At least we are no longer in a hospital setting and there are new challenges for our doctor.
But I think we have one book too many and i did not enjoy reading this as much as book 1. In my opinion we should have ended there. Whilst our doc is still honest and forthright in what he tells us, perhaps we did not need to know it.

I really enjoyed John Lawrence's voice in this novel, I went in to this not reading any of his previous work and had a great time. I related to his anxieties of work and it really opened up my view on working in healthcare. I couldn't imagine being a doctor as he really made me feel his anxiety and all the pressure that was put on him.

If I was so describe this book I would say it's like if you did a character study on a Grey's Anatomy character but it was all true.

Thank you to NetGalley, John Lawrence and the publisher for providing me with an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.




An educational and funny book about the highs and lows of being a Chief Resident.

I really enjoyed reading this book about a young doctor's third year as an intern/resident. Now I need to go find the first two books!

He can't decide if he really wants to be a doctor or to be an actor/writer. And, of course, he has lots and lots of medical debt!

John also seems to have a rather large amount of low esteem regarding his capabilities as a doctor. But read on, by the end of the book has starts feeling better about his abilities.

Some of the stories are really funny, some are really sad and some I found myself getting angry (on his behalf) about the patients he has to deal with.

Dr. John Lawrence is a real physician who has written three books about his journey as a family medicine resident.This one is the last in the series and it chronicles his third and final year, when he is Chief Resident.

While I have not read Part One and Part Two, they are now on my Interesting Books list. It is not necessary to have read the earlier books to heartily enjoy this one, which I definitely did. While Dr. Lawrence tries to present himself as a doubting bumbler, what emerges from the many vignettes he reports of his experiences as Chief Resident, what emerges is a portrait of a caring, compassionate physician, who learns by doing and learns by teaching. Anyone who has him as their physician is in very good hands.

Part amusing, part poignant, part painful to read as he sometimes struggles to learn his craft, Playing Doctor Part 3 is a an excellent insight into a physician’ s last year of training in his specialty, and a book I am very glad that I read. Everyone who trains for a career is bound to doubt themselves as they fumble through their training, and, as Dr. Lawrence reveals, at the end of the training, we are truly ready to set forth on our own.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

My thanks to NetGalley and Booksgosocial for a copy of “ Playing Doctor.Part 3 “ for an honest review.

I hadn’t read the first 2 books in this series , but that didn’t stop me enjoying this.
I like reading about experiences from other people’s professions and this was told with humour , truth and honesty.
This has whetted my appetite to read the previous books by John Lawrence.

I absolutely LOVED this book! I read this without having read his previous two books and didn't feel that I had missed anything by reading them out of order. In fact, I enjoyed this book so much that I went and got books 1 and 2 as well.

This is a candidly honest look at what it takes to become a doctor, the doubts and trials, the mistakes and triumphs. It was written in such a way as to make the reader feel like they were part of a conversation with a friend, instead of a third party.

I confess I am just coming off a re-watch of all 15 seasons of ER and reading a bunch of other medical books at the same time, so it was probably not the optimum time to read a nonfiction book. I appreciate some backstory about doctors but I mostly come to read these for the patient stories. As a healthcare professional myself, I relish other people's stories and experiences. I also have not read the first two in the series. Might be worth starting there and then reevaluating this one.

John Lawrence’s experiences as Chief Resident are detailed in Playing Doctor; Part Three, the third in the series detailing his march to medical competency.

Lawrence handles the stresses, frustration and sleep deprivation of physician training with humor. He’s funny, politically incorrect but determined to provide the best care to his patients. Of course, there are those like the drug seekers and the middle of the night phone callers whom he doesn’t think need that help. His anecdotes are funny and provide a different, behind-the-scenes look at the business of medicine.

I have not yet read the first two in the series but have added them to the top of my TBR list. And I can't wait to see what comes next - Playing Doctor, the TV years? 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and John Lawrence for this ARC.

John Lawrence takes the reader through his required number of days in each area of medicine and the events he experiences. Some are funny; some are aggravating for him; and some are quite enlightening and educational for the reader.

As I did not read the first two Parts of this series, it’s difficult for me to truly compare them all and give a true review. Therefore, I can say that I found many of these vignettes to be clever, humorous, and informative.

The “Viagra Blue Crayon” is a funny little story as is the “Door Handle Technique.” Don’t miss reading these for sure.

It is amazing how little consideration some patients have for their doctor’s time and patience. So, next time you visit your doctor, keep this in mind and get right to the real reason for your visit. Oh, and don’t give him/her a call at 3 a.m. to say you can’t have a bowel movement. Good grief!

All in all, I enjoyed this book and wish the good doctor the best of luck in his triple career of caring for his patients as he writes screenplays and pursuing acting. Thank you for the entertainment.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Since this is part three of a series, I felt it was necessary to go back and read the first two parts to have a better frame of reference. I thoroughly enjoy reading medical thrillers and stories. However, this book does not necessarily fall under that genre to me which in this case was not a bad thing. It was interesting to have a look into John’s mind as he worked his way through school and his residency. The flashbacks were appreciated since I read the prior books, and it brought everything together. There were some funny moments involving John personally, but some of the stories of the patients were hilarious. One part that I found interesting was the lengths that people will go to obtain pain medication. Addiction is real. However, because of this, it makes it harder for those who do suffer chronic pain. All in all it was a good read, and I hope there will be more in the series. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Loved it! John weaves laugh-out-loud moments with heartfelt tales throughout his somewhat atypical, always entertaining, rollicking journey through medical training... Such a well crafted novel, compelling enough to pull you through and very quick read. I enjoyed it so much from the first page till the end.

Beautiful. Poignant. Phenomenal.
This was a beautiful read and I learnt so much. I cried and I smiled and there was nothing more that I wanted from this book. Truly a gem.

