"My opinion is that you have written a wonderful book. It was by turns exciting, inspiring and moving (I actually cried on page 63)..."
"Your book arrived at Porters this morning and I have just finished the second, careful reading. I did a quick 'skim' before lunch. I am utterly amazed at the depth of the philosophy about 'the world, life, and everything'. At a guess, I would have said the book was written by a theologian, not a GP"
"James. Again - thank you very much for writing a book which has helped to lift my spirits."
"I am finding the book quite fascinating and more absorbing than anything I have read for years. It has already made me look back on events that happened many years ago in a quite different light to that which I regarded them at the time "
"What a delight to find your book on my return - indeed, it is about the only jolly item in a mound of post. It really is a remarkable achievement. I read it, straight off, almost at one sitting - you have a wonderful gift for making the subject accessible to a wide audience - "
"I really would like to congratulate you on an absolutely magnificent book. I do so agree with most of what you say and I found the style as readable as I found the content stimulating - "
"You have wrapped up your serious and important arguments in such an attractive, light hearted parcel, with so much humour, as to make a fascinating read - "
"I really enjoyed The Paradox of Progress and wanted to write and thank you for articulating the quiet howls of protest that many of us feel."
"Just a note to say how much I enjoyed reading your book, which held me in my chair till 1.30 this morning. Although I am not a medical man I could relate to something on nearly every page. It also reminded me why I gave up being a computer consultant and opted for the less lucrative but more satisfying life of a self-employed author!"
" - It was immensely refreshing to read such common-sense observations on general practice - and indeed on life in general! I was particularly pleased to see that kindness and sympathy could at least honourably be regarded as part of our profession - sometimes this seems to be forgotten."
" - thank you for writing it. It is wonderfully and enviably readable - your use of analogy to make things root in the mind is brilliant and deceptively simple -"
" - a quick note to say how much I enjoyed reading your book -"
" - as I'm reading I find myself nodding in agreement and even startled at the almost 'a priori' sense of truth there is to many of the concepts you are developing. I'm looking forward to the opportunity of using your book to help balance the perspective that the medical students get from their disproportionate exposure to the subspecialists. BRAVO! For a much needed work well done."
"I enjoyed it hugely and I suppose the best praise that I can give it is that page after page I kept saying to myself 'that's just what I would have liked to have written'. Indeed I can't think of a book about general practice that I feel more closely towards "
"Dear James
Bravo for 'The Paradox of Progress'. I brought it with me to read on holiday and found it as refreshing as 2 weeks in the Med.! If only it was required reading at the DOH. Many thanks"
"I have enjoyed reading your book which I bought because of the foreword! You have put into print exactly what many of us have been feeling for years. The invasion of the NHS by the business world has been particularly abhorrent to those of us who studied medicine during the war. We knew that a National Health Service was coming and we all shared a sense of joy that we could give patients any necessary treatment without regard to means. Carry on with the quality writing."
"I started to read our book on the very day you came to sign it at school and found it one of the most compulsive reads I have enjoyed in the past few months. I simply could not put it down. I had imagined it might be dry or maybe beyond people out of the medical profession but found quite the opposite.
Reading the anecdotes drawn from personal experience and from a sphere fairly alien to a layman (if one discounts watching T.V. series which can all too often make us feel we could all be doctors!!) only made it clearer that behind each and every calling we all need to think more clearly about what is happening around us. You have FOCUSED on what many of us feel deep down but can't express.
As a linguist I applaud the honesty. I love the chapter analogies and the double meanings"
"Max and I have both read James' book. It really is like a breath of fresh air, a great delight to read, but also full of original insights, compassion, and sheer common sense."
"I have, over the weekend, read your book, The Paradox of Progress. Most importantly, can I say how much I enjoyed it and how many thoughts in it struck a sympathetic cord. I welcome your emphasis on the individual and on the pluralism of experience. I agree that both of these factors tend to be eclipsed by the bureaucracy and rule making that seems to surround us so restrictively in the current service. Congratulations on what you have achieved and expressed."
