This is the second memoir by a brain surgeon I've read recently. The first was 'Reaching Down The Rabbit Hole', by Allen Ropper. Whereas he came across as emotionally detached, seeing his cases as having problems that he had to solve, Marsh never loses sight of the fact that his patients are human, with lives, feelings, families. A bit like Oliver Sacks, he's able to communicate compassion and humanity. He's extremely honest about certain cases that have gone wrong, and how he manages to live with the consequences of his mistakes. Each chapter is another case, and they are many and varied. He writes superbly, managing to make brain surgery thrilling; although it's not for the squeamish or faint-hearted. The descriptions are sometimes graphic, and a little unsettling. A wonderful book.