Another Day in the Frontal Lobe by Katrina Firlik

"Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside" is Katrina Furlik's book on both brain surgery and herself as Neurosurgeon. She starts out by telling a bit about her childhood, with her father being a general surgeon, and how she enjoyed listening to the stories he told about his cases. And how, when she grew up, she decided to go into Neurosugery.

Her book is filled with information about what Neurosurgery is and isn't, about the difference between Neurology and Neurosurgery, and why you might not want to go to the doctor who has had all those wonderful papers published (Because someone who is more into the research side and less into operating, may be less skilled in the surgical theatre than a doctor who doesn't have time for research, being always operating. Skills atrophy with disuse, after all). She also talks about some of the reasons why Neurosurgery is so specialized, and talks about the different specialties within it. And why surgeons get a little peeved over some common surgeries paying so much more than others, and how it causes its own disequities in the surgical community. She also talks about the personal cost of being a neurosurgeon... of being any kind of surgeon, actually, and how her own marriage dodged the bullet of that cost, since both she and her husband are neurosurgeons.

The book is filled with descriptions of personal cases she has encountered, and why getting things checked out early if you have a problem is a very good idea. Some of the cases are gross and disgusting, and others heartbreaking, but in the end, each is in its own way fascinating.

This book is an excellent look at the world of neurosurgery, the science of neurology and neurosurgery and even a glimpse into the future of what neurosurgery and neurology might offer people in the world to come. I wasn't planning on reading this book, but it did catch my eye, and now I am glad to have read it.