Book Description
A brilliant young transplant surgeon brings moral intensity and narrative drama to the most powerful and vexing questions of medicine and the human condition.
When Pauline Chen began medical school twenty years ago, she dreamed of saving lives. What she did not count on was how much death would be a part of her work. Almost immediately, Chen found herself wrestling with medicine’s most profound paradox, that a profession premised on caring for the ill also systematically depersonalizes dying. Final Exam follows Chen over the course of her education, training, and practice as she grapples at strikingly close range with the problem of mortality, and struggles to reconcile the lessons of her training with her innate knowledge of shared humanity, and to separate her ideas about healing from her fierce desire to cure.
From her first dissection of a cadaver in gross anatomy to the moment she first puts a scalpel to a living person; from the first time she witnesses someone flatlining in the emergency room to the first time she pronounces a patient dead, Chen is struck by her own mortal fears: there was a dying friend she could not call; a young patient’s tortured death she could not forget; even the sense of shared kinship with a corpse she could not cast aside when asked to saw its pelvis in two. Gradually, as she confronts the ways in which her fears have incapacitated her, she begins to reject what she has been taught about suppressing her feelings for her patients, and she begins to carve out a new role for herself as a physician and as human being. Chen’s transfixing and beautiful rumination on how doctors negotiate the ineluctable fact of death becomes, in the end, a brilliant questioning of how we should live.
Moving and provocative, motored equally by clinical expertise and extraordinary personal grace, this is a piercing and compassionate journey into the heart of a world that is hidden and yet touches all of our lives. A superb addition to the best medical literature of our time.
Customer Reviews:
Surgeons are human too... crystal clear honesty from an accomplished professional.......2007-08-27
This book had much value for me personally. I'm not a doctor or a pre-med student. I picked this book up by chance on the "new book" shelf at our local library. We had a son who was born with a severe, rare chromosomal syndrome. He stood no chance of survival yet sincere, overly zealous surgical professionals endeavored to schedule surgery without discussion or consultation from we parents even as he struggled to stay alive on life support. My son had absolutely no prospects of surviving infancy, much less a life free of tortuous pain. What hurt the most was how we, the parents, had to stand up for our rights to allow our son the dignified and welcome relief that could come only through death. It was clear to us, as it is clear to Dr. Chen in her book, that the highly trained and zealous surgical professionals lacked the sensitivity to fully appreciate or consider the moral aspects and shamelessness of dying peacefully with dignity.
This book has moving first person accounts of what ridiculous decisions are being made when death is unavoidable and stands there to relieve those whose continued suffering is senseless. I was particularly moved by the account of the "full court press" given to a dying cancer patient who triggered the "code blue". We owe much to Dr. Chen for making public this and other events that fully expose the deficiencies in the medical community's approach to care of the terminally ill.
Dr. Chen's emotional honesty in this very personalized narrative is a great tribute to those of her profession who have struggled at being competent professionals while retaining the qualities of moral and compassionate human beings.
A remarkable book by a remarkable woman.......2007-08-25
This is a deeply engaging and moving book. To become an accomplished transplant surgeon demands many gifts, including high intelligence, perseverance, physical skill, focus. What is not required, and what Dr. Chen displays in full measure herein, is the ability to examine one's actions and feelings with the kind of introspection and depth demonstrated in "Final Exam". One also does not necessarily expect a fine surgeon to be a fine writer. Dr. Chen is a very fine writer.
Anyone interested in the psychological and philosophical issues surounding modern medicine should read this book.
Fascinating--Exquisitely Written--Full of Heartfelt Honesty.......2007-07-07
"Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality" by Pauline W. Chen is outstanding on many levels. Its purpose is to reveal what is wrong with the medical profession's attitude toward the treatment of terminally ill and dying patients. But don't expect an academic discussion; Chen makes this issue very personal. The book is a recounting of the many experiences in her own medical career--from medical student to transplant surgeon--that shaped and later changed her attitude toward care of patients at the end of life.
I had no particular reason to read this book--I am not a doctor, the parent of a doctor, or involved in any way with the medical profession. I just saw this book on the New Books shelf in my local library and checked it out. What is amazing is that I could not put this book down--I know that sounds so trite, but it's true. What grabbed me first was the wholly unexpected openness and honesty of the author. What grabbed me next was the beautiful clear prose. Here was a brilliant woman doctor telling me all about the many experiences in her medical career that shaped her current convictions about medical care at the end of life. But she was not just telling me about these medical experiences, she was turning herself inside out to reveal how she actually FELT about each experience. How many doctors have you ever heard talk to you about their feelings? This author brought me close to her heart--I felt like a sister or a dear friend.
I came away from this book with a far greater respect for physicians; especially all they have to deal with, physically and mentally, throughout their long years of training and practice. I also come away with a far greater appreciation for the human frailty of physicians, particularly when dealing with-end of-life issues. This is a profession that has to deal with far more than a normally allotted human share of agony, grief, and soul-searching.
Now what?.......2007-06-04
As an undergraduate humanities teacher, I have often observed how unimaginative pre-med students can be (as well as very bright, of course). So this sensitively written, introspective memoir is a surprise and delight. I am, as an older person now, also happy to see medical activism admitting its ultimate helplessness in the face of human mortality. After all doctors eventually lose every one of their patients, don't they? On the other hand, what has Pauline to offer us in the face of the ultimate modern terror except a tear and some time? I understand that is the best we often have these days, but it's not much. As a medievalist, I live much of my life in a world where this fragile life and this frail body are passing things to be happily cast off of as a precondition to an eternal life free of the suffering that Chen sets before us so poignantly.
I am not suggesting that the beliefs of the medieval world were correct but that our ancestors had a rich tradition of ideas, feelings and rituals with which to face this ultimate challenge to life as we know it. If the price of the modern world's enormous skill in prolonging life was dependent on overthrowing the beliefs of traditional Western culture, what have we gained but a few more years and the terror of slipping alone into eternal darkness? I hope Pauline weeps for that as well someday; if she can write another book afterwards, it may well be a masterpiece.
How a surgeon deals with death.......2007-05-30
As shocking and gory as the medical world is portrayed on television, it seldom comes close to reality, a lesson that Pauline W. Chen regurgitates in FINAL EXAM as she describes her academic (and continuing) education in the most difficult of all lessons: dealing with death.
I'm no psychologist, but sometimes I wonder if doctors go into the profession because of a God complex, where they wield such awesome power; patients defer to their wisdom and put their fates completely into their hands. Then comes the inevitable day when the physician loses her first patient, whether due to something she did or didn't do, or because nature has taken its course. It must be quite a blow to the ego.
Then the transformation occurs.
The doctor can go one of two ways. She can either steel herself against death or learn from it and become a more compassionate caregiver.
