Surpisingly easy to listen to and fascinating!

I must admit to having an interest in this area, having worked in the medical device industry for many years and seeing a lot of neurosurgery in the operating theatre. However, this book would appeal to anyone with an interest in medicine.

Mr Mash has written a really good book, which is essentially divided in to chapters telling the story of a particular patient with a specific condition. Throughout chapters and the book, he also provides his personal story and comments.

The book gives a very interesting insight into the life of a senior surgeon, showing their worries, stress, joy and humanity.

Jim Barclay does an excellent job narrating and is totally convincing as a neurosurgeon!

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Absolute gold! Medical life story telling.

Highly recommend. Beautifully and poignantly told, pleasantly narrated, the chapters of this book flow with intelligence, insight, wisdom and humour, a few tears...and an absolutely brilliant rant about the NHS and medical system bureaucracy. I cannot say enough about this book, and I think everyone should read this. Especially great for people in the medical or healthcare profession, but essentially a must-read for all of us, as all of us are at risk of having a family member experience a tumour or requirement for neurosurgery, and this book really tells it like it is. This is one of my favourite books of all medical-themed, life-purpose-themed publications. I never wanted it to end and am now moving on to Henry Marsh's subsequent books. He rapidly became my favourite writer of all time.

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An exceptionally written and very accessible book

This is excellent. Well paced, invariably interesting. The pointless battles with mindless bureaucracy are hilarious. The human stories are touching.

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Great book!

A new favourite of mine! Enjoyed it so much I could hardly stop listening. Great narration as well

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Brilliant book !

Love Henry Marsh’s absolute honesty. He is a very good storyteller who had me listening intently to his operating tales. I recommend this book very highly.

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What an insight

An interesting book with lots of simply put facts despite the complexity of the subject. The author made the subject matter easy to understand along with his sense of humour, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hope he has written more.

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A true neurosurgeon

In the beginning it started out as interesting to see perspective. As the novel progressed the stereotypical neurosurgeon traits came out as pompous and egotistical. Perhaps it is an interesting read for those unfamiliar with neurological conditions. As a healthcare worker just highlighted archaic parts of health system that require reform

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interesting

The book was let down by the narrator. His voice had a very severe tone

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Brain Surgery Is Not Like You Think

I went into this book like a expect a lot of readers do knowing not much about Neurosurgery. Dr Marsh delivers a crash course for the layman in a way that engages the reader well. He is brutally honest about the high & lows of his career and I found his self-reflections very engaging. This book managed to bring a tear to my eye and had me laughing at loud, mind you not at the same time.

I was left with a much better understanding of the mysteries of the human brain and those who we rely to care for it. The author gets the mix spot on between the technical and personal sides of his profession.

I do think though the book could have been better structured with it jumping around his long career a bit too much for my liking. I also found that some of the facts were repeated over and over again. Overall an engaging and good read that just could have done with some tweaking.

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3 people found this helpful