Download or read book Journey to the Center of the Mind Life Health and Happiness Through the Eyes of a World Renowned Neurosurgeon written by Alexandru Vlad Ciurea and published by . This book was released on 2019-09 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journey to the Center of the Mind, a best selling book of interviews published in Romania a few years ago, is now available to English-speaking readers. The interviews with world-renowned neurosurgeon, university professor, and inventor of a drain system for the brain Alexandru Vlad Ciurea are a window into a life lived with humility, always in the best interest of the patient and of the fellow man. Despite adverse historical conditions, which include a world war and the tough communist regime, Professor Ciurea's life story is one filled with joy, optimism, and life lessons for all of us. In this series of interviews with writer and journalist Tudor Artenie, the professor talks about what constitutes a good childhood and education; about good habits and health issues; about the benefits of a glass of red wine and of a good book. His honest take on what and how people can get the most out of their lives comes at a critical moment, when competing discourses are drowning us in noise and we do not know where to look for guidance anymore. Take the journey with him and learn from a neurosurgeon who has operated on over twenty-three thousand patients and has never lost one.

Download or read book Brain Surgeon written by Keith Black and published by Grand Central Life & Style. This book was released on 2009-03-25 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to tiger country: the treacherous territory where a single wrong move by a brain surgeon can devastate-or end-a patient's life. This is the terrain world-renowned neurosurgeon Keith Black, MD, enters every day to produce virtual medical miracles. Now, in BRAIN SURGEON, Dr. Black invites readers to shadow his breathtaking journeys into the brain as he battles some of the deadliest and most feared tumors known to medical science. Along the way, he 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. BRAIN SURGEON offers a window into one man's remarkable mind, revealing the anatomy of the unflinching confidence of this master surgeon, whose personal journey brought him from life as a young African-American boy growing up in the civil rights era South to the elite world of neurosurgery. Through Dr. Black's white-knuckle descriptions of some of the most astonishing medical procedures performed today, he reveals the beauty and marvel of the human brain and the strength and heroism 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. PRAISE FOR BRAIN SURGEON "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 "A rare, behind-the-curtain look at the life of one of the most pre-eminent neurosurgeons in the world." --Sanjay Gupta, MD, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN

Download or read book Journey to the Center of the Mind written by Artenie Tudor (author) and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Life on a Knife s Edge written by Rahul Jandial and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2021-06-03 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'It's a brilliant book... There are lessons in every paragraph... Get it now.' Chris Evans 'Wonderous and wild. I loved this book' James Nestor, bestselling author of Breath 'Moving, raw and unflinching' Julia Samuel, bestselling author of This Too Shall Pass 'Incredible storytelling' Dr Rangan Chatterjee, bestselling author of Feel Better in 5 ____________________________________________________________________________ How do you carry on when things go deadly wrong? When Dr Rahul Jandial operated on Karina, an eleven-year-old girl whose spinal cord was splitting in two, he had to make an impossible decision. He followed his head over his gut and Karina was left permanently paralysed, altering both patient and surgeon's lives for ever. This decision would haunt Rahul for decades, a constant reminder of the fine line between saving and damaging a life. As one of the world's leading brain surgeons, Rahul is the last hope for patients with extreme forms of cancer. In treating them, he has observed humanity at its most raw and most robust. He has journeyed to unimaginable extremes with them, guiding them through the darkest moments of their lives. Life on a Knife's Edge is Rahul's poetic and beautifully written account of the resilience, courage and belief he has witnessed in his patients, and the lessons about human nature he has learned from them. It is about the impossible choices he has to make, and the fateful consequences he is forced to live with. From challenging the ethics of surgical practices, to helping a patient with locked-in syndrome communicate her dying wish to her family, Rahul shares his extraordinary experiences, revealing the depths of a surgeon's psyche that is continuously pushed to its limits.