I was definitely very excited when I saw this book was coming out. After hearing all about John's experiences in the first two years of residency, I couldn't wait to find out how things ended off in his final year!

If you haven't read the first two books, I highly recommend reading them in order, even though John does a wonderful job catching readers up on things they might have missed or forgotten from the tales earlier in the series. It is definitely possible to read them out of order (I did) but I think reading them in order would have been a nice way to enjoy the journey the way he did; over the course of 7 years and 3 books! Similar to the first two books, this book is divided into months or rotations. Each chapter covers a different medical theme, usually related to a section of medicine, for example: obstetrics, family practice or emergency medicine. I love this set up because it is both theme based and also chronological. It is easy to navigate and feels like you are following the calendar year along with him. Also like the first two books, John uses his sense of humour and his strong teaching skills to write in a way that is both entertaining and informative. You will learn lots about the ins and outs of medicine (and what you do that drives your doctors crazy) while also hearing about the craziest situations and the silliest outcomes. He makes a connection with his readers and reminds them that even some of the most brilliant minds in medicine have no clue what is going on sometimes (though they might not admit it). This book was slightly more repetitive than the other two, mainly because it is the conclusion of the story and he reflects on the journey as a whole. Even with a bit more repetition, I still really enjoyed it and am glad I got to finish off the series.

I would highly recommend this book and the entire 3-part series to anyone who enjoys memoirs and medical stories. John is a hilarious writer who does not take himself too seriously and shares his experiences in a way that is down to earth, self-deprecating, and easy to understand. I'm so glad I got the chance to read this third book and would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review it!

Great writing.
John gives us a humorous look into his life as a doctor with plenty of sarcasm thrown in.
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an advanced copy.
Enjoyable and highly recommended read.

This was a very entertaining and engaging book. As a veterinarian who has done advanced training, I can very much relate to the medical mishaps, and how dealing with people is a lot harder than the medicine. This was humorous and yet times educational. The author has a great way of telling the stories with a humble and humorous perspective. The author is eclectic and has a wide range of interests. It is apparent he is a fun guy and someone you'd want to entertain you in times of need (and he'd be a fun character to drink a beer with at a bar). I'm sure his medical skills have progressed beyond where he was as a student and a resident, but we all have to start somewhere and this was a fun reminder of "good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement." A very entertaining and fairly easy read.

As always, I love the tongue-in-cheek humor John Lawrence has had in all of his Playing Doctor books. As an RN, I could relate to so much in all of his books. This is a book for anyone considering Med School or anyone in the medical profession who just wants a bit of humor thrown into their life. Have already told my RN friends to read this.

Wow… loved loved loved the honesty and frankness of being a resident in the healthcare field at this day and age. It was very entertaining and an enjoyable read. You can actually imagine him telling you his stories in person…

This book is funny at times and I loved reading the different situations and shenanigans Dr. Lawrence experienced as a chief and senior resident. But, there are things in here that made me uncomfortable though, specifically how he described some of the women in here. In Exhibit A, he described an 18-year old as very sexy and I know 18 is a legal age for most countries including the US, but it just icks me reading a perspective of an older man describing a recently-just-turned-adult woman (actually, it's worse because in that same sentence he also called her a girl which pertains to a much younger person, and he still described her as "very sexy"?) about her sexiness or how sexy she is. And the reason why this icks me out is because this is not the first time he looked/described a woman with how sexy she is in his perspective (and obviously because how young girls/young adults are being sexualized in this day and age). Exhibit B, though it is not stated directly, implied how he initially assumed his co-worker was "sexy" and then concluding afterwards that she is not what he expected and it just gives me very weird vibes. Add it to the fact that he is in a professional setting and these women are his patient and his co-worker. As a woman, it's very uncomfortable to read and I know not everyone will have the same feelings as I had with the direct quotes I included in this review from the book and I understand that, but I am just being honest and saying that those parts affected my enjoyment while reading the book.

Exhibit A:
"The next morning in clinic, having not slept in quite a long time and feeling extremely slaphappy, I met my most interesting patient of the day by far, and was willing to bet my tightest skivvies that nobody else had a similar conversation that day. She was a very genial eighteen-year-old, very sexy, Mormon girl with her CTR ring in place (“ Choose the Right,” a sign of right-wing Christian conservatism)." - Chapter 16

Exhibit B:
"But we dredged several from the streets, which should have been warning enough, and one night I had the absolute cultural joy of working with a new Russian female resident. I was shocked to discover she bore absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the sexy Russian spy in the James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me." - Chapter 16

Overall, I think the idea of this book is good. We were able to have a peek at a life of a resident, specifically a chief resident, and see their humanity. They may be perceived as superheroes with their healing, but they are also humans who get tired and have a fucked up sleep schedule and has a lot of things to juggle alongside making sure that they are there for their patients. This book just made me feel more compassion towards our healthcare professionals and makes me understand them more. Another thing is that, this book made me think about whether I would want to pursue medicine and I thank Dr. Lawrence for showing us both the fun and not-fun part of a practicing doctor. The first half of this book was fun and then chapter 16 happened. Nonetheless, if the premise and my review of this intrigues you or interesting for you, and if my thoughts regarding the exhibits I included in this review doesn't deter you or did not affect your desire to read this book, then I recommend this book to you.

I enjoyed this book. The pacing is very good and once I started the book, I found it difficult to put down. I enjoyed the use of sarcasm as it provided more insight into Dr. Lawrence’s personality, but I didn’t find this book as humorous as the previous one, with the later book providing no laugh-out-loud moments (disclosure: I received an advance reader copy of the previous book) Nonetheless, this latest book is an enjoyable read and is well worthwhile. Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the advance reader copy.