Book Review: Do No Harm

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery

Written by Henry Marsh in 2016

The Raccoon: In Do No Harm, renowned neurosurgeon Henry Marsh takes a captivatingly honest look at his career, exploring the intricacies of the brain and how doctors steel themselves psychologically in the face of crises and catastrophic mistakes. Along the way, Marsh also reflects how a growing bureaucracy, advanced technology, and differences between cultures have come to affect how we approach saving a life.

UNMASKED: In Arrival, perhaps my all-time favorite film, humans encounter aliens who have a completely different understanding of time, which is reflected in their language. The “heptapods” write with circular ink emissions that form parts of multiple words simultaneously until the sentence circle is completely fleshed out, as opposed to our linear method of expressing one word at a time. The end result, however, is the same in both languages, and a complex message is still communicated with either structure.

Do No Harm flows in the language of Arrival. The book lacks an explicit narrative; the story moves back and forth in time and without thematic transition, and, following the first few chapters, which explain many introductory concepts and procedures in neurosurgery, the bulk of Do No Harm could be completely reordered with no consequence. As Marsh’s tone is that of a memoir, it was difficult to remind myself that the book is not meant to be a story, and for readers who prefer organization, this may come as a challenge.

By the end of Do No Harm, however, after a journey that wanders multiple threads and career periods simultaneously, Marsh brings the reader to a complete understanding of the intricacies of brain surgery and neuroscience. His descriptions of complex procedures and anatomy are easy to digest, yet never lose sight of how awe-inspiring the brain can be. Furthermore, his stories about operating in Ukraine, training students and being a student in training, and the range of monumental and minuscule struggles involved in working in a hospital, lend insight on so much more than what is just inside our heads.

Strengths:

• Marsh is clearly an expert on this subject; reading Do No Harm feels equivalent to taking a course in neurosurgery, and it is a perfect resource for anyone deciding whether this career path is right for him/her.
• The book is also a unique exploration of how humans, especially doctors, feel and act in the face of death and seemingly impossible choices.

Weaknesses:

• Marsh provides slightly less detail on a few aspects of his career that he personally found to be nuisances, but which are still interesting to the reader.

Rating: 19/20 aneurysm clips

Ideal Setting: Read this after your next operation, to remain blissfully unaware of your doctors’ fallibility and then to be reassured that they share your anger with how long you were kept waiting.