Chen, who attended Harvard University and the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, paints a compelling picture, but one that is not for the squeamish. She discusses her first interaction with a corpse as she and her fellow med students learned anatomy through dissection. The respect and "relationship" that developed is touching, as Chen realizes this former life force had a history, a family, hopes and dreams, just as she does.
Over the course of her studies and through her residency, Chen learns that her work is not parceled out as neatly as television shows such as "ER" and "Grey's Anatomy." The victims do not lie in bed neatly as doctors and nurses struggle to keep them alive. They slide around, bleed, moan and cry out.
There is no part of Chen's story that isn't saturated with sadness, even as she is learning. Every new character is destined to die. How will Chen respond? Will she reach out to the dying man and his family? Will she try to hide until the end has come and avoid it all?
For all the emotion, Chen does not come down on one side or the other on the technology that is available to keep the patient going. Indeed, most of the people she discusses have decided to go out on their own terms.
What must one feel upon being given that death sentence? How does a doctor ever get used to passing down that sentence, when nothing else can be done? "[T]he words emerge," Chen writes in a chapter titled "Sorry to inform you" "so softly that I see everyone leaning in as I speak. 'I wonder,' I hear myself saying to these people, 'if you have thought of what you want at the end of life?'"
Taking a very cynical stance, as lofty as the author's intentions are, FINAL EXAM reminds me of a line from "I'm a Loser": "Is it for her or myself that I cry?"
--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
Book Description
The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century is a highly personalized description of one individual's experiences during a five-year residency in general surgery at a major university hospital. It describes the personal challenges and rewards, the drama of triumph and tragedy, the agony of indecision and the thrill of success. Residency is the most profoundly life-altering sequence of events in a surgeon's life.
What does it take to make a surgeon?
It takes a college degree and a medical school education, followed by a residency. And it takes a willingness to subordinate one's personal life to acquiring the skills and knowledge which a surgeon must possess. This sacrifice takes its toll - on families, on mental health, on life-style. A surgical trainee may not get out on his own until well in his thirties - living, in the meantime, a meager existence at best.
Post-graduate training in surgery is longer than that of any other medical specialty, five years at least. Tortuous on-call schedules often demand exceedingly long work hours - 100-hour work weeks being the norm. Compounding the problem are very high stress levels, the burdens shouldered by the resident's family in his frequent absence and often an enormous educational debt.
Nevertheless, every year hundreds of fresh medical school graduates compete for the few available positions. They are consistently the very best of their classes.
Why would otherwise intelligent, highly motivated individuals actively seek such a miserable existence?
Surgeons have, of course, been glorified in the mass media as the swaggering, brilliant, fiercely independent cowboys of the medical profession. Their compensation has also been great. But beyond this is a personal quality best defined as decisiveness. They want to make the difference, in no uncertain terms. In surgery, when the patient enters the operating room he is suffering from disease. Thanks to the surgeon, he may be wheeled out cured. It doesn't happen every time, of course, but the possibility is there (in other disciplines of medicine "cure" is, unfortunately, an unusual event). Who wouldn't want to be such a healer, making a palpable, tangible difference?
Customer Reviews:
Honest although not very entertaining.......2007-08-04
The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century is an honest account of the challenges and satisfaction that many surgeons-in-training could relate to. He explains what surgeons go through in easy to understand language and probably it would be a worthwhile read for the families of surgeons-in-training to give them insight and understanding of the process. Dr Miller is not a particularly entertaining writer - certainly not in the same league as Atul Gawande - but that is possibly one of the things that make the experiences seem more genuine.
A Colorful and Interesting Account.......2006-06-24
Medical memoirs have become a popular genre. Most are quite revealing as to the virtual hell a four to five year resident must experience to become a qualified practitioner. The resident surgeon's experience has to be the most hellish in terms of the amount of hours worked, (100 hour weeks) the pressure brought to bear from the attending staff, sometimes extremely sadistic, abrasive and demeaning, not to mention the continuos mental strain from lack of sleep and the stress on the residents family, some families, unfortunately, disintegrate at some point along the way. Craig Miller's book clearly expresses all these things, however it is the spirit in which he communicates these experiences that makes his memoir worthwhile reading.
A better word would be a colourful account of his experiences as a resident. He not only explains the program in easy to comprehend prose, it is his anecdotes, describing the many characters that make-up this world that is entertaining as well as intriguing. About halfway through the text, I wondered if he had changed the names of the attending staff, nurses, and fellow surgeons that he profiles, because his characterizations are really, for the most part, quite scathing. In some cases the descriptions bordered on the libellous, smelling a legal suit some time in the future. However I'm sure his editors took this into consideration before publication. I certainly hope so.
The most revealing and educational part of the book was Miller's explanation of the standard step-by-step procedure (the Advanced Trauma Life Support protocols) when working in the ER, the initial steps of trauma management. Interestingly it is broken down simply so that the attending staff do not have to "think", but sequentially run through this procedure of "A is for Airway, B is for Breathing, C is for circulation, D is for Disability and E is for exposure." (P. 207) Miller is extremely annoyed how TV dramas as well as `reality' documentaries give the wrong impression to add to the pathos. In fact the ATLS protocols, following the A, B, C, D, E standard procedure avoids the chaos, ensuring the best for the trauma victim. This section of the text was extremely informative.
By the end of Miller's Chief Residency, he had the confidence and the confidence of his teachers to forge on alone, and realized he had truly become a surgeon. Having read the book in an afternoon, his writing was such that I felt his relief and sense of accomplishment by the end of his five-year residency. This has to be one of the most difficult and gruelling training out of all the professions, physically, intellectually and emotionally. In the Epilogue, Miller expresses his ambivalence about the current residency system in terms of its viciousness and amazing effectiveness in producing top-notch surgeons. The system hasn't changed since the 19th century. The process certainly takes its toll but for a price and is the price worth it?
A recommended read for anyone interested in the education of a surgeon.
More like, "The Whining of a Resident".......2006-05-08
William Nolen's original "The Making of a Surgeon" was a near epic inspirational recounting of one's surgical training. It celebrated the training process that molded eager, talented young doctors into, what else, surgeons. He portrayed a system that was necessarily grueling in order to insure that the products were worthy and capable of having people's very lives placed into their hands. Miller's tale, on the other hand, is more the revisionist whining of a worker who believes his boss never appreciated his talents or efforts. The entire book reads much like the faculty roast he recounts near the end: a steady spiteful payback; a re-vengeful, cathartic diatribe in which the targets are the very faculty and institution that tolerated him as a green, imperfect but promising young recruit and trained him to be a surgeon. If your preference is inspiration, stick with the original. If you enjoy wallowing in self-pity and pointing the fingers at others to explain your own shortcomings, you'll enjoy Miller's version.
