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Do No Harm

Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery

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Do No Harm

Written by: Henry Marsh
Narrated by: J.P. Barclay
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With compassion and candor, leading neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reveals the fierce joy of operating, the profoundly moving triumphs, the harrowing disasters, the haunting regrets, and the moments of black humor that characterize a brain surgeon's life. If you believe that brain surgery is a precise and exquisite craft practiced by calm and detached surgeons, this gripping, brutally honest account will make you think again.

©2015 Henry Marsh (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Biological Sciences Medical Medicine & Health Care Industry Professionals & Academics Science Surgery Medicine Witty Brain Surgery
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What the critics say

"Neurosurgery has met its Boswell in Henry Marsh. Painfully honest about the mistakes that can 'wreck' a brain, exquisitely attuned to the tense and transient bond between doctor and patient, and hilariously impatient of hospital management, Marsh draws us deep into medicine's most difficult art and lifts our spirits. It's a superb achievement." (Ian McEwan)
"His love for brain surgery and his patients shines through, but the specialty - shrouded in secrecy and mystique when he entered it - has now firmly had the rug pulled out from under it. We should thank Henry Marsh for that." ( The Times)
"When a book opens like this: 'I often have to cut into the brain and it is something I hate doing' - you can't let it go, you have to read on, don't you? Brain surgery, that's the most remote thing for me, I don't know anything about it, and as it is with everything I'm ignorant of, I trust completely the skills of those who practice it, and tend to forget the human element, which is failures, misunderstandings, mistakes, luck and bad luck, but also the non-professional, everyday life that they have. Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh reveals all of this, in the midst of life-threatening situations, and that's one reason to read it; true honesty in an unexpected place. But there are plenty of others - for instance, the mechanical, material side of being, that we also are wire and strings that can be fixed, not unlike cars and washing machines, really." (Karl Ove Knausgaard, Financial Times)
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I really got invested in the stories. Captivating, if at times depressing. I guess that's to be expected in such an incredible branch of medicine.

Awesome book

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I enjoyed it immensely. Great storytelling, great insights into hospital work, witty, funny, personal, and with a big heart. On par with "We Are Our Brains" by Dick Swaab, except that that book is in the genre of popular science.

Just great

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Such a well-written, and fascinating, memoir. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I rarely write reviews but I must in this case because of the narration. Jim Barclay is priceless! He brings the entire story alive with his skill with different dialects.

Don’t miss this one!

Fabulous book and absolutely delightful narration!

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Delightful and captivating narration, makes one appreciate neurosurgeon work and life.
Makes one appreciate life with neurological disorders and their challenges.

Absolutely awesome

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This book contains multiple memorable stories from a neurosurgeon’s life as the end of his career nears. The narrator does a good job emoting the feelings of the writer. The stories are interesting and include both successes and failures. My only complaint would be that there is clear distain for hospital administration/management through out the entire book (could possible be satire, but hard to distinguish), so might not be suitable for some.

An overview of the triumphs and failures of a neurosurgeon’s career

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