Download or read book Something Awesome written by William A. Friedman and published by Radius Book Group. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An illuminating account of a brilliant neurosurgical career.” —Henry Marsh, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Do No Harm In this medical memoir, Dr. Friedman recounts the humorous, tragic, and always intense relationships of neurosurgeons to their colleagues and patients. He details what it takes to become a leading neurosurgeon and deal with deadly brain diseases and their devastating complications. He weighs in on universal health care in the United States. He also answers such questions as how does the mind work, why is trigeminal neuralgia called the “suicide disease,” and how will we ultimately cure cancer of the brain? Through his exhilarating and challenging experiences, Dr. Friedman shares his lifelong journey, one that has truly been "something awesome."

Download or read book Lifetime and Fortune written by Edward R. Lang M. D. and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2012-08 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While it is clearly not my intention to review the history of Chicago, it should not surprise the reader to find that a considerable portion of the early material in the book relates to the city in which the author grew up. Few cities of this magnitude can boast of at least fifteen miles of lake shoreline along with outstanding universities such as the University of Chicago, Northwestern, and the medical center of the University of Illinois. Chicago's medical past includes such pioneers of surgery as Nicholas Senn, Christian Fenger, and John B Murphy. In the 1920s, neurological surgery was developed in Chicago by Percival Bailey, Loyal Davis, and Paul C. Bucy. Dr. Davis, chief of surgery at Northwestern medical center, was for many years the editor-in-chief of Surgery Gynecology and Obstetrics, a premier journal of surgical literature in America. Last but not least, the Chicago underworld was represented by John Dillinger, Bugs Moran (whose gang was massacred on St. Valentine's Day), and the Mafia chief Alphonse Capone who, although responsible for innumerable deaths, was finally imprisoned for income tax evasion in the late 1930s.

Download or read book Another Day in the Frontal Lobe written by Katrina Firlik and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2007-06-12 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Katrina Firlik is a neurosurgeon, one of only two hundred or so women among the alpha males who dominate this high-pressure, high-prestige medical specialty. She is also a superbly gifted writer–witty, insightful, at once deeply humane and refreshingly wry. In Another Day in the Frontal Lobe, Dr. Firlik draws on this rare combination to create a neurosurgeon’s Kitchen Confidential–a unique insider’s memoir of a fascinating profession. Neurosurgeons are renowned for their big egos and aggressive self-confidence, and Dr. Firlik confirms that timidity is indeed rare in the field. “They’re the kids who never lost at musical chairs,” she writes. A brain surgeon is not only a highly trained scientist and clinician but also a mechanic who of necessity develops an intimate, hands-on familiarity with the gray matter inside our skulls. It’s the balance between cutting-edge medical technology and manual dexterity, between instinct and expertise, that Firlik finds so appealing–and so difficult to master. Firlik recounts how her background as a surgeon’s daughter with a strong stomach and a keen interest in the brain led her to this rarefied specialty, and she describes her challenging, atypical trek from medical student to fully qualified surgeon. Among Firlik’s more memorable cases: a young roofer who walked into the hospital with a three-inch-long barbed nail driven into his forehead, the result of an accident with his partner’s nail gun, and a sweet little seven-year-old boy whose untreated earache had become a raging, potentially fatal infection of the brain lining. From OR theatrics to thorny ethical questions, from the surprisingly primitive tools in a neurosurgeon’s kit to glimpses of future techniques like the “brain lift,” Firlik cracks open medicine’s most prestigious and secretive specialty. Candid, smart, clear-eyed, and unfailingly engaging, Another Day in the Frontal Lobe is a mesmerizing behind-the-scenes glimpse into a world of incredible competition and incalculable rewards.

