Prior to reading this surgical autobiography, I never had the courage to admit I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. Because, even though practically everyone that knew me well understood I gravitated towards a medical career, I never thought I could tell anyone about my interest in a neurosurgical specialty. It seemed too daunting and honestly sometimes impossible. But after reading about the career of author Dr. Henry Marsh, my mindset towards neurosurgery changed for the better.

Dr. Marsh is honest and he highlights the constant risk and death neurosurgery provides. Brain tissue is startlingly complex and currently, there are very few ways new neurosurgeons can practice operations. And this leads to surgeons having to practice on actual patients. Because of this, Dr. Marsh highlighted that unfortunately, neurosurgeons will harm more than they help. This scared me at first and temporarily made me fall back to my mindset that neurosurgery was too difficult for me. When Dr. Marsh stressed the value of learning from mistakes and focusing on the next patient you can help instead of fixating on failures, my confidence was restored.

Marsh writes in a way that makes you feel as though you are in the operating room, staring down at the patients’ ependymomas and pineocytomas he is treating. He balances the captivating factual information on the tumors he treats with his experiences helping to diminish the common worries patients feet and comforting them during their difficult times. Page after page, I grew closer to each patient alongside Dr. Marsh, but at the end of most chapters I would be crushed when the patient died due to their surgery.

Once I finished this autobiography, though, I understood why neurosurgeons continue to practice medicine despite the obvious failures it involves. Operating on brain tissue is extremely dangerous and there is a myriad of mistakes that can be fatal. As a surgeon, I will fail people. But it is better to try, yet fail to save someone’s life than not to try at all.  Dr. Marsh shared his experiences openly, and even though it challenged me, it enabled me to see what I may experience as I pursue a surgical career.

So, if you have even the smallest interest in medicine, I strongly urge you to read this. It will give you the confidence to take the risk and leap head first into the possibility of a career in medicine.