The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century.......2006-04-23
I agree........this book was very factual and intertaining at the same time. I liked his style of writing and felt like he was right beside me, speaking about his experiences. I cheered in the end. The brutal years that he went through in his training came to a perfect end with the roast! He finally got "his day"!
A natural follow up to Dr. Nolen's book.......2005-10-16
The world of surgical training has changed tremendously over the past few years. As little as 5 years ago, the rule in surgical residency training was 110-120 hour-work weeks and even some rotations demanded 24 hour in-house coverage for several weeks at a time. This "old school" period is brilliantly narrated by William A. Nolen in "The Making of a Surgeon", but today's reality, significantly different, was captured splendidly by Dr. Miller.
Dr. Miller comes through with what feels like a natural follow-up of Dr. Nolen's work. There are interesting comparisons of several features of our current training as opposed to that of Dr. Nolen's era.
This book was very entertaining, critical and even funny. Suitable for both the non-health system related reader, as well as medical students and residents as a way of comparing our own training. Dr. Miller managed to explain technical terms in a very simple and short fashion that doesn't interrupt his rhythm even for the expert surgical readers.
I highly recommend this book particularly to medical students contemplating a surgical career. If you don't find yourself laughing at Miller's humor, then surgery might not be your most suitable future!
Book Description
Read by Tim Pigott-Smith
Three Cassettes, 5 hours
The 7th installment in the Aubrey/Maturin Series.
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are ordered home by dispatch vessel to bring the news of their latest vitory to the government. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought in the Fren intelligence network in the New World, and the attentions of two privateers soon become menacing. the chase that follows is as thrilling and unexpected as anything O'Brian has written.
Customer Reviews:
Maturin's book.......2007-05-01
The focus is on Stephen Maturin in this seventh installment of the Aubrey-Maturin series, which, though it isn't the best or most exciting of the first seven books, is still a ripping good read. Returning to England following their escapades in North America, Aubrey and Maturin try to settle into life at home -- Jack with his family and Stephen with his scientific pursuits -- but their pasts catch up with them, compelling them to join forces for a spur-of-the-moment mission to the Baltic. Will they succeed? Will they overcome the old problems that dog them? And just who is the surgeon's mate? Read this tale of spying, diplomacy, and (of course!) naval combat to find out.
Another good one.......2007-03-17
This series is great and this was another chapter in the ongoing story of Maturin and Aubrey. Their adventures are of another world and provide a great contrast to other books.
Another stellar effort for Patrick O'Brian as Aubrey and Maturin wear a bit about the edges.......2007-01-17
Patrick O'Brian's scope of imagination is staggering. We are now into the seventh book in his series, and Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey and surgeon/naturalist/spy Stephen Maturin continue to find themselves in realistic-yet-dire circumstances of a personal, military, and intelligence nature. Through it all, these two characters never seem like invincible juggernauts, but instead very human, very capable men living by the best their wits and luck can offer.
At the outset of the novel, Aubrey and Maturin need to flee the New World for the old, but find themselves hard-pressed to do so. Thanks to Dr. Maturin's single-handed destruction of French spy networks in Boston (including a wee bit of murder), a wealthy intelligence figure hires ships to track down the fleeing Maturin. The result is a thrilling chase off Nova Scotia and the nearby waters - while I prefer Aubrey's sinking of the Dutch 74 the Waakzamheid in "Desolation Island," this chase is one of the most thrilling in the series so far.
And the joys of this novel don't stop there. O'Brian once again finds various ways to inject humor into his novel. Dr. Maturin hits a personal and professional high (as a naturalist) when he gets the chance to address a body of learned scientists in Paris . . . only to bungle the presentation horribly. Aubrey allows himself to be seduced by a wanton woman while celebrating his escape from the jail in Boston, and is confronted with news of the natural biological result of such a transgression. Maturin and Aubrey are accompanied on many of their adventures in "SM" by the Swedish captain Jagiello, a supremely attractive young man, and Aubrey finds himself at a loss as to why the women fall all over themselves for this young buck when they could have a sailor "with the handsomest set of whiskers in the fleet." There are joys in this novel that you just don't find in most swashbuckling thrillers.
But at its heart, "SM" is an adventure yarn, and O'Brian does not disappoint. In a story that sweeps from the New World to Paris to Denmark to the infamous Temple Prison back in France, Aubrey and Maturin find themselves thrown from one pan into another fire. And God bless them for it!
I'll be coming back for more! .......2006-11-02
This entry in the Aubrey-Maturin seagoing saga was probably my least favorite that I've read so far in this series. My quibble was with the novel's plot, which was pretty thin and derivative of other action novels and movies. And Diana Villiers, Dr. Maturin's love, is starting to remind of the character of Irenee in The Forsythe Saga. Everyone is always talking about how fascinating she is, but darned if I can see why. On the plus side, as always O'Brian serves up amazing historical details and makes Jack and Stephen witty and real. And the on-going story of their lives advances to a very eye-opening and surprising ending. So you can bet I'll look forward to the next installment of this series.
From Chase to Chase.......2006-04-23
In "The Surgeon's Mate", Patrick O'Brian concludes the interior trilogy that is contained within his larger series- the previous two being "Desolation Island" and "Fortune of War". In these books Stephen Maturin comes into his own as the main protagonist driving the suspense and tension- in addition to the overt action on the high seas and the covert action of 19th Century espionage, Stephen struggles with an addiction to an opiate and a woman whose collective effect nearly destroys him. "The Surgeon's Mate" continues this trend and takes it to new levels, and concludes them rather than leaving us hanging. `Lucky' Jack Aubrey is of course present, and often present at the heart of the action, and in this volume exposes the weaker side of his character in the form of an affair he has in Halifax- after so long away, he caves only a few months from home.
From the harbor of Halifax, Stephen, Jack and Diana travel back to England and are pursued relentlessly by American privateers- so relentlessly that Stephen realizes they are sent to hunt and capture him as result of his recent exploits in causing havoc among the French intelligence service in America. From this tense chase, the companions are given a much needed respite in England. The are there long enough for Jack's mistake with Amanda Smith in Halifax to haunt him- for Diana and Stephen to drift apart, and for Stephen to accept his invitation to speak at the Institute in Paris on his beloved topic of Natural Philosophy. When in Paris he brings Diana and sets her up with his contacts, as she can no longer stand English society (mostly due to her own promiscuity), and terrified at the prospect that she is unmarried and may be with child. Jack and Stephen reunite and escape from their various troubles by accepting a mission to neutralize (peacefully if possible) a garrisoned fortress in the Baltic known as the Grisholm; a fortress manned by Catalan soldiers misled by Napoleon's propaganda and led by none other than Stephen's Godfather. This sets up Maturin to again take the lead and showcase the espionage that O'Brian writes so well.