Download or read book If I Get to Five written by Fred Epstein and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2013-10-22 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon shares the lessons of courage, compassion, and resilience that he's learned from his exceptional young patients If I Get to Five is a one-of-a-kind book by a one-of-a-kind human being. The medical world knows him as Fred Epstein, M.D., the neurosurgeon who pioneered life-saving procedures for previously inoperable tumors in children. His patients and their families know him simply as Dr. Fred, the "miracle man" who has extended them both a healing hand and an open heart. "I simply can't accept the idea of kids dying," is how Epstein explains his commitment to saving patients. As a child, he had to overcome severe learning disabilities to realize his dream of becoming a doctor. Later, as the world's leading pediatric neurosurgeon, he did whatever it took to rescue children that other doctors had given up on. Epstein credits his young patients as his most important teachers. "We tend to think of children as fragile, little people," he writes. "To me, they're giants." If I Get to Five relates the unforgettable experiences he's shared with children-lessons in courage, compassion, love, and hope-that we can all draw on to overcome adversity at any stage of life. In If I Get to Five, Epstein meditates on these lessons at a time when they parallel his own experiences, as he recovers from a near-fatal head injury. If I Get to Five is a riveting profile of courage and compassion. No one who reads this remarkable book will ever look at children-or adversity-in the same way.

Download or read book Into the Magic Shop written by James R. Doty, MD and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The award-winning New York Times bestseller about the extraordinary things that can happen when we harness the power of both the brain and the heart Growing up in the high desert of California, Jim Doty was poor, with an alcoholic father and a mother chronically depressed and paralyzed by a stroke. Today he is the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, of which the Dalai Lama is a founding benefactor. But back then his life was at a dead end until at twelve he wandered into a magic shop looking for a plastic thumb. Instead he met Ruth, a woman who taught him a series of exercises to ease his own suffering and manifest his greatest desires. Her final mandate was that he keep his heart open and teach these techniques to others. She gave him his first glimpse of the unique relationship between the brain and the heart. Doty would go on to put Ruth’s practices to work with extraordinary results—power and wealth that he could only imagine as a twelve-year-old, riding his orange Sting-Ray bike. But he neglects Ruth’s most important lesson, to keep his heart open, with disastrous results—until he has the opportunity to make a spectacular charitable contribution that will virtually ruin him. Part memoir, part science, part inspiration, and part practical instruction, Into the Magic Shop shows us how we can fundamentally change our lives by first changing our brains and our hearts.

Download or read book Life Lessons From A Brain Surgeon written by Rahul Jandial and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing upon his own experience from the OR and the lab, a leading neurosurgeon and neuroscientist applies his cutting-edge research and findings to everyday life, offering readers expert insights and advice for achieving peak performance, improved memory, enhanced creativity, and beyond. This engrossing journey through science and medicine brings together key areas of the author’s expertise—in surgery and science, cranial structure and the conscious mind—to explain the bigger picture of brain health and rejuvenation. It is a journey into his operating room, around the world on his surgical missions, inside his laboratory, and to the outer edges of neuroscience to reveal the latest breakthroughs that are turning science fiction into reality, and translating their implications for everyday life. Busting myths along the way, Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon helps readers get wired for success at work and school, perform better when the pressure is on, boost memory, control stress and emotions, minimize pain, stick to a healthy eating plan, unleash creativity, raise smarter kids, and stay sharp as they age. Combining the treatment guidelines he gives his own patients, the most promising concepts from frontier science, and the smartest super-achiever hacks, Dr. Jandial provides practical takeaways for optimizing brain function and leading a healthier, happier, more productive life.

Download or read book Gray Matter written by David I. Levy and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2011 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A perfect blend of medical drama and spiritual insight, "Gray Matter" is a fascinating account of Dr. David Levy's decision to begin asking his patients if he could pray for them before surgery. His musings on what successful and unsuccessful surgical results imply about God, faith, and the power of prayer are honest and insightful.

Download or read book Switch On Your Brain written by Dr. Caroline Leaf and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 900,000 copies sold! According to researchers, the vast majority--a whopping 75-98 percent--of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life. What we think about truly affects us both physically and emotionally. In fact, fear alone triggers more than 1,400 known physical and chemical responses in our bodies, activating more than thirty different hormones! Today our culture is undergoing an epidemic of toxic thoughts that, left unchecked, create ideal conditions for illnesses. Supported by current scientific and medical research, Dr. Caroline Leaf gives readers a prescription for better health and wholeness through correct thinking patterns, declaring that we are not victims of our biology. She shares with readers the "switch" in our brains that enables us to live happier, healthier, more enjoyable lives where we achieve our goals, maintain our weight, and even become more intelligent. She shows us how to choose life, get our minds under control, and reap the benefits of a detoxed thought life.

