After his success with
Positively Fifth Street, James McManus' editor took another gamble and sent him for a comprehensive, three-day executive physical at the Mayo Clinic. Health issues have played a dominant role in his family's life. His father and grandfather died prematurely, his son died from an accidental drug overdose, and one of his daughters has struggled almost her whole life with diabetes. McManus accepts the assignment, wary about the health issues he's rather not know about or suggested lifestyle changes he knows he won't adhere to. In
Physical, he not only records, with humor, the invasive procedures and tests he must endure, but he also diverges only different tangents about the history of medicine, government policies against stem-cell research, and how all this affects his wife and children.
Physical has received mostly positive reviews with the San Diego Union-Tribune saying, "But his world is our world, and although he can be sexist and reckless and sometimes just plain wrong, it's easy to forgive him because he is so fully present to his readers, and so much fun to read."
