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Ronald Glasser’s The Light in the Skull (Faber & Faber, USA, $24.95, ISBN 0 571 19916 X ) is a marvellously readable and striking performance. It is an account of the battles fought by medical heroes on two fronts at once—struggling to defeat disease, but also for freedom against powerful and stifling traditionalism. The sweep stretches from Greek times to our own, from plague to AIDS. Each chapter starts with an epigram. Don’t be put off by a misquotation which is then erroneously attributed to William Wordsworth. The book is exceptional.