Along the way to the conclusion O'Brian writes some of his best descriptions of the Channel, and the sights to be seen there. The dialogue is crisp and sparkles- the addition of the Swedish `hero' named Jagiello adds a lot of humor- the scenes of Stephen, Jack and Jagiello bumbling and scheming in prison is classic. The final chapters take the reader on a gale-force journey from cannon fire in the Baltic to the terrors of a lee-shore and eventually the infamous Temple Prison in Paris. . . .
Book Description
When Michael Collins decides to become a surgeon, he is totally unprepared for the chaotic life of a resident at a major hospital. A natural overachiever, Collins' success, in college and medical school led to a surgical residency at one of the most respected medical centers in the world, the famed Mayo Clinic. But compared to his fellow residents Collins feels inadequate and unprepared. All too soon, the euphoria of beginning his career as an orthopedic resident gives way to the feeling he is a counterfeit, an imposter who has infiltrated a society of brilliant surgeons. This story of Collins' four-year surgical residency traces his rise from an eager but clueless first-year resident to accomplished Chief Resident in his final year. With unparalleled humor, he recounts the disparity between people's perceptions of a doctor's glamorous life and the real thing: a succession of run down cars that are towed to the junk yard, long weekends moonlighting at rural hospitals, a family that grows larger every year, and a laughable income. Collins' good nature helps him over some of the rough spots but cannot spare him the harsh reality of a doctor's life. Every day he is confronted with decisions that will change people's lives-or end them-forever. A young boy's leg is mangled by a tractor: risk the boy's life to save his leg, or amputate immediately? A woman diagnosed with bone cancer injures her hip: go through a painful hip operation even though she has only months to live? Like a jolt to the system, he is faced with the reality of suffering and death as he struggles to reconcile his idealism and aspiration to heal with the recognition of his own limitations and imperfections. Unflinching and deeply engaging, Hot Lights, Cold Steel is a humane and passionate reminder that doctors are people too. This is a gripping memoir, at times devastating, others triumphant, but always compulsively readable.
Customer Reviews:
First Rate.......2007-08-22
This was a phenomenal book. Dr. Michael J. Collins wrote an account of his four years as a resident at the Mayo Clinic which reads like a novel. It is at times laugh-out loud funny, other times devastatingly sad. I didn't want the book to end, yet I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book. I wish I hadn't read it yet so I could read it again. I hope he writes another one.
Doctors Are People, Too.......2007-01-12
Hot Lights, Cold Steel is an intriguing account of the life of a doctor. Written by orthopedic surgeon Michael J. Collins, it is a fast-paced reminiscence of his four years as a resident at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Michigan. Throughout the book, Collins connects the reader to many of his important cases. Told on such a relatable basis, the reader experiences the achievement, thrill, and sorrow that accompany his countless orthopedic cases.
Collins discusses his medical career, describing many orthopedic surgeries in great detail. There is sufficient detail that people with weak stomachs should be cautioned against reading it. He not only discusses each procedural aspect of his work, he also describes the emotions that accompany each victory and especially, each defeat. A major theme throughout the novel is similar to a theme in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter: humans make mistakes, but nobody is perfect and people learn to forgive. Collins struggles with this reality, recognizing that when doctors make mistakes, people die.
Collins's book isn't all about his career in the hospital, however. He also tells about his ever-growing family and what his being a doctor means for them. Although he relates many pleasurable moments with his family and fellow resident friends, Collins also discusses some of the suffering his family must face until he becomes an attending physician. He especially focuses on the many hardships his wife Patti must endure until he can build up his own practice. Addressing a common misconception that all doctors are wealthy, Collins tells of their poverty, calculating his salary at $2.50 per hour, describing countless "junker" cars, and telling of their near-empty bank account. He is forced to "moonlight" at another hospital on nearly all of his free weekends to supplement his income, which means sacrificing valuable time with his wife and children. Collins enlightens the reader by recounting episodes of his life not only as a doctor, but as husband and father, making the point that doctors are people, too.
For anyone who is considering a career as an orthopedic surgeon, or any medical profession, this book is a must-read. By providing a unique look at the life of a doctor, Collins describes in detail the personal and technical aspects of every surgery as well as his life as a doctor in general. He makes clear just what being a doctor is about, vocationally and personally. Just like an awesome episode of `House', Collins's book will keep the reader interested for hours at a time.
Enjoyable reading.......2006-11-04
The author did a good job keeping our interest and it was very believable.
My 89 year old mother enjoyed it, as did my husband and I.
I highly recommend it. It's nice to know that non-fiction can keep your interest.
"They don't make scalpels with training wheels.".......2006-08-28
"Hot Lights, Cold Steel," by Michael J. Collins, is a fascinating account of the making of an orthopedic surgeon. Collins starts his residency at Rochester's prestigious Mayo Clinic with deep feelings of insecurity. In fact, he dispiritedly dubs himself "the dullest scalpel in the drawer." Unlike his fellow residents, Collins, an Irish Catholic from Chicago's West Side, did not do multiple rotations in orthopedics while in medical school, conducted no research, and wrote no scientific papers. Instead, he worked on a loading dock to make ends meet. To his credit, however, Collins has energy, intelligence, ambition, and perseverance.
At first, Collins tries to stay in the background and keep his mouth shut, hoping that his superiors will overlook his obvious ignorance. When he reviews a chart with the notation "Patient is TTWB," he wonders what this acronym means. Could it be "three times without bleeding," or "terribly thirsty without beer?" Collins disconsolately predicts that he will shortly be drummed out of the residency program for "practicing medicine without a brain." The author's self-deprecating humor is delightful and it helps to offset the tragic cases he recounts.
The author explores the grueling nature of a surgeon's training: the sleepless nights, snatched meals, long absences from loved ones, and fear of hurting a patient. Because he is constantly short of money, Collins and his wife, Patti, drive a series of broken down junkers, and as his family grows, he must moonlight in order to pay the bills. The compensations are the exhilaration of helping a patient regain his or her health, the excitement of performing an operation for the first time, and the deep friendships that Collins forms with his fellow orthopods. Although it terrifies him to know that, if he slips up, he could kill or cripple someone, as time goes on, he gradually learns to accept the fact that everyone makes mistakes and terrible things do happen. He cannot let this possibility destroy his confidence.
The most memorable aspects of the book are the medical anecdotes: a boy's leg is mangled by a tractor and the doctor must decide whether to amputate, a beautiful woman has a rare cancer that requires mutilating surgery, and on a lighter note, a forty-year old man comes into the emergency room with a fishhook up his nose. Sometimes Collins succeeds, and other times, he fails. However, his four years as a resident teach him the immense value and satisfaction of his chosen profession and the importance of treating every patient with respect and compassion.
