👥 Recommended for: ✅ Those who have background in medicine / healthcare system
❌ Not suitable if you have already watched a lot of medical drama, e.g. “House”, “New Amsterdam”, etc. 🔖 Premise Every chapter is titled after a brain-related condition, the author shares patient stories along with his own reflections as a neurosurgeon. 📌 Key Themes - Healthcare Policy: limiting staff hours to reduce fatigue, but causing weaker continuity of care (staff not familiar with case, fewer surgeries, lower moral and belonging) - Struggle of choosing between life and quality of life - Truth of becoming a good surgeon: they improve through mistakes, indicating patients are the cost of experience 👍🏻 Liked ✨ Nice writing for a memoir - story-like ✨ Realistic depiction of dying - most memorable part was the chapter about his mother, it even made me envious of her death 👎🏻 Did Not Like ✨ Themes felt too familar - not in-depth nor new ✨ Author’s personality - subtly manipulative: emphasizes that the failures were his responsibility, but often redirects the cause onto others (system / colleagues / circumstances), as if protecting his image rather than sharing the raw truth - contradictory: he admits he can lose his temper, but then seems to blame others for the same behavior without recognizing it as a problem. - that said, he does acknowledge that surgeons require a strong ego to do the job ✏️ Quotes: “Life without hope is hopelessly difficult but at the end hope can easily make fools of us all.”