When the Air Hits Your Brain

Nevertheless, "When the Air Hits Your Brain" is an exhilarating read. I've been through it twice now---once through a night when I had pretty much given up on sleep. If you do intend to sleep, don't read it right before going to bed.

Here are the author's five rules for neurosurgery interns:

1. You "ain't never" the same when the air hits your brain.
2. The only minor operation is one that someone else is doing.
3. If the patient isn't dead, you can always make him worse if you try hard enough.
4. One look at the patient is better than a thousand phone calls from the nurse.
5. Operating on the wrong patient or doing the wrong side of the body makes for a very bad day--always ask the patient what side their pain is on, which leg hurts, which hand is numb.

Emotionally, Dr. Vertosick's worst rotation was to the local Children's Hospital. A child who was born with an inoperable brain tumor is the focus of the chapter entitled "Rebecca."

Read how the author strays into the 'inferno of overconfidence' as a chief resident, and comes "perilously close to emotional incineration." Follow him into the operating room as a patient's brain oozes through his fingers, where he is squirted in the eye by an AIDS patient's spinal fluid, and where he cures a woman who was misdiagnosed as an Alzheimer's patient when what she really had was a brain tumor.

Dr. Vertosick has written another, equally interesting book, "Why We Hurt," on the 'natural history' of pain.


Vivid description of a neurosurgeon!   September 13, 2005
CHEN SHANG CHI BRUCE (Hualien,Taiwan)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

I'm a neurosurgeon myself.I'm still so moved by the stories told by the author.They reflected the true life in my daily practice and circumstances.They seems funny but actually sad inside, filled with sorrow and tears of both the patients and doctors. I strongly recommend this book to those who would like to participate in this field of medical speciality and to those who would like to understand the real life of a neurosurgeon!


A shocking look at reality, but I loved it!   November 1, 1998
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

I had brain surgery for epileptic seizures and was cured. But as a result of this experience, I've continued to be fascinated with medicine and surgery.

This book gave me the chance to see what it may feel like to be on the other side. Dr. Vertosick takes the reader through his medical residency and through the long hours of being yelled at and belittled while trying to make people well. I think anyone who wants to go into medicine needs to read this book.

It's scary, but exciting at the same time! It's like you are going through this experience with the author and you want to finish reading the book so you can know you survived the journey and accomplished your goal.

If you are not interested in medicine or the operating room, you can probably live without this information. But for everyone else, it's a must read!


Hoping my brain stays airtight!   December 11, 2004
Stephanie Davy (Bayville, NY USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Wow. I recently reread this book, after my sister had an aneurysm burst. It's okay, she's doing very well considering. Years ago brain surgery was pretty much a death sentence, and now these people and the technology work magic.

Dr. Vertosick's stories are touching, scary and impossible. His insight, and humility, which amazes me, throughout, makes the book even better. I'm glad to read what happens, while skipping the jargon, and pleased to see that us patients do matter, even though it doesn't always seem so.

If you're particularly squeamish, it might bother you, but try to put that aside. It's too good to miss.


Spellbinding, Hilarious and Informative.   January 15, 2001
PVS (Englewood, New Jersey United States)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

I enjoyed reading "When The Air Hits Your Brain". Dr vertosick talked about his medical training from a third year medical student to his chief residency in Neurosurgery. Dr. vertosick candidly talked about some Neurosurgical cases and their outcome. He made me laugh, and sometimes he made me cry. There is a wealth of information about the structure and function of the brain which Dr Vertosick relates to things in everyday life so it's easy for everyone to understand. One can see the warmth and compassion of Dr Vertosick in his writing. I highly recommend this easy to read, and well written book.