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karentipsy's review against another edition
5.0
Everyone should read this. What an amazing person doing an amazing job.
jasminecriedpower's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.0
leemac027's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
At times heartbreaking, at times inspiring this book reveals the world of those who provide medical humanitarian work. The bravery and courage required to do this work cannot be underestimated.
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
5.0
From war zones to natural disasters, vascular surgeon David Nott has volunteered his time to treat the victims in some of the most dangerous places on Earth. His memoir covers just some of his life-long work and the challenges faced in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur, Congo, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Gaza, Syria, Haiti and Nepal.
This book broke me. David has treated the victims of some of the worst acts humans can do to one another. He spends a considerable portion of this book talking about Syria, and with good reason. Assad's regime made doctors the outlaws for treating those injured by government sanctioned fire. His accounts of operating in war-torn hospitals, front rooms and basements put the whole thing into perspective. It's awful and heart-breaking that a country would do that to itself.
For each conflict, he provides a succinct background to how the trouble started, which I found useful and easy to follow. He explains the kinds of injuries common to each, including a few examples of the surgeries carried out. He is full of compassion and sees the victims as people. He goes above and beyond to save some, often children whose only mistake is to be born in the wrong time and place.
Not only did he provide urgent, on the spot care to life threatening injuries in dangerous situations, he realised he would do even more good by training the local doctors. He set up training courses where he could, and set up a charity to provide sponsorship to doctors around the world operating in austere situations.
He ponders whether or not its right to treat terrorists knowing they might go on to do more damage. But he upholds the Hippocratic oath at all time, and he has enough hope that maybe one day, they will remember the western doctor who saved their life.
David does help break up the onslaught of despair by a few chapters detailing his road to surgery and his love of flying (not only is he a talented trauma surgeon, but he also trained to be a commercial pilot in his spare time). He talks about meeting his wife late in life, and how having someone back home changed things.
The final chapter was surprisingly gripping as David fights against the clock to help facilitate a ceasefire, that would mean the Syrian doctors he called friends could escape Aleppo.
I'm grateful that I had the pressure of a library loan to make me listen to this. I didn't feel in the mood for it when my reservation came in, but there were a lot of people waiting for it, so I didn't cancel it. I'm so glad I powered through. It's hard going but has altered my perception of modern warfare and the suffering it inflicts.
This book broke me. David has treated the victims of some of the worst acts humans can do to one another. He spends a considerable portion of this book talking about Syria, and with good reason. Assad's regime made doctors the outlaws for treating those injured by government sanctioned fire. His accounts of operating in war-torn hospitals, front rooms and basements put the whole thing into perspective. It's awful and heart-breaking that a country would do that to itself.
For each conflict, he provides a succinct background to how the trouble started, which I found useful and easy to follow. He explains the kinds of injuries common to each, including a few examples of the surgeries carried out. He is full of compassion and sees the victims as people. He goes above and beyond to save some, often children whose only mistake is to be born in the wrong time and place.
Not only did he provide urgent, on the spot care to life threatening injuries in dangerous situations, he realised he would do even more good by training the local doctors. He set up training courses where he could, and set up a charity to provide sponsorship to doctors around the world operating in austere situations.
He ponders whether or not its right to treat terrorists knowing they might go on to do more damage. But he upholds the Hippocratic oath at all time, and he has enough hope that maybe one day, they will remember the western doctor who saved their life.
David does help break up the onslaught of despair by a few chapters detailing his road to surgery and his love of flying (not only is he a talented trauma surgeon, but he also trained to be a commercial pilot in his spare time). He talks about meeting his wife late in life, and how having someone back home changed things.
The final chapter was surprisingly gripping as David fights against the clock to help facilitate a ceasefire, that would mean the Syrian doctors he called friends could escape Aleppo.
I'm grateful that I had the pressure of a library loan to make me listen to this. I didn't feel in the mood for it when my reservation came in, but there were a lot of people waiting for it, so I didn't cancel it. I'm so glad I powered through. It's hard going but has altered my perception of modern warfare and the suffering it inflicts.
duskk_novels's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
hannahboxsaayman's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
mc_psychotherapy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
5.0
nickymaund's review against another edition
5.0
Warning - this is not for the faint hearted. This is a warts and all (in some places very graphic) telling of the horrors or war. Nott covers his work responding to natural disasters, but it’s the wars that have most of the focus, and rightly so. You follow Nott’s journey as a child to becoming one of the leading surgeons in emergency trauma. You meet the people he works with as a volunteer for the various medical charities that respond to these crises, and the patients/situations that are most memorable. And it’s just heartbreaking. The brutality, the pain, and horror. In war, it’s the civilians that suffer the worst. Nott ably retells of the dangers he and his fellow volunteers, the natives and those affected by war experience and he’s very frank with his own struggles adjusting to the triviality of life back home. This is written really well and Nott, as narrator, adds his personal touch to his story that makes it pack an even more powerful punch.
daniellewalsh's review against another edition
4.0
War Doctor is the devestating, heartbreaking but inspirational story of David Nott's experience of being a surgeon on the front line. Nott works at three British hospitals and regularly went to war torn countries as humanitarian aid. Helping those who have been shot, blown apart and buried by war. Some of the stories are truely horrific, and is hard to imagine being able to deal with these situations so calmly.
From rural Wales to Syria, Nott's journey is such an important one - not only has he helped save countless lives directly but his determination to train others to ensure that survival rates were as high as possible was incredible. And now the David Nott Foundation makes the training accessible for so many more surgeons to learn the adaptation of their skills to hostile and austere environments.
A horrifically shocking book that really shows man's inhumanity to man whilst still showing the glimmers of hope in society, that there are good people on this planet, among such horror and despair.
From rural Wales to Syria, Nott's journey is such an important one - not only has he helped save countless lives directly but his determination to train others to ensure that survival rates were as high as possible was incredible. And now the David Nott Foundation makes the training accessible for so many more surgeons to learn the adaptation of their skills to hostile and austere environments.
A horrifically shocking book that really shows man's inhumanity to man whilst still showing the glimmers of hope in society, that there are good people on this planet, among such horror and despair.