Counting Backwards: A Doctor's Notes on Anesthesia - Softcover

Przybylo MD, Henry Jay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393356426 ISBN 13: 9780393356427

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2018

Synopsis

“An engaging and illuminating exploration of the invisible medical specialty that is anesthesia.... Counting Backwards pulls back the veil on the very act of being alive.” ―Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear

For many of the 40 million Americans who undergo it each year, anesthesia is the source of great fear and fascination. In Counting Backwards, pediatric anesthesiologist Dr. Henry Jay Przybylo delivers an unforgettable account of the procedure’s daily dramas and fundamental mysteries. Przybylo has administered anesthesia more than 30,000 times over his thirty-year career: on newborn babies, screaming toddlers, sullen teenagers, even a gorilla. Filled with intense moments of near-disaster, life-saving successes, and simple grace, Counting Backwards is for anyone curious about what happens after we lose consciousness.

About this title

About the Author

Henry Jay Przybylo, MD is an associate professor of anesthesiology at Northwestern University School of Medicine. He also holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goucher College. He lives in Chicago.

Review

“A rare and thoughtful look behind the scenes of this crucial yet arcane specialization.”
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Stirring.... [A] rare peek into the world of one of the more underrated and mysterious procedures in modern medicine.”
- Library Journal

“[A] vividly written, candid exploration.... [S]triking in content and quite moving.”
- Kirkus Reviews

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0393356426
• ISBN 13: 9780393356427
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256