New Book Day: A Physician’s Journey

A new year and a new book from The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota. We are very pleased to kick what is likely to be a busy 2024 publishing year with Robert Kyle’s memoir: A Physician’s Journey: The Memoir of Robert A. Kyle, M.D.

Bob Kyle did his undergraduate work at UND before going on to medical school at Northwestern and a distinguished career at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic.

Here’s the back of the book description:

Regrettably, I did not know three of my four grandparents.

So begins A Physician’s Journey, a quintessential modern memoir. Beginning in the tradition of the prairie reverie with snow-filled winters and single room school houses and ending with a litany of late-life accolades, Dr. Robert Kyle details his life from the farm, to smoke jumper school, to the University of North Dakota, to Northwestern Medical School, the US Air Force and eventually a career at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic.

At the Mayo Clinic he met his wife, Charlene, pioneered new treatments for cancer, and started his family. The story as Dr. Kyle tells is unique, but somehow still familiar and endearing. By drawing us into his life and accomplishments, we encounter a narrative suffused with the memories of an American experience that through his work, interests, and travels had a global reach.

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When I started my press, I was satisfied publishing quirky edited volumes that largely revolved around my interests and my colleagues and friends. After a few of these books, however, I realized that I needed to expand my repertoire both to learn to publish new and different kinds of book with different kinds of authors.

A Physician’s Journey was my first effort at a memoir and the unique character of an editorial and production process that is more personal than usual. Fortunately, I had the support of a wonderful developmental and copy editor and Bob Kyle proved to be a thoughtful and collegial author.

The book is unique in The Digital Press catalogue in that it is the only volume available exclusively in hard cover and the only formal memoir. I hope that readers interested in Bob Kyle’s life, career, and accomplishments find it a worthwhile monument.