It's a paradox: To treat patients well, doctors need to keep their emotional distance—in other words, care for them without caring too much about them. Jerome Groopman, MD, undercuts this premise in How Doctors Think (Houghton Mifflin), a sage, humane prescription for medical practitioners and the people who depend on them. Revealing, often startling anecdotes stress the crucial need to listen to patients and read their body language, not only to make the right diagnosis but to begin the healing process. That's the essence of medicine, writes the supremely literate Dr. Groopman, "a mix of science and soul."