"I have just finished reading your delightful book. Most entertaining and your conclusions worthy of much thought. I shall draw the attention of my GP to it - he is responsible for 'training' in Abergavenny. Your 'ocean' and 'shores', congruities and incongruities distinctions are very valuable & your comments on the capacity and brilliance of the human brain reciprocate my own reading on the matter..."
"It is just the same for us - it makes you want to scream out 'STOP!'"
"PS Very much enjoyed your book ... but must take issue with you re manipulators saying GPs shouldn't manipulate ... my only concern is that on the whole GPs use far more force than is actually necessary though that does not make them ineffective!!"
"We have exactly the same problems!"
"My copy of PARADOX is now out on loan as per your recommendation. I fully endorse all you say, local government is as bad as the health service. For many years I have used the phrase 'conspiracy of mediocrity', which is a comment on attitude, not ability ... Although the 'system' does nurture the acquiescent, uncreative and trivial.
Is there any hope? Despite so many young people wanting to be accountants I think the younger generation will not stand it in the long run. Certain elements of the current youth culture support that view, I believe. I am an optimist by nature!"
"Apologies for the late return of your book. I began by reading the bits that you suggested and then put it aside meaning to read more (exactly as you describe!) I took it on holiday meaning to find the time and salve my conscience. Halfway through the second week I was still guiltily moving it around the bedroom! However, then I picked it up for real and had read over half without pause. The rest followed the next morning ... very unusual for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and, you will not be surprised to hear, was delighted to read your cry for the generalist my profession, as with so many others, is suffering just as yours is. Many, many congratulations on producing such a well-written and thought provoking book."
" A real plea for "Common Sense"! It should be required reading ... with Christopher Brooker's "The Mad Officials" and "Parkinson's Law" ... for all civil servants and pushers of paper mountains. I could not put it down."
"Re: The Paradox of Progress I read the above while on holiday this summer and felt I must write and simply say how much I enjoyed it. It's writing reflects its subject matter: a triumph of both common sense and the human spirit! Whilst I inevitably felt at times that your views of managers such as myself was grossly simplistic, I did find myself in full agreement with your basic points about the need for a generalist approach, which is sympathetic to the complexities and often idiosyncrasies of the care environment in which we operate..."
"I wanted to let you know how very much I enjoyed your book "The Paradox of Progress" when I eventually managed to obtain a copy (two went astray in the post!). There was lots of dja vu ... the Harrogate PGEA farce and the leaking sphygmo in particular ... and I liked your models of the way our minds work. Most important though I think you are absolutely right about the definition and the role of the generalist... Thank you again for your stimulating ideas."
"I have put your book on the reading list for my course, and called one of the modules "The Paradox of Progress" ... with an acknowledgement!"
"Edgar and I want to congratulate you on the publication of your book, and to let you know how much we have enjoyed reading it. Our health care system is quite different from yours, but the problems that you describe plague our system as well, although the details are different, of course. Even from a layman's point of view I was able to relate to the situations you described, and to empathise with your frustrations. I only hope that the policy makers in the health care profession will hear, truly hear what you are saying and take action accordingly."
"Thank you for a magical Christmas present. James Willis' book is a poetic account of the beauty of the real world. Congratulations on having published it."
"I was given your book - 'The Paradox of Progress' - by a friend back in August, & read it with delight and excitement, & put it down liberated. You say things that needed saying: how often since have I said to a colleague or parent 'Trust your Common Sense!' You put in a plug for 'generalists' (who are a majority of the population?) & you question and challenge so many assumptions, thank God & thank goodness.
Your book has been a discovery, a joy, & a confidence-booster. It has also helped liberate me from false attitudes, various imprisonments, & from feelings of inadequacy. Bless you for that - for telling your truth in your own way. One can always relate to another's story, & your book has helped me to do my job a bit better & more decisively, as well as to affirm for others their worth"