Brain Surgeon: A Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles [NOOK Book]

awesome!!!!!

Brain Surgeon by Keith Black is a very strong and moving book. In this you will learn about both the positive and negatives on the highly skillful career of neurosurgery. Black will share the struggles he faced when trying to become a neurosurgeon due to the fact he was black. As Black was growing up he was always fascinated by science and how the body works. He eventually found himself at the age 17 he won an award in a national science competition for research on the damage done to red blood cells in patients with heart-valve replacements. This achievement earned him in a special program at the University of Michigan where he would earn both his undergraduate and M.D. degree in only 6 years.
I personally thought this book was exceptional, the detail and emotions he portrayed when writing this book. I myself plan on becoming a neurosurgeon, this book just helps me understand the delicacy and patience it requires to do this profession. This book is not a hard one to understand, it contains quite a few hard medical terms, but they are all explained right after he mentions what the disease or procedure is. If you like this book I would highly recommend Gifted Hands written by Ben Carson
who also faced some of the same struggles as Black. The description of this book is exceptional, especially "tiger country" this draws in all attention the reader has because come into that territory you have serious problems. Overall I would rank this book as the best i have ever red, but then again I want to pursue medicine as a profession. This can be red by almost any high scholar and is one I would strongly recommend

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent!

Hard book to put down.

Fantastic!

This is one of those books that are difficult to put down! Well written, very inspirational and moving. Being a brain tumor survivor myself at a very young age, it made me realize what my family must have gone through during my operation and recovery. This book was also a "reminder" of how lucky I was to survive, and how thankful I am for all of the doctors, nurses and medical staff that saved my life! Thank you, Dr. Black for writing such an incredible book!!

What a Doctor!

Dr. Black is amazing and everyone that has ever had to deal with a brain tumor or family member with one- needs to read this book. Dr. Black is a legend and his insight is professional and dynamic! He truly is a remarkable doctor!

Tiger Country

In this inspiring book, Dr. Keith Black wastes no time distilling the complex, frustrating but often fulfilling role as a doctor. "My patients fight their disease with the greatest dignity and spirit one can ever imagine. Their courage inspires me to focus every drop of energy I have in myself to provide them with the best odds possible to beat this disease, or at least give them as much quality life as our surgeries and medicines will allow. They are my heroes, and I hope one day all of their bravery and determination will help lead to a cure," he states.

In "Brain Surgery: A Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles," Black discusses expectations, hopes, fears and much more. He details encounters with patients of all walks of life, ranging from a wealthy Hong Kong entrepreneur to a pastor of a church to a grandmother to a member of a successful R&B/hip-hop group. Detailed are the highs and lows you would expect from someone fighting for their life, and not always having the easiest time doing so.

Along the way, Black relates his experiences as a young African American growing up in the South and reaching the heights as a world renowned neurosurgeon.

His experiences, both losses and successes, he finds worthwhile and so will readers. Black also gives us much to consider such as potential environmental dangers and risks associated with things we do in our everyday lives like cell phone usage.


Reviewed by: Tracy

Easily understood by non medically trained readers

I am in a book club. Three of us are retired nurses. Three have no medical training at all. All six of us thoroughly enjoyed the book and learned so much about brain tumors as well as who to try to get in to see for sure if we or anyone in our family ever develops one!! Additionally the personal history was not unexpected but so well told.

DR. BLACK SIMPLIFIES THE COMPLICATED

BRAIN SURGEON
A Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles
Keith Black, MD with Arnold Mann
Wellness Central
Hachette Book Group
ISBN: 978-0-446-58109-7
$24.99
Reviewer: Annie Slessman

Not being in the medical field, I expected BRAIN SURGEON, A Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles by Keith Black, MD with Arnold Mann to be a hard, dry read. I could not have been more wrong! Dr. Black and Arnold Mann have managed to take a subject matter - brain surgery - from the mysterious to something easily understood by everyone.

Dr. Black uses a series of stories about his patients and their courage and surprising stamina to relate his experiences and inform the reader about the mysteries of the brain. Each story explains the many types of brain cancer and the degree of difficulty that each occurrence requires in its treatment.

For instance, my own daughter was recently diagnosed with a tumor in her liver. We were told the tumor was not cancerous. She had only taken a MRI - how can they tell the tumor is not cancerous by an image test? Well, I got my answer when Dr. Black explained that a tumor which is cancerous absorbs more of the dye making it more prominent in the MRI. Thank you, Dr. Black, I found your book and its ability to explain things in simple terms very comforting.

Dr. Black, early in his career leans toward cardiology. When he took his first neuro-anatomy class, he was hooked. As he states, "the bottom line is that the heart is just a muscle, a pump, to be sure, it's a very elegant muscle and a great pump, but it's still a pump. The brain, on the other hand, is the ultimate reduction of self."

When explaining a specific treatment he likens his vaccine to that of a warrior fighting a terrorist (cancer). This vaccine seeks out the bad cancer cells and "presents" them to the body's killer T-cells. Killer T-cells are a special variety of white blood cells, or lymphocytes. When the vaccine presents these bad cells to the Killer T-cells they know to attack. Don't you absolutely love this analogy? Most everyone can understand this process with the use of this analogy.

Quite often, I donate my review books to the local library. It is my way of giving the gift of knowledge. However, I just cannot bring myself to donate this book. It will remain in my own library.

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