When the Air Hits Your Brain, Frank T. Vertosick, Jr., MD
When the Air Hits Your Brain, Frank T. Vertosick, Jr., MD
List: $16.99 | Sale: $11.89
Club: $8.49

When the Air Hits Your Brain
Tales from Neurosurgery

Author: Frank T. Vertosick, Jr., MD

Narrator: Kirby Heyborne

Unabridged: 8 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/06/2016

Synopsis

With poignant insight and humor, Frank Vertosick, Jr., MD, describes some of the greatest challenges of his career, including a six-week-old infant with a tumor in her brain, a young man struck down in his prime by paraplegia, and a minister with a .22-caliber bullet lodged in his skull. Told through intimate portraits of Vertosick's patients and unsparing yet fascinatingly detailed descriptions of surgical procedures, When the Air Hits Your Brain—the culmination of decades spent struggling to learn an unforgiving craft—illuminates both the mysteries of the mind and the realities of the operating room.

About Frank T. Vertosick, Jr., MD

Frank T. Vertosick, Jr., MD, trained in neurosurgery with the legendary brain surgeon, the late Peter Jannetta, at the University of Pittsburgh. After completing his residency in 1988, Dr. Vertosick spent the next fifteen years at Pitt as a surgical neuro-oncologist, clinically treating patients with malignancies of the nervous system and supervising glioma research. In 2002, Dr. Vertosick was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson's disease and he retired from surgery. He worked in other areas of medicine until 2013, when Parkinson's progression made it impossible for him to practice clinical medicine. In addition to When the Air Hits Your Brain, Dr. Vertosick has published Why We Hurt and The Genius Within (recently re-released as an e-book under a new title, Mind) as well as numerous magazine and journal articles, book reviews, textbook chapters, and editorials. Dr. Vertosick now lives in quiet retirement with his wife of thirty-one years, Kathy, in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Deana on April 30, 2010

I couldn't put this book down. It was a brillant and an unvarnished retrospective on the author's difficult five years in medical residency for neurosurgery. The story has both great humor and pathos and I haven't both cried and laughed in the same sitting like I did with this book in as long as I c......more

Goodreads review by Ruthanne on May 29, 2017

What an amazing story! Dr. Vertosick, a neurosurgeon, wrote this book in the late '90's, but please don't let that deter your interest in reading it. Times have changed, neurosurgery has changed, but the basics are still there because our brains and nervous systems remain the same. It's a portrait of......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on September 10, 2010

I truly enjoyed this book. I liked the author's voice and style. I liked his narrative, and I liked his questioning. It's a great read, and an informative one. Oh, and I really like his descriptions. Like this one: “The soul’s tapestry lies woven in the brain’s nerve threads. Delicate, inviolate, the......more

Goodreads review by دُعاء| Doaa on May 29, 2021

Best medical memoir I’ve ever read. I learned so much from his experiences and helped to overcome my fears. I know for a fact that I’ll re-read it again and again. I strongly encourage medical students to read it.......more

Goodreads review by Klara on December 26, 2024

3.75 - This could have been a solid 4 if it weren’t for the authors ego, arrogance, and scattered misogynistic comments. Listened to the audiobook and it was like a podcast experience, with both fascinating and saddening medical cases.......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List