Reality.......2006-07-02
The thing I loved most about this book is that it is REAL and it is HONEST. It's not exactly glamourous...and that attributes to the book's success.
Dr. Collins doesn't write about earning lots of money and driving the best cars and going to country clubs. He writes about being a resident, just out of medical school, slightly clueless, working 100 hours a week at $2.50 an hour. Not glamourous at all.
But then he writes about the things he does have - a loving wife, many wonderful children, and how some of his fellow residents are his best friends.
It's all very touching and real...I would reccomend this to any people who think they might want to be doctors. It shows you that you're going to have to work very hard...but it will all be worth it in the end. That's an important lesson anyone entering the medical world needs to know.
Book Description
Dr. Nolen takes us through the surgical residency and introduces us to the very real world where he was intern and chief resident for five years: New York's Bellevue State Hospital. Funny, compassionate, sometimes tragic, Nolen provides an intimate view of life in the wards, labs and operating rooms of a great hospital.
"His book is devastatingly frank...a cornucopia of enthralling stories...an intensely human record of a young surgeon's apprenticeship." (Saturday Review)
Customer Reviews:
The Making of a Surgeon.......2007-04-13
An excellent book! My father introduced me to this work, as he knew William Nolen personally, and in fact was a character in the book, Jack Lesperance. Our real last name is Peterson, but it was a pleasure to get some insight into my father's residency at Bellevue Hospital in NYC.
Dated - but still important and engaging.......2006-11-10
Surgical training and practice has changed a great deal since Bill Nolan wrote this book, but I find myself thinking about this book almost weekly in my job as an academic general surgeon. I think Dr. Nolan, better than any other author before or since, explained one of the essential tenets of surgical practice "when someone calls you, you need to get out of bed". Even when exhausted, and even when he was on services (including path) where he had no interest and even less aptitude, he did his job to the best of his ability. I would also strongly recommend his two later books, although they may be impossible to find.
Loved it!.......2006-05-21
I was looking for something that could be in the same line of House of God, this book.. although a little outdated, presented with the whole picture of surgery, the hardships, the informed judgement, the dealings with patients as well as colleagues, the whole concept of how-to-become-a-good-intern stuff. I really like the way he cares to pinpoint every important aspect about the case, how it went, what might have been diff and off course, what he learned.. and that too in a genuinely funny way. A simply remarkable piece!
A classic, pure and simple.......2006-04-11
I first read this book about 20 years ago, my knowledge of its existence made by his death announcement in either Time or Newsweek. 8(
I gave my first copy to a friend who was contemplating medical school (she and I lost touch not long afterwards; a Google search revealed that she did eventually get her M.D.). My second copy is dog-eared as well. Like the other posters said, some of the concepts are dated but a lot of things really haven't changed, either.
He eventually settled in the Twin Cities area and died before his 60th birthday.
Overrated and quietly arrogant.......2004-07-15
I know that many find this book to be very special and I freely admit the writing style is engaging. That being said, the reader is left with the distinct impression that there is more work to becoming a surgeon than any other profession in the world, especially medical profession. I'm not an M.D. myself, but this book is a slap in the face to any family physician, pediatrician, or cardiologist, who have their own unique sets of pressures that a surgeon couldn't possibly understand. The Making of a Surgeon contributes to the public perception that a surgeon is a higher ranking physician than a primary care doctor. I commend the surgeon that treated a problem I had, and certainly appreciate it. But when it comes to followup, listening to me, and on a scientific level, balancing out all of my medical problems and history, there is nobody that works harder and puts in more time than my family doctor.
Book Description
"The fascinating tale of an extraordinary black man's involvement, growth, and final recognition in a white man's world of surgical research and medical practice . . . at the same time, an insightful firsthand account of the genesis of some of the pioneering research into the nature of shock and some of the early procedures in cardiovascular surgery." --Journal of the History of Medicine Visitors to the Blalock Building at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Center are greeted by portraits of two great men. One, of renowned heart surgeon Alfred Blalock, speaks for itself. The other, of highschool graduate Vivien Thomas, is testimony to the incredible genius and determination of the first black man to hold a professional position at one of America's premier medical institutions. Partners of the Heart is Thomas's extraordinary autobiography. Trained in laboratory techniques by Alfred Blalock and Joseph W. Beard, Thomas remained Blalock's principal technician and laboratory chief for the rest of Blalock's distinguished career. Thomas very rapidly learned to perform surgery, to do chemical determinations, and to carry out physiologic studies. He became a phenomenal technician and was able to carry out complicated experimental cardiac operations totally unassisted and to devise new ones.
Customer Reviews:
Vivien Thomas.......2007-08-12
Book arrived quickly and in good shape. The book contains many highly technical surgical passages which do not lend themselves to easy reading. Unless you have a medical background these passages can be overwhelming. Most readers will probably end up skipping these passages which comprise a large portion of the book.
neverf ordered this product.......2007-05-30
I never ordered this product, could you send me info if you have me as purchawsing this item. thanks
Partners of the Heart.......2007-03-23
Very interesting to follow the challenges and choices that Mr. Thomas makes throughout his remarkable career. A bit of a distracted read if you do not have the technical background to understand many of the technical procedures that he used and helped to develop, but still a fascinating story.
Good book.......2007-01-17
Excellent autobiography of a relatively unknown giant of medicine who helped pioneer heart surgery. I bought this for my 12 year old child for a history project, and the text was way over her head, but it would be a good story for any high schooler who was interested in going into medicine.
If you've seen the movie, now read the book.......2006-03-21
In this book you will hear from Vivien Thomas himself. As wonderful as the movie was, it did take some dramatic license here and there. Vivien tells the story of the first "blue baby" operation very matter of factly. As you read the book you will discover that he played things pretty close to the vest. He was not one for dramatic outbursts or fits of temper. Thomas is a dignified quite man and his relation with Dr. Blalock was not all sweetness and light but they worked well togehter and became very close.
There is a lot of medical talk in the book. The squeemish may have trouble getting through the accounts of the experiments that were performed on the dogs. Don't let that stop you from reading this book. It gives you a wonderful insight into this modest, unassuming but brilliant doctor. He never went to medical school but taught some of the finset surgeons in the world how to operate. Happily, Thomas was finally given an honorary doctorate by Johns Hopkins.
If you have seen the movie, don't expect this book to play out the same way. This is real life.
Enjoy!
