Praise for Admissions
“Marsh has retired, which means he’s taking a thorough inventory of his life. His reflections and recollections make Admissions an even more introspective memoir than his first, if such a thing is possible.” —The New York Times
"Consistently entertaining...Honesty is abundantly apparent here—a quality as rare and commendable in elite surgeons as one suspects it is in memoirists." —The Guardian
"It feels like a privilege to spend time with Marsh, an exemplary person with lambent emotions whose fearsome skills and hidden fears are a reminder of how exultant, sad, ardent, and swift life really is." —The New Yorker
"Poignant, fascinating stories." —People
"His descriptions of his work there demonstrate again his gift with both scalpel and pen. In vivid prose, he captures the terrifying risks he faces with each cut, each decision." —The Washington Post
“Admissions is wandering and ruminative.” —New York Times
"Sensational ... Marsh is curmudgeonly, unflinching, clinical, competitive, often contemptuous and consistently curious. In Admissions he scrubs up just as well the second time around and continues to revel in his joyous candour." —The Sunday Times
"Marsh is, given his profession, a surprisingly emotional man, likably so. His account of his younger self that threads through this compulsive book is a Bildungsroman in itself. He is also a fine writer and storyteller, and a nuanced observer." —Tim Adams, Observer
"Do No Harm, candid and tender, was one of the most powerful books written by a doctor ... His follow-up book does not disappoint. The maverick is back, even more blunt and irascible, with tales of thrilling, high-wire operations at medicine's unconquered frontier, woven through with personal memoir ... Marsh in full spate is quite magnificent . . . a master of tar-black, deadpan humour." —Melanie Reid, The Times
“Henry Marsh, a neurosurgeon for 30 years, is in the front ranks. This thoughtful account (his second, after Do No Harm; W&N, 2014) charting retirement and surgical work in Nepal and Ukraine brims with insights - not only on the fraught nexus of scalpel and brain, but on the complexities of ageing and the pleasures of beekeeping, tree-planting and carpentry.” —Barbara Kiser, Nature
“I particularly relished his descriptions of the anatomy of the brain itself, as well as his can-do accounts of freeing cancerous masses from their baroque architecture - but I enjoyed (if this is the correct word) still more his willingness to delve as fearlessly into his own, troubled being ... accounts of highly undoctorly behaviour that nonetheless confirms Marsh as the man I would most like to have prying open my skull. Perhaps most disarming of all is Marsh's frankness about his own fears of growing older and dying ... Should be distributed to every care home in Britain.” —Will Self, New Statesman
"Superb...a eulogy to surgery and a study of living. I didn't want this book to end. Henry Marsh is part of a growing canon of superb modern medical writers . . . whose storytelling and prose are transportative ... His timing is also impeccable ... His sentences, too, feel like works of the finest craftmanship, made with the love that goes into both his woodwork and surgery." —Jessamy Calkin, Daily Telegraph
"Admissions is a humbling read, in which neurosurgeon Henry Marsh shares fascinating facts learnt during his 40-year career as a brain surgeon. He has a deep humanity that resonates throughout." —Good Housekeeping
"An enthralling book, unputdownable ... It is an exhilarating, even thrilling read, a glimpse into a world we hope we may never have to enter." —The Arts Desk
"A truly extraordinary account. Henry Marsh's honesty and simple pragmatism underpin an amazing life of tantalising curiosity and contact with the most complex organ in the known universe. I often wonder about the physical structure of my own brain, about the bits that work and the bits that don't . . . and here is a man who has seen it, tweaked it, repaired it and yet still doesn't know it. It is tempting to try and find a magic in the mystery, but in fact this is a celebration of the magnificence of the brain." —Chris Packham
"Emerging from his own brusque acceptance of the inevitability of suffering and death is a deep compassion for his patients and their families ... The brain, with its two hemispheres is somehow both identical to and yet separate from the mind and the self ... It is fascinating to have it dissected, and with such psychological and clinical penetration, by someone for whom it is horribly untheortical and immediate ... Self-lacerating in his pursuit of the truth." —Jane O'Grady, Literary Review
"The reason for Marsh's success - besides the precision and elegance of his prose - is surely down to the fact that he grapples with matters of life, death and consciousness on a daily basis. And in a world where plain speaking is increasingly rare, Marsh tells it like it is ... Marsh's commitment to truth-telling makes this a genuinely humbling as well as fascinating read. And, like Do No Harm, it leaves a deep and permanent impression." —Stephanie Cross, The Lady
"A fascinating memoir ... Whether discussing his mistakes, or furious at politically inspired bureaucratic interference in what should be purely medical decisions from the UK to Ukraine via Nepal, Marsh paints a vivid picture of the pressures imposed on a surgeon who is quite literally at the cutting edge of modern medicine."
