Dialectical thinking depends upon close attention to details; so does doctoring. “If life were not so urgent I would be willing to spend a year talking to a great batsman, asking him questions and probing into all sorts of aspects of his life on and off the cricket field. If he and hit it off the result would be a book such as had never yet been written, which physicians, anthropologists and psychologists would read more eagerly than cricketers.” James had deep understanding of how it works–technique, psychology, race, and class– and a sure sense of how it could be better.