Another Day In The Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside

The Story

Katrina Firlik is a neurosurgeon, one of only two hundred or so women among the alpha males who dominate this high-pressure, high-prestige profession. She is also a superbly gifted writer -- witty, insightful, at once deeply humane and refreshingly wry. Dr. Firlik draws on this rare combination to create a unique memoir of her compelling experiences. 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 distinguished and secretive specialty. Candid, smart, clear-eyed, and unfailingly engaging, 'Another Day in the Frontal Lobe' is a mesmerizing glimpse into a world of incredible competition and incalculable rewards.