—William Hartston, Daily Express
"Disarmingly frank storytelling and...querulously, warty sort of heroism. He is, in spite of himself, hugely likeable...his reflections on death and dying equal those in Atul Gawande's excellent Being Mortal ... Admissions is more about the man than the surgeon, but it is excellent in its own right." —The Economist
"Marsh writes, "I had always loved my work, even though it was so often painful." That love is clear in Admissions. In spite of frequent dark musings, he takes joy in his craft, in his family, his friends and his cottage on the canal. He may have dying on his mind, but he still has much to do and much to give."- Shelf Awareness
Praise for Do No Harm
“A surprising page-turner ... Marsh’s prose is elegant and seasoned, with no false bravado.” —The Seattle Times
"Marsh delivers plenty of hospital drama. Yet what sticks with you are the moments when the lens flips and the field of view widens, and you realize that, in learning about the minutiae of neurosurgery, you’re gaining insight into life itself.” —The Wall Street Journal
“One of the best books ever about a life in medicine.” —Booklist (starred review)
“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
“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 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.” —Karl Ove Knausgaard, Financial Times
06/01/2017
Author of the New York Times best-selling memoir Do No Harm and subject of two award-winning television documentaries, Marsh recently retired from his post at a London hospital and now travels to remote hospitals worldwide to offer his services as both surgeon and teacher.
Prominent British brain surgeon Henry Marsh, now retired, narrates intimate details of his professional and personal life. While his delivery may seem a bit too posh, some might even say haughty, his style captures the gravitas of the calculated life-and-death risks he took every day in his career. This memoir follows his earlier work, DO NO HARM. It will require listeners to keep some emotions in check as the stories unwind. Reactions of patients and families to positive and negative news are portrayed in an unflinching way. The writing is erudite and appealing, ultimately offering real insights into the practices of this talented and respected surgeon who operated on perhaps the least understood organ, the human brain. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
★ 2017-07-03
A retired British neurosurgeon delivers the follow-up to his well-received debut memoir, Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery (2015).The author's first book received rave reviews and sold well. While follow-ups to exceptional first books have a spotty record, readers who open Marsh's sophomore effort will quickly realize that they are in the hands of a master. Now retired, Marsh looks back over his life and career but mostly recounts his volunteer work in Nepal and Ukraine, extremely poor nations with abysmal medical care. He meticulously describes his successes but, as usual, feels more distress at failures. Ironically, these occur too often because the patients in these countries often believe that doctors can work miracles, so they often insist on surgery even after a careful explanation that it's unlikely to help. Operating on a cerebral hemorrhage or incurable brain tumor regularly converts a quick death to a slow, miserable one. American readers will note that this belies Marsh's statement that "only in America have I seen so much treatment devoted to so many people with such little chance of making a useful recovery." They will also learn of his admiration for American surgeons and his opinion—widely shared—that because they are paid each time they operate, they do so too often. In all his travels, the only nation where the subject of payment has never arisen is Britain. Marsh justifiably rages against elected officials who could eliminate the National Health Service's most desperate need, money, by raising taxes but don't because it might endanger their chances of re-election. Another thoughtful, painful, utterly fascinating mixture of nut-and-bolts brain surgery with a compassionate, workaholic surgeon's view of medicine around the world and his own limitations. Readers will hope that a third volume is in the works.