Download or read book A Christian from Egypt Life Story of a Neurosurgeon Pursuing the Dreams for Quintuple Certifications written by Rhamsis F. Ghaly and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2015-01-23 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A CHRISTIAN FROM EGYPT LIFE STORY RAMSIS F. GHALY, MD, FACS This is my life story as a Coptic Christian, born and raised in Egypt in an environment of limited opportunities and scarce resources, especially for Christian minorities. Seeking the promise opportunity, I came to the United States nearly 30 years ago as a young man. As I flew westward on the plane, it did not occur to me that I would become a prominent neurosurgeon with a practice in one of the great cities of America. Nor did I anticipate that I would ever be in a position to fight for save lives and fight for patients lives, protecting them from the specter of financial greed permeates the health care industry. This book chronicles my journey in America from my early struggles to get past closed doors to my current practice serving the mission set before me with uncompromising zeal and devotion. Eventually I became a prominent American neurosurgeon among the only 4000 active nationwide and the only one nationally and internationally to achieve five board certifications in five acknowledged medical disciplines. My story takes the reader through my first hand experiences through the eight health care systems, and Chicagos history of neuroscience over the last three decades, providing an in-depth view of the medical practices in the surrounding suburban communities. My book also includes the lessons that I have learned, my personal views and patient testimonials. What I have faced and seen since my plane landed in this country in 1984 is almost inexpressible. It is my sincere wish that others may find hope and inspiration from my story, as well as an understanding of the challenges that the healthcare industry faces today along with my own passion for excellence in neuroscience as I confront them. I owe my success to God, to my cherished parents, my teachers, my mentors and most importantly, my beloved patients.

Download or read book All That Moves Us written by Jay Wellons and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The surgical interventions in these pages are dizzying, but the fact that Jay Wellons can write as well as he can operate provides a whole other level of amazement.”—Ann Patchett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth “A powerful and moving account of the intense joys and sorrows of being a pediatric neurosurgeon.”—Henry Marsh, New York Times bestselling author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, Publishers Weekly Tumors, injuries, ruptured vascular malformations—there is almost no such thing as a non-urgent brain surgery when it comes to kids. For a pediatric neurosurgeon working in the medical minefield of the brain—in which a single millimeter in every direction governs something that makes us essentially human—every day presents the challenge, and the opportunity, to give a new lease on life to a child for whom nothing is yet fully determined and all possibilities still exist. In All That Moves Us, Dr. Jay Wellons pulls back the curtain to reveal the profoundly moving triumphs, haunting complications, and harrowing close calls that characterize the life of a pediatric neurosurgeon, bringing the high-stakes drama of the operating room to life with astonishing candor and honest compassion. Reflecting on lessons learned over twenty-five years and thousands of operations completed on some of the most vulnerable and precious among us, Wellons recounts in gripping detail the moments that have shaped him as a doctor, as a parent, and as the only hope for countless patients whose young lives are in his hands. Wellons shares scenes of his early days as the son of a military pilot, the years of grueling surgical training, and true stories of what it’s like to treat the brave children he meets on the threshold between life and death. From the little boy who arrived at the hospital near death from a gunshot wound to the head, to the eight-year-old whose shredded nerves were repaired using suture as fine as human hair, to the brave mother-to-be undergoing fetal spinal cord surgery, All That Moves Us is an unforgettable portrait of the countless human dramas that take place in a busy modern children’s hospital—and a meditation on the marvel of life as seen from under the white-hot lights of the operating room.

