Henry Marsh is a retired brain surgeon, and the author of two previous memoirs about his career Do No Harm: Stories of Life Death and Brain Surgery, and Admission: A Life in Brain Surgery. These chronicles reveal a man of huge compassion and humanity, the brain surgeon version of Oliver Sacks if you like. He thought he understood illness, but since his own diagnosis of advanced cancer, he has been forced to undergo a very confusing transition from doctor to patient. This is a profound and powerful book, honest, intelligent and moving, but in the end it's about life rather than death, and what truly matters.