Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery - Review

"What is it like to be a brain surgeon?

How does it feel to hold someone's life in your hands, to cut through the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason?

How do you live with the consequences when it all goes wrong?

DO NO HARM offers an unforgettable insight into the highs and lows of a life dedicated to operating on the human brain, in all its exquisite complexity. With astonishing candour and compassion, Henry Marsh reveals the exhilarating drama of surgery, the chaos and confusion of a busy modern hospital, and above all the need for hope when faced with life's most agonising decisions."

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

---

I don't often read non-fiction but something about this really appealed to me, probably because I'm so fascinated by the brain (big surprise for anyone who has been with this blog for a while!). I think I tend to steer away from non-fiction because I worry the writing will be a bit lifeless, but every now and then I think it's good to step out of your usual genre and try something else, so after spotting this on the Kindle store's 99p list I thought it'd be worth the risk! Fortunately, after reading the first chapter of Do No Harm I knew I'd enjoy it and was completely drawn into the world of neurosurgery.

It was interesting (and slightly terrifying) to learn of all of the different types of tumours and what can happen during, and as a result of, neurosurgery. Henry Marsh seems to be the kind of person who could be difficult to work with, but his compassion and attitude towards his patients is outstanding. He describes the need to emotionally detach himself from his patients to be able to operate; it's clear that he was never fully able to do this, but I like him all the more for it, as it shows that he never lost his own humanity along his career. He isn't afraid to shy away from difficult conversations and is open about his mistakes, dedicating some chapters to patients whose operations went wrong or describing cases where operating wouldn't help. Along with this we also learn about the successes, and I liked that these were distributed throughout the book so that there was balanced between 'happy' and 'sad' stories.

The candid approach of talking about the NHS in the book was a little surprising, probably because I'm used to people talking positively about places they've worked in the past as a professional courtesy, but I think that because the issues with the NHS are so well known there's no point in pretending the issues aren't there. It hasn't changed how I feel about the NHS, as I'm as deeply grateful as ever that I live in a country that offers free health care.

On the whole, I really enjoyed Do No Harm and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading about the brain in all of its weird and wonderful glory. And thanks to this book, maybe you'll start to see some more non-fiction reviews in the future!

4/5 stars