When the Air Hits Your Brain: Tales from Neurosurgery [Paperback]

Frank Vertosick Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2008

"Dramatic, moving, and utterly fascinating." —New York Times Book Review

With poignant insight and humor, When the Air Hits Your Brain chronicles one man’s evolution from naïve and ambitious young intern to world-class neurosurgeon. In electrifying detail, Frank Vertosick Jr. 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dramatic, moving, and utterly fascinating." The New York Times Book Review"

From the Inside Flap

"This book should be read by every medical student, doctor and present or potential patient. In other words, by all of us."
--Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles

Rule One for the neurologist in residence: "You ain't never the same when the air hits your brain." In this fascinating book, Dr. Frank Vertosick brings that fact to life through intimate portraits of patients and unsparing yet gripping descriptions of brain surgery.

With insight, humor, and poignancy, Dr. Vertosick chronicles his remarkable evolution from naive young intern to world-class neurosurgeon, where he faced, among other challenges, 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. In candid detail, WHEN THE AIR HITS YOUR BRAIN illuminates both the mysteries of the mind and the realities of the operating room.

"Riveting."
--Publishers Weekly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (March 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393330494
• ISBN-13: 978-0393330496
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #92 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Medical
  • #98 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Surgery

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid description of a neurosurgeon!, September 12, 2005

By 

CHEN SHANG CHI BRUCE (Hualien,Taiwan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When the Air Hits Your Brain (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm a neurosurgeon myself.I'm still so moved by the stories told by the author.They reflected the true life in my daily practice and circumstances.They seems funny but actually sad inside, filled with sorrow and tears of both the patients and doctors. I strongly recommend this book to those who would like to participate in this field of medical speciality and to those who would like to understand the real life of a neurosurgeon!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A shocking look at reality, but I loved it!, October 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: When the Air Hits Your Brain (Mass Market Paperback)

I had brain surgery for epileptic seizures and was cured. But as a result of this experience, I've continued to be fascinated with medicine and surgery.

This book gave me the chance to see what it may feel like to be on the other side. Dr. Vertosick takes the reader through his medical residency and through the long hours of being yelled at and belittled while trying to make people well. I think anyone who wants to go into medicine needs to read this book.

It's scary, but exciting at the same time! It's like you are going through this experience with the author and you want to finish reading the book so you can know you survived the journey and accomplished your goal.

If you are not interested in medicine or the operating room, you can probably live without this information. But for everyone else, it's a must read!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, strange and touching, January 10, 2006

By 

C. Middleton (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: When the Air Hits Your Brain (Mass Market Paperback)

The history of neurosurgery is a fascinating one, however, even more interesting is to see how it has developed over the last century since, for example, the legendary Dr. Harvey Cushing forged the techniques of brain surgery over seventy years ago. `When the Air Hits Your Brain - Tales of Neurosurgery' is a compelling collection of tales written with erudition and sensitivity with at times gruesome detail of brain operations that sometimes were successful and other times not. As Dr. Vertosick proposes in his introduction, that, for the most part, a surgeon learns more from the failures than the successes; therefore most of the stories within are tragedies - failures that paved the way to future successes. For those interested in the world of neurosurgery, this book should more than satisfy as it covers a vast array of different cases as well as the general ambience and culture of this very specialized profession.

The author begins his tale as a burgeoning medical student, internship, ending with his last year as Chief Resident. Interestingly, his last year, from his perspective was his worst. He explains that being a Chief Resident is a precarious position, because you have to continue to cow tow to the attending staff and the junior residents continue to look upon you as just another taskmaster, a kind of in-house bully, ensuring the skills required are learned. Vertosick explains the position as "straddling two worlds, "...a sergeant in the surgical military, friend to neither enlisted man nor officer, endowed with great responsibilities but given little true authority." (P.254)

There are many miraculous and downright bizarre cases chronicled throughout the text. One of the strange cases was the woman who had been shot between the eyes by her drunken and irate boyfriend. Dr. Vertosick arrived hurriedly from home to the ER to find the woman in the waiting room, her head wrapped in a bloody towel, watching the television with a police officer by her side. Taking her into the examination room, the woman had indeed been shot directly between the eyes, and the exist wound, at the top of the back of her skull. The bullet, upon examining the exit wound dropped to the floor, where the police officer quickly retrieved it and left the room. Fortunately for the woman, the bullet had hit the skull, ricochet upward and bouncing, more so, rattling, between her brain and the top of her skull, lodging without damage. What truly amazed Vertosick, was the woman's attitude, because she continued to make excuses for her boyfriend, claiming he didn't really mean to shoot her in the head, he was just a little angry with her. She didn't realize how close to death she actually came.

There are many other strange and touching stories, the most heart wrenching being infants and young children born with brain related illnesses which the staff could not treat. What I admired in this text was Dr. Vertosick's honesty and his efforts to steel himself from becoming too close to his patients - he called it becoming a psychopathic doctor, however, in the end, he discovers a middle way.

Frank Vertosick is a very good writer and I hope he finds the time in the future to write another book about the profession.