Book Description
he biography of a medical maverick who is challenging scientific convention with his astounding approach to achieving and maintaining health Dr. Irving Dardik's radical notions about how all matter moves in interconnected waves has drawn deep skepticism from physicists, and his early attempts to put his theory into practice in the field of health care got him banned from practicing medicine in the 1990s. But now, after a decade's worth of rigorous research that seems to support Dardik's SuperWave theory, scientists at such esteemed institutions as MIT, Harvard, and Stanford Research International are signing on with Dardik's team to probe the possibilities. For example, Dardik's unique approach to physical exercise, based on his Principle, has achieved some remarkable successes in reversing symptoms of chronic disease.
Customer Reviews:
nice story, no details re: how to do it.......2007-09-30
I really liked the book, on a literary level. It was well written, engaging, and thought provoking. However, it really fails, and fails badly at giving the how to's. I'd love to try the protocol the Dradik has developed and the book describes, but there just isn't enough detail about how to institute it. i feel like I was shown a menu and then told I couldn't ordewr the food. From what I undersatnd, Dardi charges $5,ooo a month to enroll in his program! That leaves out most of the planet. So much for sharing usable information.
Just because..........2007-06-23
The only reason I decided to buy this book was because of the "John Doe" and "jubjub" below, who both use the term viral marketers to describe some honest people reviewing the book, and then pretending to feel bad about wasting fifteen bucks to the author's grubby capitalist pockets; I'm sure they haven't even held the book in their hands. They mentioned no details about the book they didn't like, why they didn't like it, and gave it the lowest score possible. Get a life.
Dan Winter already has an incredible amount of information online at his Golden Mean site for free. I was fascinated by the incredible life-like symmetries in the graphs and charts, even though he has a ton of crazy ideas... which seem to make sense under this universal paradigm. Can't wait to read the book.
Promising approach to health, an intriguing view of life.......2007-05-17
Dardik's work is, IMO, profound and still in its infancy. He offers a model of how both life and the physical world 'work'. Most immediately and as a doctor, Dardik focused initially on how our Western life-style works against human performance, and produces chronic disease -- and what may be done to reverse this by strengthening the body's natural ability to create health.
Lewin's book is an excellent introduction for both lay people and subject experts. Lewin describes well the important first practical applications in health and physics of Dardik's concept of SuperWaves. It is clear that applications will continue to be discovered as others in other fields, such as politics, sociology and psychology, consider the implications of Superwaves.
Lewin's book is a handy entry into this model of how both life and the physical world work, and a good launching point for people who find traditional models inadequate.
At the same time, Lewin's book offers a fascinating look into the world of creative people who tackle areas in which a prevailing wisdom is (too) well-entrenched. It is a world of joyous intellectual breakthroughs and of numbing institutional defeats, of lasting friendships and loyal support and of belligerent personal attacks.
This world requires perseverance, sacrifice, enduring curiosity and open-mindedness, and as with all the great pioneers of history, it is fortunate that Dardik has these aplenty, and that the benefits of his insights are thus entering into our lives.
Lewin's book is a great help in furthering this tendentious, difficult, important and rewarding process.
Lawrence de Bivort
Shame on you Lewin!.......2006-07-12
Corrupting the integrity of the amazon review system with viral marketers is a distasteful annoyance but it pales in comparison to preying on the hopes of the ill.
I love books that are on the fringe of science--they are often thought-provoking and entertaining even if they report on findings that are ultimately flawed. However, seeing how the grandiose claims of this book ultimately led to the defrauding of the elderly and chronically sick makes me ashamed that a fraction of the money I paid for this book went into the pocket of the author.
Author's response.......2006-06-15
In his/her short "review," "jubjub" makes the extremely serious accusation that either I, as author, or Irving Dardik, as the subject of the book, must have "paid" some of the reviewers, because of their positive comments. ("Jubjub" uses the derogatory term "infomercial language.") While I refrain from stooping to respond to such a base claim, I would ask why "jubjub" would seek to hide behind a mask of anonymity while making such a claim about me in such a public arena? Does she/he not have the decency or courage to simply identify themselves? What does she/he have to hide, if anything? (In entering this "review," I was asked to select a rating; as author, I simply entered its current rating, not wishing to skew the rate either way.)
Book Description
The indispensable guide to medical careers. Career guidance offered in most medical schools is limited in variety, detail and scope even though a medical degree offers career opportunities unrivalled by most professions. Many students graduate with no idea of their future career goals. The new edition of So You Want To Be a Brain Surgeon? provides a fun yet informative guide for all medical students and for all those considering a medical degree. The text has been radically updated to include more chapters, even more comprehensive psychiatry and anaesthetics sections, is more accessible to A-level students and new career algorithms have been introduced into the overviews for each section. Contributions from experts from a wide range of medical specialties offering information on the medical paths they have chosen. The inclusion of personal accounts offers a genuine impression of what it's like to work in each area User-friendly and fun job summary tables allow at-a-glance comparisons to be made between different jobs. For each specialty, practical advice is offered on the personal qualities needed, level of competition, salaries available, stress levels, and pros and cons. Contact addresses are included for further research.
Customer Reviews:
Incredible.......2002-09-02
This has got to be the best book regarding medical careers I have ever read. The contents is both informative yet readable, and the cartoons and pictures give the book a humourous feel. This book is incredible.
A map through the maze of medical careers in the UK.......1999-10-22
This book is a bible for the confused junior doctor or medical student deciding which path to take. For every speciality, there is essential information about the reality of the job - a refreshing change from the abstract, idealistic and stereotypical ideas so often perpetuated by our profession. Particulary useful is the information on those things that matter most: pay, working hours, competitiveness, nights, opportunity for private practice, stress and amount of litigation. It also includes useful contact details, tips to race ahead of the crowd, sections on opportunities abroad and alternative careers for doctors who have had enough. In short,this book is a map through the maze of medical careers - a great investment.
Book Description
When Chechen rebels took Moscow theatergoers hostage in October 2002, it tragically highlighted the ongoing conflict between Russia and its breakaway republic, Chechnya—a war that has claimed an estimated 200,000 Chechen lives in the past decade. Yet the true nature of the debacle lies behind the headlines. In The Oath, a heroic Chechen doctor relates his harrowing experiences in the line of fire to bear witness to this international calamity, and illuminates his remarkable people and their culture.
In 1994, when fighting threatened to break out in Chechnya, Baiev left his promising career in Russia to aid his countrymen. First, he worked in a Grozny hospital until it was destroyed by Russian shelling. Returning to his hometown of Alkhan Kala, he and his fellow villagers restored a clinic with his own funds, and he soon found himself the only doctor for 80,000 residents in six villages and 5,000 refugees. During the next six years, he worked without gas, electricity, or running water, with only local anesthetics, and at one point dressed wounds with sour cream or egg yolks when supplies ran out. He often donated his own blood for surgeries, and on one occasion performed sixty-seven amputations in forty-eight hours.
