Into the Magic Shop: A
Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of
the Heart
By James R. Doty
~Book Review~
THIS IS A BOOK IMPORTANT for this
time. For times when you’re hurting. For times when you’re scared. For every
time.
I think a lot now about the people
we are when we pick up certain books. I began reading this book when my family member
fighting colon cancer recommended it. Said family member devours books as if
they’re candy, and so by now, I’ve heard of so many incredible novels that I’ve
lost hope of ever catching up.
This time when he made a recommendation
to me, I heard him. I wanted this connection between us. I opened the book.
The opening chapter I read aloud
to my husband. A neurosurgeon is faced with the delicate operation of removing
a tumor from the brain of a four year old. The operating room is brought to
life with the sounds, the crunches. They should teach us the sounds a head
makes as it’s opening up, Doty tells us, and it’s gruesomely fascinating.
My husband winced after every
other sentence and commented this seems extremely graphic.
My response was now that’s
great writing.
I’ve always wondered about people
who enter careers of the highest stress level. Pilots. Police Officers. Astronauts.
Doctors. They’re decision makers. Lives depend on decisions they need to make in
a split moment. Doty dives into this form of hypervigilance and the road he
took to achieve such focus: which begins with a summer spent in a strip mall
magic shop. It begins with his anger, his frustration at an inability to
control the chain of events swallowing his family. It begins with his trust in
a stranger named Ruth.
From their relationship, Doty
learns the deepest magic: how to control what controls us in our everyday lives—the
brain. It’s an earnestly compelling account of Doty’s life—how he balanced a dysfunctional
family life and jobs with school, fighting for the chance to go to medical
school, succeeding beyond his wildest dreams, and losing it all—only to
discover that his real dream he had yet to achieve.
It’s a message on kindness. On patience.
On what brings meaning to life.
It’s about the beautiful relationship
between the brain and the heart, interwoven in the language of neuroscience.
If you’ve ever wondered what goes
through the mind of a surgeon, then this book is a riveting place to start. It
is an argument for compassion and empathy, a message that can never be shared
enough.
Recommended for fans of: Dalai
Lama, Michelle Obama, Oprah, medical memoir
