Chaucer’s Books will host Dr. Anthony Goodman for a book talk with Maribeth Goodman about his book “Great Saves and Terrible Losses: The Journeys of a Surgeon,” 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, July 29 at 3321 State St., Santa Barbara.

In “Great Saves and Terrible Losses: The Journeys of a Surgeon,” Dr. Goodman recounts memorable events from his career as a surgeon from 1967-93, before miracles such as CAT scans, MRIs, and minimally invasive surgery.

The memoir follows Dr. Goodman through a career that took him around the world, through his retirement from the practice of surgery, and into his second career as a professor and author.

He reveals his approach to coping with his mild Alzheimer’s diagnosis as not only a patient but now as a well-educated physician with a steep learning curve about the ever-changing nature of the disease, its impact, as well as pathology and options for management.
 
Dr. Goodman graduated from Harvard, earned his medical degree from Cornell Medical College, and trained as a surgical intern and resident at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.

He completed his surgical training and served as chief resident at the Harvard Surgical Service of Boston City Hospital, New England Deaconess Hospital, the Lahey Clinic, and Cambridge Hospital.

For 20 years, he worked as a general surgeon in South Florida and served as a clinical associate professor of surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

He also served as a surgeon with the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Vietnam war and on Project HOPE’s hospital ship in Jamaica.

He was a visiting professor of surgery at the Christchurch Clinical School of Medicine in New Zealand; and adjunct professor of medicine in the WWAMI Medical Sciences Program of Montana State University.

Dr. Goodman’s previous books include “None but the Brave: A Novel of the Surgeons of World War II,” “The Shadow of God: A Novel of War and Faith,” and “Never Say Die: A Doctor and Patient Talk about Breast Cancer.”