Although he mainly treated civilians, Baiev also cared for Russian soldiers and Chechen fighters alike, never allowing politics to interfere with his commitment to the Hippocratic oath. He harbored Russian deserters and Chechen rebels at great personal risk and single-handedly rescued a Russian doctor who was scheduled to be executed. For this, Baiev was nearly killed by both the Russian special forces and Chechen extremists. Only when the Russian Army ordered him arrested for treating a wounded rebel warlord did Baiev finally flee Chechnya.
Echoing through his memoir is the history of Chechnya, a Muslim nation the size of Connecticut with a population of one million. Baiev explains the roots of the Chechen- Russian conflict, dating back 400 years, and he brings to life his once-beautiful ancestral home of Makazhoi where his family clan goes back generations, steeped in ancient traditions that are an intriguing blend of mountain folklore—including blood vendettas, arranged marriages, the authority of village elders—and Muslim religious rituals. And he writes frankly about the challenges of assimilating into western culture and about the post-traumatic stress disorder that has debilitated him since the war began.
The Oath is an important eyewitness account of the reality of the Chechen-Russian conflict, in which countless atrocities have been committed against average Chechens in stark contrast to the Kremlin’s portrayal of the conflict. It is also a searing, unforgettable memoir that is certain to become a classic in the literature of war.
Customer Reviews:
A compelling read, deeply inspiring and heartwrenching.......2006-11-26
This book is far more than a memoir -- it is a page-turning narrative of the wonderful and terrible drama of life and war in a region about which we think little and know even less, written by a man of exceptional bravery and humanity. I met Dr. Baiev shortly after his arrival in Washington, DC, where my girlfriend (working for Physicians for Human Rights at the time) coordinated PHR's assistance to Dr. Baiev in Washington. At the time I had little appreciation for just what this man had been through, although it was obvious he had survived a harrowing ordeal. To read now the full story behind the brief weeks in which his life intersected ours has been both fascinating and deeply moving. His account of living as a Caucasus youth in the Soviet Union, his struggle to become a doctor, and his extraordinary dedication to his profession, his people and and his faith through two protracted and brutal wars is by turns fascinating, inspiring and heartwrenching. You will not find a more intimate account of the conflict in Chechnya, nor a better illustration of the way that such conflicts have become simultaneously global and local. If you care about peace, if you care about the prospects for a free and prosperous world, you cannot afford not to care about the gross violations of human rights that accompany conflicts increasingly economic, sectarian and cultural all at once. Dr. Baiev's gripping account puts a profoundly human face on the complexity and the urgency of coming to grips with the destructive conflicts that need not and should not continue into the twenty-first century.
Thrilling, heartbreaking must read primer on the human toll of war.......2006-06-03
If you are interested in war, modern politics, news, or human rights, you need to read this book. It shows what warfare is really like, what happens to people after governments make decisions. And it is heartbreaking, but you cannot put it down.
The conflict in Chechnya is mostly forgotten and then often miscontrued topic for most of the world. Dr. Khassan Baiev's memoir sheds a light on the horrors of life in Chechnya since 1994, what this ghastly, genocidal war means for the common people and Russian grunts. Baiev is a surgeon with a big heart, and never turned anyone away. He explains casualties from the rather disturbing anatomical perspective of a surgeon, illustrating how fragile bodies and how much pain people can suffer.
The book starts with his life before the war: of the ancient and beautiful Chechen traditions, of the extreme and often brutal Russian racism. As you read the book, the cultural differences between the ancient highlander Chechens and the rest of the Western world seem dwarfed by how lovely their life was, and how, as you read it, you can see yourself in their world. What stays with you is that once you empathize on this level, the eruption of war and desolation is utterly heartbreaking. Because Baiev lived it we see an intimate world being shattered, not a headline.
Baiev (narrowly) survives years of war until both the Russians and Chechen guerillas are out for his head because his clientele includes everyone (and mostly civilians) so he has to escape to America, and eventually moved to Boston. His observants description of coming to America, seeing how peaceful it is here, how people of many races coexist, and how a town in Vermont took care of his family, gives you a deeper appreciation for what we have in this country and that many take for granted.
I've never read anything that captures so vividly and personally the heartbreakingly human face of war. I think everyone should read it just to be educated on something that is going on at this moment, but that many people do not know about or simply don't understand. It speaks of overwhelming swaths of cruelty and evil, but also transcendent moments of grace and joy, humanity between enemies. Baiev treated anyone who needed help, so we see souls, not sides.
What steals the breath from you, what made me rather emotional, is how war is revealed here as so useless, so tragic, so profoundly evil because we are all people, and war destroys and perverts this sacred life that we all share in.
an excellent book.......2006-04-24
If you plan on investing your time in reading one book this year make it this one. It is a remarkable tale of an honourable man trying to survive in barbaric times under the tyranny of Putin's Russia. Hassan Biev states that one in every five chechens has been killed as a result of the conflict. However after all this carnage the war stills continues and the state still exits in the hearts of men like Dr. Biev. Perhaps the actions of people like him will ultimately lead to peace in that most violent of places.
A very interesting book........2005-07-30
Let me begin by saying that if everything in this book is true Dr. Baiev has my total respect and admiration. It's inspiring to realize that people of his caliber do exist.
There are, however, one or two disquieting features of this book that I feel compelled to mention. After having read the initial reviews I had expected not only a compelling story of human strength amidst tragedy, but a book of high literary accomplishment. That has not come to pass. Whatever Dr. Baiev's own writing style, it has been submerged in the journalistic style of Nicholas and Ruth Daniloff. Nick Daniloff is he of the famous Soviet espionage sting of the 1980's when he was arrested in Moscow in an apparent KGB set-up. Ronald Reagan himself is reported to have been involved in getting Daniloff released. I just wish Dr. Baiev had been able to choose a more literary writer to assist him in developing this book.
Another point I'm almost embarrassed to make is that Dr. Baiev comes across in this book as almost too good to be true. Not only is he an heroic doctor, brave humanitarian, and loyal son, brother, and friend, he is also described a medical entrepreneur, a doctor who not only moonlights as a cosmetic surgereon, but who is also a national martial arts champion! If this book is made into a film I can only imagine Harrison Ford playing the part of Dr. Baiev. It almost seems as if some of Dr. Baiev's financial and sports successes were included in the book just to appeal to the certain segment of the community that might find those aspects of his life as compelling as the humanitarian work of saving lives and limbs amidst war and destruction.
