Medical and scientific terminology

[Helen_Combe]

Personally, I like medical terminology, it’s a great opportune pity to learn and t’s so easy nowadays with google and online dictionaries.

[UnicornKnight]

It was honestly a little hard to get through, I just skimmed over the medical parts and prayed it wasn't too important to the emotions that Dr. Douglas was trying to convey. It would have been nice to at least get a short glossary at the end of the book so that you could go back and forth to truly understand what each term meant but at the end of the day if it was really vital to the book, I think he would've put some sort of explanation.

[Melchi Asuma]

I am yet to read this book but this is a topic that I love. I think that it is usually inconsiderate of an author to exclude a part of the audience by using unnecessary jargon. However, I will read this book to see for myself.

[Kristin Ransome]

I have a decent medical/science knowledge, but I still had some difficulty. In some cases, I think a small footnote would have made a huge difference!

[Gracedscribe]

I think you have to either have a prior knowledge about the terms used or a thirst to find out about it. There are such aspects in every book that we're not familiar with but that's what makes reading such an amazing activity! We get to learn so much.

I agree. But it also may be daunting to find the meaning of too many such terms and the reader may be put off in the end. It may be best to use layman's terms, especially when the book is an autobiography. That could increase the reading audience considerably.

[DC Brown]

I really enjoyed reading Dr. Douglas’s autobiography and found him to be very inspirational. I struggled, however, with the plethora of medical and scientific terminology. When the intricacies of medications and diagnoses were discussed, I found it difficult to follow, and that it distracted from his main theme.

What do you think? Did it add to the book and your understanding? Did you also find it distracting and at times a bit tedious?

It was very difficult to follow the terminology. Was he too used to an audience of his peers...those that spoke the language? I did find it fascinating and distracting at the same time. It was like peeking into a world I'd never seen and yet it was like being thrust into his German submersion lessons!

[Samy Lax]

Since I majored in biological science, I thankfully could understand the medical terminology to a great extent. But I agree that the success of any book is gauged by how easily understandable it is by any reader that chooses to read it. So I totally get what you are saying.

[DD129]

I’m interested in medicine, so the medical terminology parts were appealing to me. I wasn’t bothered by it, but I understand why others would be. Not everyone has the background nor the curiosity to be able to get through all the jargon. However, for this book, I think it was a nice touch. He wanted to be a doctor, succeeded at it, and he can even demonstrate his knowledge for proof!

[nicolelong_]

I agree that it takes away the main theme of the book as I have no knowledge in the medical and scientific terminology. I really wished that the author had included the definitions in the book as it would have saved me some time googling for them!

[Manali_DC]

Since I have a good understanding of medical and scientific terminology, I didn't find it too difficult to follow the story. But I also think that somethings could not have been explained in layman's terms!

[Samantha Simoneau]

I think it's important in a book like this one to ensure that the average person finds it accessible, otherwise many readers will miss out on an excellent, inspiring read, so the author should provide ground-level explanations to expert-level concepts or at least provide clarifying footnotes.

[LyorBoone]

I felt a lot of the medical/scientific terminology didn't fit in this story. I felt in those moments, that Dr. Douglas focused too much on the technical details of what he was physically doing as opposed to telling us why these things were so important and mattered at the time. He could have mentioned past patients or other stakeholders that would benefit from the medicines he was working on. Of course, a lot of that might have fit better in a book that fully embraced the medical side of his life and targeted the medical doctor type audience.

[WardahEbrahim]

As somebody in the field, I cannot relate. But it is appreciated because it shows that the author did their research and everything makes sense. It is a little annoying when the set up or chain of events is just not plausible because because the author did not do research regarding whatever science is involved. However, there is a way to include jargon while still explaining it strategically, but not in an obvious way. Its a type of finesse authors need to have.

[Juliet+1]

I've had a lot of experience with medical/scientific terminology, so it was not a problem. I did think, though, that it could have been cut back a bit. Too much detail. I've seen some authors find ways to explain technical terms without actually explaining them. One way is to have their characters talk about the term in a way that makes the meaning clear without being obvious -- still keeping the discussion part of the story.

[fmd1821]

I have no problem with the most common medical terms, but at times it is difficult for me to follow if the description is too detailed. I do not think it is boring (I always hope to learn something new), but at times it slows down my reading.