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War Doctor

Surgery on the Front Line

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War Doctor

By: David Nott
Narrated by: David Nott
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About this listen

The Sunday Times No.1 Bestseller

‘Brave, compassionate and inspiring – it left me in floods of tears’ Adam Kay, author of This Is Going to Hurt

For more than twenty-five years, David Nott has taken unpaid leave from his job as a general and vascular surgeon with the NHS to volunteer in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993, to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out life-saving operations and field surgery in the most challenging conditions, and with none of the resources of a major London teaching hospital.

The conflicts he has worked in form a chronology of twenty-first-century combat: Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur, Congo, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Gaza and Syria. But he has also volunteered in areas blighted by natural disasters, such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal.

Driven both by compassion and passion, the desire to help others and the thrill of extreme personal danger, he is now widely acknowledged to be the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world. But as time went on, David Nott began to realize that flying into a catastrophe – whether war or natural disaster – was not enough. Doctors on the ground needed to learn how to treat the appalling injuries that war inflicts upon its victims. Since 2015, the foundation he set up with his wife, Elly, has disseminated the knowledge he has gained, training other doctors in the art of saving lives threatened by bombs and bullets.

War Doctor is his extraordinary story.

 Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Medical Medicine & Health Care Industry Military & War Professionals & Academics Surgery

Critic Reviews

David Nott is brave, compassionate and inspiring - War Doctor is all of those things and more: a wonderful book that has left me in floods of tears. He needs a knighthood and his book needs to be in every house. (Adam Kay, author of This Is Going to Hurt)
Incredible non-fiction filled with so much humanity. You will never forget these stories. (Joanna Cannon, bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie)
So powerful and honest. Extraordinary. (Elizabeth Buchan, author of The New Mrs Clifton and I Can't Begin to Tell You)
One of the most brutally vivid evocations of modern warfare that you will read . . . superb, unforgettable, simply written and painfully clear . . . You are constantly amazed that men such as Nott can witness the extraordinary cruelties of the human race, so many and so foul, yet keep going. Be warned: this is a powerful but often traumatic read.
A triumph: a love letter to surgery, and to helping others in extremis. Reading it is much like being taken apart and put together again in a fascinating way. It reveals a fascinating man whose life is a lesson in what good you can do with privilege . . . I spent the entire time wishing that David Nott would become our prime minister . . . This book is neither tidy, nor easy, yet it is so important. War Doctor is a reminder that we are all in this together, and that ordinary people can do extraordinary things (Christie Watson)
Riveting . . . Nott is no ordinary doctor, as this dramatic telling of his extraordinary life makes clear (Ian Birrell)
As a surgeon myself, I can only look on what he has achieved with complete awe, overwhelmed by his heroism and compassion as much as by the world’s cruelty (Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm)
His stories of courage and compassion in the face of seemingly certain death are breathtaking . . . If a film about his life isn't already in development, someone's missing a trick (Fiona Sturges)
A devastating account of two decades volunteering his services to some of the world's most dangerous places (Helen Brown)
A stand out memoir by a vascular surgeon in the NHS who volunteered for more than twenty years in war zones.
Extraordinary
Not only a vivid, stirring and shocking account of the two months each year that the London-based consultant NHS surgeon has spent saving lives in warzones and disasters . . . It's also a love story. It's the tale of a man driven to seek out extreme situations and try to repair the horrible damage that men inflict on other men, women and children. (Nick Curtis)
An unflinching, powerful and deeply compassionate story about pockets of humanity found in the midst of terrible atrocities. (Hannah Beckerman)
This is a book of extraordinary honesty . . . enlightening, sobering, compelling. It is a marvellous read, and education in itself (Pat Ashworth)
All stars
Most relevant
A completely enthralling book! Couldn’t “put it down” and had it playing everywhere I went and at every opportunity. I thoroughly enjoyed David being the narrator to his own story as it brought every scenario and situation he experience to life in my mind as I could hear his passion and emotion as if he were reliving it as he spoke.
As a emergency nurse myself, his explanation of medical procedures was detailed enough for the novice to picture and myself to understand at a deeper level.
This was my first audio book and I can’t recommend it enough! I’m glad I listened to it and didn’t read as I feel it made the imagination aspect far more real.

War doctor

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I felt I had to write a review which is a rarity. It was informative, shocking and I couldn’t stop listening. The horrors of war and working as a surgeon in these situations was very well portrayed by David. It was well read and the contents which would have been horrific for him were delivered in a calm but sometimes an emotional way. You really must get this book.

This is a must listen book

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David not is a hero along with every doctor who worked in war zones. How lucky we are to have people like the drs who risk everything to help others. Amazing story

Amazing life work

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This is a story of a life spent in the worlds most horrific war zones. Whereby a human being is prepared to put Political and Religious beliefs aside and use his skills (on a Voluntary basis) to help aleviate and better man's inhumanity to man.
It's hard to believe that people like this exist in the world and is the definition of a hero.
A wonderful audio book.

Amazing life story.

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Dr Nott shares his incredible story that just leaves you in awe of the incredibly humble man he is.
He recounts his trips to war zones in vivid detail and the love he has for his colleagues is undeniable. As someone who has also been to some of these war zones, I can finally see on words what I cannot describe.
A must read book.

Heart pounding.

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