Nevertheless, the book is full of unique tid-bits. While many people reading it will be aware of Russia's halting attempts to convert its military forces from a large army of draftees to a smaller one of professional soldiers this is the first time I'd seen such a negative depiction of these new contract soldiers. I don't think I'd have gotten this insight anywhere but in this book. Likewise, it was also very interesting to read that in addition to the fight between the Russian military and the Chechen rebels there is a criminal, opportunistic element also actively engaged in exploiting the tragedy of Chechnya and which appears to be much more influential than I would have imagined. I think that this insight is very valuable, not only in the context of the Chechenya, but in understanding the influence of criminal opportunists in other conflicts. For me this insight itself was worth the price of the book.
I certainly recommend The Oath, worts and all.
Opened My Eyes.......2005-07-25
This book opened my eyes to the tragedy in Chechnya, and now I want to know more. A compelling, first-hand narrative of the situation in Chechnya that everyone should read.
Book Description
Michael Ruhlman is fascinated by people at work-especially those in pursuit of perfection. The Soul of a Chef and Wooden Boats have established him as a deft chronicler of unique cultural microcosms. Now, in Walk on Water, he documents life in the most intense environment yet-a pediatric heart center specializing in neonatal open-heart surgery. The precision needed for such delicate surgery puts "soul-crushing, diamond-making stress" on physicians and nurses every time they operate.
The colorful focus of Ruhlman's narrative is the Cleveland Clinic's world-renowned, idiosyncratic Dr. Roger Mee-a virtuoso within a very select surgical specialty and a mine of information on statistics, ethics, and medical politics. A riveting glimpse into the heart and mind of a man in whose hands literally rests a young baby's life on a daily basis, Walk on Water explores controversial topics-from questionable referral patterns by cardiologists to physicians who are punished for doing what's best for their patients to physicians who don't do what's best for their patients-and breaks the taboo on subjects not often written about.
Walk on Water is a must for all readers of serious nonfiction that will also have health professionals and the media paying rapt attention.
Customer Reviews:
amazing!.......2006-07-30
I recently became a pediatric cardiac intensive care nurse. I never really understood what it was like to be a family, or cardiac surgeon until reading this book. It is so amazing that someone could write such as informational insiring book, that has no health background. It makes me proud to be a nurse for this type of unit.
A very focused look at one surgical team and congenital heart defects.......2006-04-11
I love to read medical non-fiction, and have read Danielle Ofri, Tilda Shalof, Atul Gawande, and about fifteen other authors who have written about their own journey as a medical student, resident, doctor, surgeon, or nurse. The time I spent as a teen in the hospital for a lung problem left me with a strong desire to understand how hospitals work and how people in the medical field think.
This book's strength and weakness are, strangely, the same thing. Most medical non-fiction that I have read focuses on a variety of procedures, situations, and settings, even when it focuses on one surgeon or doctor. This book focused exclusively on congenital heart defects, so over and over again they described similar surgeries - heart surgery on newborns or older babies. This is wonderful if you are wanting in-depth information on congenital heart defects and how they are treated surgically, but as a casual reader, I got bored of having the same surgical staff, the same kind of operation, the same hospital.
That said, Ruhlman's writing is excellent. I found the level of technical detail perfect for my needs, really enjoyed the historical background info he gave on congenital heart surgery, and got a lot out of learning about Roger Mees and his surgical staff.
But the question is, with all of the generally interesting medical non-fiction out there right now, is this book your best choice among all of the competing books on similar topics?
If you have a particular interest in congenital heart defects, then this is an amazing book. It even gives tips at the end about getting the best care you can for your child with congenital heart disease. The writing is accessible and interesting, and is very focused. I didn't notice the swearing, myself.
But if, like me, your interest is more general, then maybe read a few other books first, like Complications by Gawande, On Call by Transue, A Nurse's Story by Shalof, Singular Intimacies by Ofri, or Baby ER by Humes, and see if your interest leads you in this direction.
Reminds Me of Jon Franklin........2006-01-22
Franklin writes cliff-hangers about brain surgery. Ruhlman writes cliff-hangers about kiddie heart surgey. This effort satisfies my criteria for a good read: good writing, good story, and holds my attention. Plus it'll make you crazy if youre pregnant! 5 STARS! Hey! Who's paying for these million dollar operations?
Absorbing, fascinating and sometimes scary look into pediatric cardiology.......2005-11-02
I handed over my own child at 3 days old to a cardiothoracic surgeon for open heart surgery. I thought that my heart would break. I found as I read this book that the dreadful chill down my spine returned time and time again as I read about the surgeons, parents and children of this book. This book is intriguing if you don't have any experience with CHD, its particularly gripping if you do. Two themes have come up in these reviews repetition and bad language
In terms of repitition it seems that those who objected to the author's explanatory tone are missing the fact that many of us readers may not be medically educated or thankfully not be in the halls of PICU and know that its pronounced PICK U. To fully engross the reader the author needs to have the reader fully equipped to jump into the environment for full enjoyment
Secondly the language is graphic, this is life or death work, we swore more in the restaurant business and it was just french fries for G**ds sake!!!! If it were left out I think it would be less real
I would highly recommend this book for all readers, heart families or not. Its tremendously researched and written. My little boy is 13 healthy months old as a result of the arterial switch described in the first 20 pages. That surgeon could swear every second word for all I care :) !!!!!
Highly recommend...fascinating.......2005-10-11
I thought this book was amazing. My husband was born with transposition of the greater vessels in the late 1960s when the kind of medical knowledge described in this book was very limited. I can see now how lucky he is to be with me still. I live in the Cleveland area and thought it was quite interesting to read about the differences in knowledge and experience among the hospitals here.
I do not work in medicine or anything of the like and I have never read any medical books like this ever, but I found Mr. Ruhlman's descriptions and explanations understandable. Some medical items were certainly over my head, but it was still a fascinating read and I would highly recommend it.
Books:
- Financial Management: Principles and Applications (10th Edition)
- Financial Markets & Corporate Strategy
- Financial Modeling - 2nd Edition: Includes CD
- Financial Modeling - 2nd Edition: Includes CD
- Financial Reporting and Analysis (3rd Edition)
- Financial Reporting and Analysis (3rd Edition)
- Financial Reporting and Analysis: Using Financial Accounting Information (with Thomson Analytics Access Code)
- Financial Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, and Valuation: A Strategic Perspective (with Thomson One Access Code)
- Financial Statements: A Step-By-Step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports
- Food and Beverage Cost Control
Books Index
Books Home
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- NAM SENSE: Surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division
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- Introductory Mathematical Analysis for Business, Economics and the Life and social Sciences
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- Managing Scientists: Leadership Strategies in Research and Development
- Teachings from the Worldly Philosophy
- Hidden Collective Factors in Speculative Trading: A Study in Analytical Economics
- If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy O
General
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
How Doctors Think
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
About Alice
Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
