First published in 1997, this self-selection of the writings of Michael Bloor, Reader at the University of Wales Cardiff, embraces papers on qualitative research findings, on qualitative methods, and on empirically-based theorising. It includes some material which is little known (for example, a rare observational study of illness behaviour) as well as some of Bloor's best regarded papers. This selection from an expert with more than twenty five years of research experience in the field of sociology of health and illness and nearly a hundred previous academic publications will be of interest to students of medical sociology, to methodologists, and to nurses, clinicians, and others interested in qualitative research in health and illness.