Michael talks with Andrew Bomback about writing on the morning train, life as an academic doctor, his path to reading and writing literature, specializing in kidneys, the influence of David Shields and Amy Fusselman, his Object Lessons book Doctor, the artifice of medicine, his new book Long Days, Short Years, struggles with three-year-olds and anger, the role of rehearsal in parenting, communicating with kids about our failures, and much more.
Andrew Bomback is the author of Long Days, Short Years: A Cultural History of Modern Parenting (MIT Press, 2022). He's also the author of Doctor (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018). An Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, his essays have appeared in the Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeney's, and elsewhere.
Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.