Frank Vertosick Jr., MD

When the Air Hits Your Brain

Tales from Neurosurgery

"Dramatic, moving, and utterly fascinating." —New York Times Book Review

With poignant insight and humor, When the Air Hits Your Brain chronicles one man’s evolution from naïve and ambitious young intern to world-class neurosurgeon. In electrifying detail, Frank Vertosick Jr. describes some of the greatest challenges of his career, including a six-week-old infant with a tumor in her brain, a young man struck down in his prime by paraplegia, and a minister with a .22-caliber bullet lodged in his skull. Told through intimate portraits of Vertosick’s patients and unsparing yet fascinatingly detailed descriptions of surgical procedures, When the Air Hits Your Brain—the culmination of decades spent struggling to learn an unforgiving craft—illuminates both the mysteries of the mind and the realities of the operating room.

“Riveting.”—Publishers Weekly

“This book should be read by every medical student, doctor, and present or potential patient. In other words, by all of us.”—Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles

Frank Vertosick Jr., MD, is the author of Why We Hurt and The Genius Within. He retired from surgery due to Parkinson’s disease in 2002, but he still treats office patients in Washington, Pennsylvania.