Jack El-Hai

A biography of the physician Walter Freeman, who pioneered and popularized the practice of lobotomy, eventually performing the procedure on thousands of people suffering from conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, and even chronic pain.

There's something about the very idea of a lobotomy that is deeply, viscerally, and legitimately horrifying. It is, after all, a deliberate mutilation of the human brain, the very seat of the self. Some of the descriptions here of lobotomies being show more performed actually made me feel slightly nauseated, not because they are gory or lurid, but because they involve such a profound and disturbing act being carried out in such a shockingly cavalier fashion.

However, as El-Hai points out without downplaying the disturbing nature of the procedure, our pop culture-based ideas about lobotomy -- mainly that it served as a means to turn difficult and uncooperative patients into drooling, docile idiots -- are significantly oversimplified. The results of the operation were highly variable, and while the outcome was sometimes disastrous, many who received the procedure went on to live reasonably normal and productive lives, which was generally (if, sadly, not always) the goal. The book also avoids oversimplification in the portrayal of Freeman, who comes across as fame-seeking, self-assured almost to the point of hubris, and more than a little reckless, but also as a fairly gifted doctor who was genuinely interested in making people better and who displayed a remarkable amount of concern for his patients long after they left his office. El-Hai seldom editorializes, instead showing us how things looked from Freeman's point of view, along with contemporaries' criticisms of his methods and occasional quotes from medical historians to put it all into perspective. It's an approach that works very well, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions and to pose for themselves the thought-provoking questions raised by this bizarre bit of medical history. And there are a great many such questions, involving ethics, philosophy, psychology, and the practice of medicine in general.

I think the strongest reaction that I came away with is an unsettling realization of just how much of the history of medicine has involved well-meaning doctors flailing around almost blindly, doing radical things to human bodies based on semi-formed hypotheses and hoping for the best. It has also reinforced my belief in the massive importance of scientific method in medicine. It may be a flawed and difficult approach, but the alternative leaves us open to possibilities such as doctors mangling patients' brains with ice picks based on little more than "it seems like it might be a good idea" and then convincing themselves with a bit of wishful thinking that they've found some kind of mental illness panacea. show less

A good history and dual biography, well-researched and well-told. Göring is, despite his evilness, one of the most interesting Nazis, and trying to understand their barbarity psychologically is totally twentieth century. Kelley was, like Göring, an interesting and flawed individual. Their tussle at Nuremburg is an amazing an interesting read. The most disturbing and intriguing thing is Kelley's conclusions: the Nazis were normal. Not wild-eyed crazy nutjobs, but normal folk willing to do show more what it takes to get ahead as they saw it. Arendt's idea on steroids. It makes you think. It makes you think. show less

Excellent; compelling and inspiring read about the first face transplant performed at the Mayo Clinic. While the Mayo Clinic performs many organ transplants and facial re-construction surgeries, very few face transplants have been performed globally. It is a uniquely challenging set of surgeries that can take days and require the committment of dozens of doctors and specialists in different medical fields.

Andy Sandness, the young man who benefitted from this complex, risky and tediously show more long procedure. He had many reconstruction surgeries on his severely damaged face but wanted more to make him feel normal, and fit in with society again.

It would take an exceptional team of medical professionals led by Dr. Samir Mardini, years of practice on cadavers, and a willing donor's family to make it happen. And doing this with all the accompanying possibilities of something going wrong made this a very emotionally challenging endeavor all to give Andy a second chance at a normal life.

The camaraderie of the staff, and their willingness to sacrifice time with their families, the eagerness to learn and improve and help their patient is incredibly moving and meaningful.

Face in the Mirror describes Mardini's and Andy's (among others) backgrounds in fascinating detail.

Reading how it all came together gave me chills of joy. A lovely, miraculous story. show less

A fascinating biography of Dr. Douglas Kelley, a psychiatrist famed for evaluating the Nazi war criminals before their judgment at Nuremberg. The particular focus of this book was Kelley's strange relationship with Hermann Göring, Hitler's second-in-command. Kelley, like many other professionals in his day, believed that there was a "Nazi personality type" or a mental defect Nazis shared that could effectively explain how these men and women committed such heinous crimes. However, Kelley show more found that the men he spoke with in their Nuremberg cells were disturbingly "normal." Well ahead of his time in his understanding of the nature of evil, and decades before Zimbardo's Standford Prison Experiment, Kelley was alone in his opinion that Nazis were not mentally disturbed, and this intellectual isolation took a toll on his own mental health.

Highly recommended to WWII junkies and those interested in psychology. show less