Brain Surgeon

January 5, 2009
Black, chair of the department of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, reflects on his extraordinary life and career. As an African-American growing up in Alabama and Ohio, Black benefited from the emphasis his scholarly parents put on learning: “I was brought up to believe there was nothing that I could not do,” and he published his first scientific paper at age 17 and went on to pioneer blood-brain barrier research to enable chemotherapy drugs to reach brain tumors directly. Introducing the reader to his colleagues and patients, Black tours the interior of the brain with detailed accounts of delicate surgical procedures: “Under the microscope I could see the delicate latticework of blood vessels covering the brainstem, all of which absolutely had to be preserved.” Documenting the risks and rewards of the procedures he performs, he also examines racial hurdles he had to leap to become a neurosurgeon. Black is equally skilled as an author, alternating incisive writing about incisions with his personal memoir, insightful and inspirational.

March 1, 2009
Neurosurgeon Black (director, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Inst., Cedars-Sinai Medical Ctr.) gives readers a glimpse into his life's work, beginning when he was a child who dissected bugs and had a fascination with science and medicine. Today, he removes life-threatening brain tumors from patients by going into delicate parts of the brain he calls "tiger country"where one misstep can have devastating consequences. Black renders the complexities of the surgeries accessible for laypeople, and his descriptions of patients who seek his care can be exciting. Despite an overuse of metaphors, such as "hydra-headed monster" and "growing like an ogre under a bridge" to describe tumors, this well-written book presents an engrossing view into the life of a surgeon performing life-saving medical miracles. Recommended for larger public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/15/08.]Dana Ladd, Community Health Education Ctr., Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Libs. & Health Syst., Richmond

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2009
Black, chair of the neurosurgery department of Los Angeles prestigious Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, didnt get where he is by having influential connections or being born to wealth and privilege. Well . . . not privilege in the traditional sense. But he does indeed feel privileged to have had parents who ignored the social barriers facing African Americans in the deep South in the 1960s andmotivated both their sons to excel beyond external expectations. Thats why, when he faced a bigoted department head at the University of Michigan Medical School, who would deny him entrance to the neurosurgery department, Black was prepared to overcome those biases by means of superior knowledge and performance. He went on to achieve a stellar career in research and neurosurgery, first at UCLA and then at Cedars-Sinai. His story, coupled with harrowing accounts of a handful of his patients, iscleanly written, inspirational, and a superb fit for the times in which we live.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)