Does my doctor not know how to read?

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Years ago, I had an excellent doctor at Kaiser, here in California. She treated me like I was intelligent, explained everything she was doing, and made me feel well cared for, both personally and medically. Then she retired. Since then, it's been a struggle to find a decent general practitioner at Kaiser. Maybe I've just had bad luck. My latest doctor has the bedside manner of a marmot, and I don't get a sense that he would care that much if I fell off a cliff and turned into a turkey vulture buffet. Recently, my 93-year-old Aunt, my best friend right now, started taking Neurontin for the burning pain in her head. She's a retired psychologist, but not a physiologist, and had no idea how the stuff worked. She doesn't use the internet. I told her I'd research it for her. When I discovered that its real name is Gabapentin, and that it blocks neural pathways in the brain, I became curious about how similar it is to anxiety-reducing benzodiazepines like Valium and Xanax. I know from teaching psychology classes that Valium and Xanax increase the neurotransmitter GABA, which itself is an inhibitor, meaning that Valium and Xanax basically "quiet the brain down" a bit. So I emailed my doctor, telling him about my Aunt and asking him very clearly (y'all knows I rights pretty good) if Gabapentin was chemically similar to Valium. He wrote me back with a one sentence e-mail saying something like, "Call for office visit and we will discuss Neurontin for your lower back pain." I wasn't asking about Neurontin for my lower back pain! Does this guy not know how to read? How did he get through college and medical school? I did get an answer to my question, but it was from a pharmacist I called after tearing most of my hair out, smoking five cigarettes, drinking half a bottle of Scotch, and eating a small child, which I rarely do. Is your general practitioner better than mine?