Download or read book The Tenth Nerve written by Dr. Chris Honey and published by Random House Canada. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Riveting and dramatic, The Tenth Nerve offers a rare window into the world of a pre-eminent neurosurgeon and the seven exceptional patients that made him a better person. “The scalpel can only go so deep, and technical skill can only take one so far.” In this absorbing narrative, Dr. Chris Honey, an accomplished neurosurgeon at Vancouver General Hospital, weaves his personal journey together with case studies that reflect the thrill of scientific discovery and the limitations of medicine. Operating on a terminally ill child amid an Ebola outbreak in Liberia, he questions his preconceptions about what it means to "win" against a disease. Reflecting on his own path into neurosurgery, he brings to life a relatively new, high stakes field of medicine—one that historically demanded emotional detachment and often attracts extreme personalities. With a compassionate eye, he traces the courage and determination of several patients suffering from mysterious, unrecognized illnesses, two of whom led Dr. Honey and his team to discover an entirely new disease and its cure. In clear, engaging prose, he invites us into the operating room to witness this extraordinary discovery—involving the tenth cranial nerve—alongside him. And, outside the OR, an unusual friendship with a former patient alters his perspective on clinical detachment, and what "quality of life" really means. Combining a humane perspective, lively anecdotes, and a deep curiosity about the uncharted territories of the human brain, The Tenth Nerve is a richly fascinating memoir that will fill you with wonder.

Download or read book Healthy Brain Happy Life written by Wendy Suzuki and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A neuroscientist transforms the way we think about our brain, our health, and our personal happiness in this clear, informative, and inspiring guide—a blend of personal memoir, science narrative, and immediately useful takeaways that bring the human brain into focus as never before, revealing the powerful connection between exercise, learning, memory, and cognitive abilities. Nearing forty, Dr. Wendy Suzuki was at the pinnacle of her career. An award-winning university professor and world-renowned neuroscientist, she had tenure, her own successful research lab, prestigious awards, and international renown. That’s when to celebrate her birthday, she booked an adventure trip that forced her to wake up to a startling reality: despite her professional success, she was overweight, lonely, and tired and knew that her life had to change. Wendy started simply—by going to an exercise class. Eventually, she noticed an improvement in her memory, her energy levels, and her ability to work quickly and move from task to task easily. Not only did Wendy begin to get fit, but she also became sharper, had more energy, and her memory improved. Being a neuroscientist, she wanted to know why. What she learned transformed her body and her life. Now, it can transform yours. Wendy discovered that there is a biological connection between exercise, mindfulness, and action. With exercise, your body feels more alive and your brain actually performs better. Yes—you can make yourself smarter. In this fascinating book, Suzuki makes neuroscience easy to understand, interweaving her personal story with groundbreaking research, and offering practical, short exercises—4 minute Brain Hacks—to engage your mind and improve your memory, your ability to learn new skills, and function more efficiently. Taking us on an amazing journey inside the brain as never before, Suzuki helps us unlock the keys to neuroplasticity that can change our brains, or bodies, and, ultimately, our lives.

Download or read book The Mind s Eye written by Oliver Sacks and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-10-26 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the power of speech, the capacity to recognize faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight. For all of these people, the challenge is to adapt to a radically new way of being in the world. There is Lilian, a concert pianist who becomes unable to read music and is eventually unable even to recognize everyday objects, and Sue, a neurobiologist who has never seen in three dimensions, until she suddenly acquires stereoscopic vision in her fifties. There is Pat, who reinvents herself as a loving grandmother and active member of her community, despite the fact that she has aphasia and cannot utter a sentence, and Howard, a prolific novelist who must find a way to continue his life as a writer even after a stroke destroys his ability to read. And there is Dr. Sacks himself, who tells the story of his own eye cancer and the bizarre and disconcerting effects of losing vision to one side. Sacks explores some very strange paradoxes—people who can see perfectly well but cannot recognize their own children, and blind people who become hyper-visual or who navigate by “tongue vision.” He also considers more fundamental questions: How do we see? How do we think? How important is internal imagery—or vision, for that matter? Why is it that, although writing is only five thousand years old, humans have a universal, seemingly innate, potential for reading? The Mind’s Eye is a testament to the complexity of vision and the brain and to the power of creativity and adaptation. And it provides a whole new perspective on the power of language and communication, as we try to imagine what it is to see with another person’s eyes, or another person’s mind.