Brain Surgeon: A Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles, By Keith Black, M.D., with Arnold Mann (Hachette Book Group, 2009)
Welcome to tiger country: the treacherous territory where a single wrong move can devastate—or end—a patient's life.
This is the terrain that world-renowned neurosurgeon Keith Black, MD, enters every day to produce medical miracles. Now, Dr. Black invites readers to shadow his breathtaking journeys into the brain as he battles some of the deadliest and most feared tumors know to medical science. Along the way, Dr. Black shares his unique insights about the inner workings of the brain, his unwavering optimism for the future of medicine, and the extraordinary stories of his patients—from ministers and rock stars to wealthy entrepreneurs and uninsured students—whom he celebrates as the real heroes.
Offering a window into one man's remarkable mind, BRAIN SURGEON, inspired by Arnold Mann's Time magazine cover story on Dr. Black, portrays the unflinching confidence of this master surgeon, whose personal journey brought him from life as an African-American child growing up in the civil rights-era South, where his parents taught at the all-black elementary school in Auburn, Alabama, to the elite world of neurosurgery.
Through Dr. Black's white-knuckle descriptions of some of the most astonishing medical procedures performed today with such delicate precision as to make the unapproachable approachable, he reveals the beauty and marvel of the human brain. He also celebrates the amazing strength and courage of his patients, who refuse to see themselves as victims. Ultimately, BRAIN SURGEON is an inspiring story of the struggle to overcome odds—whether as a man, a doctor, or a patient.
"BRAIN SURGEON is an inspirational book about true heroes—readers will marvel at Keith Black's achievements both as a doctor and as a man, and will be in awe of his patients' courage and will to survive."
--Denzel Washington
