cover image Flying Without Wings

Flying Without Wings

Arnold R. Beisser. Doubleday Books, $15.95 (189pp) ISBN 978-0-385-24770-2

Graduated from Stanford Medical School and a tennis champion before his 25th birthday, Beisser was due to report for duty in the armed forces when polio felled him in 1950. Since then, the doctor has lived a full life despite the paralysis, as his lyrical and often funny story reveals. He makes the reader laugh even when discussingwithout rancorindifferent hospital ``caretakers.'' But Beisser has been blessed with the latter, including Rita, his wife of 35 years. Whizzing about in a wheelchair, the author became a psychiatrist and a professor of psychiatry among other notable accomplishments. He speaks to both the disabled and able-bodied here, assuring them that it's a joyful satisfaction to keep moving, ignoring what they lack and using what they have. (Jan.)