In this compelling and beautifully written memoir, Mohamed Khadra recounts stories from his life as a surgeon, from the grueling years of training to the debilitating sleepless nights on call. He looks back at the doctors and patients who shaped his career; at the endless stream of humanity?courageous, pitiful, admirable, and dislikable?who passed under his knife; and at the shattered lives of doctors defeated by the stresses of the job. This dramatic account of a surgical life shows what happens when extraordinary events overtake everyday lives.