The significance of the title of Marcus Burnstein’s book “Bummer” will, I am afraid, be lost on many readers born and raised in the States. A bum in American English is something quite different from a bum in British vernacular, and Dr Burnstein is a Canadian surgeon at the University of Toronto specialising in disease management and surgery of the colon, rectum and anus.
To say that “Bummer” is an unusual book is to say no more than the truth, but it is also highly readable, very interesting, and above all extremely informative. It lives up to its subtitle: “What you need to know about anal health”. Burnstein is generous with his professional expertise, as he covers in simple, understandable terms, the issues he deals with on a daily basis. “Anal problems are very common,” he observes. “Many of them are preventable and all are manageable, if not curable.”
Every human being goes through the process of “potty training”, and thereafter lives with the problems that arise from time to time in the lower region. People are often reluctant or embarrassed to discuss, even with a doctor, common issues like........