Susan Cheever observed in a New York Times Book Review appraisal of his memoir Down from Troy that Richard Selzer "cares more about truth than consequences . . . and] immerses us in the facts we all know but hate to admit." Selzer's Diary picks up roughly where the memoir leaves off, as his writing life flourishes and surgical career ends. Stripped of the doctor-writer's "privilege of walking] about all day in the middle of a short story," Selzer shifts his focus to his interior life. In Diary, the author's successes and regrets, as well as the humor...