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When the Air Hits Your Brain

Tales from Neurosurgery

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When the Air Hits Your Brain

By: Frank T Vertosick Jr. MD
Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
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About this listen

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.

©2008 Frank T. Vertosick, Jr., MD (P)2016 Tantor History & Commentary Medical Medicine & Health Care Industry Professionals & Academics Surgery Human Brain Medicine Witty Brain Surgery

Critic Reviews

"A riveting report that shatters the mystique of the brain surgeon as a wizard of technical prowess." ( Publishers Weekly)
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I loved this book so much. It's just the right amount of descriptive without the listener getting lost in medical jargon. It's funny and deep and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Absolutely!

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An excellent book giving great insight into the other side of the equation. If you are wondering what your Neuro Surgeon is actually thinking, this may give you a clue.

Insightful

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Begins in an overly dramatic way, but settles into a thoughtful narrative about the relationship between doctors and patients, and the surgical stereotype of psychopathy. A few laughs and tears inbetween. Enjoyed the narration.

Stick with it longer than a chapter

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I loved this book, especially the description of the medical psychopaths who work in this field. It truly takes nerves of steel and a fair amount of intuitive risk taking to be a neurosurgeon.

A VERY, VERY annoying mistake in the book was the constant mispronunciation of the words paraplegic and quadriplegic. The reader said para-PAL-egic and quadri-PAL-egic.

Fascinating insight into stressful profession

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Who could not NOT be drawn in by an autobiography of neurosurgeon? The narrator was great with accents but that was about all...It took me half the book to get used to his robotic monotone

Fascinating content horrible narrator

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I didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I laughed and cried along with the reader, it was so emotional. I would recommend this book to everyone. I’m a nurse and I love this sort of story but it was also so personal.

Absolutely loved it

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great stories start to finish. brings opens up the world of neuroscience. would recommend

Excellent stories behind the scenes

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Would you consider the audio edition of When the Air Hits Your Brain to be better than the print version?

I haven not read the printed edition.

What was one of the most memorable moments of When the Air Hits Your Brain?

To get a glimpse into the moral, ethical and emotional struggles the author faces in his moments of failure gives one an insight into what attributes a really good practitioner must possess. It’s not his dexterity of hand, his brilliance in diagnosis or his recall of medical learning or case lore, but rather, his contrapuntal ability to care without caring too much.

What does Kirby Heyborne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I have not read the printed edition. However, Mr Heyborne reads the book with sensitivity and an obvious understanding of the underlying material (not the technical stuff - I mean the author's feelings). I only have one slight reservation about the reading - the attempt at performing various accents. I think if one cannot nail a New York or posh English accent, it’s probably better to leave it to the hearer’s imagination (as it is when one reads a book).

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

In the instances where the outcome is unfavourable, the stories evoke a visceral response which flows in two tributaries from each case narrative: one is the empathy one feels for the doctor with his internal struggles, and the other for the suffering and heartache the patients and their loved ones must endure. Where the outcome is positive, especially when it’s unexpectedly so, it’s hard not to feel a kind on vicarious triumph in the doctor’s achievements.

Any additional comments?

The story is really well paced and has a careful balance between the details of each case and the doctor's travails in learning. I really enjoyed his ontological musings and hearing of the agony one in his profession that surely cannot be avoided.

A compelling view into the neurosurgeon's world.

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Good book, very different and sometimes tough to get through but overall I enjoyed it.

Interesting

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Colourfully written stories and insights from his younger surgical resident days, relatable and emotional content that really puts life into perspective.

Great stories and insights into neurosurgery

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