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Life on a Knife’s Edge
- A Brain Surgeon’s Reflections on Life, Loss and Survival
- Narrated by: Rahul Jandial
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
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Life on a Knife’s Edge
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Publisher's summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
As one of the world's leading brain surgeons, Dr Jandial is the last hope for many patients who have extreme forms of cancer - patients who can't be saved, but deserve more time.
Life on a Knife's Edge is his account of the resilience, courage and belief he has witnessed in his patients, and the lessons he has learned from them.
Both an unflinching account of extreme surgeries and a profound, moving and introspective memoir, this book reveals the depths of a surgeon's psyche who is pushed to his limits, day in, day out.
From keeping a gun victim's heart pumping with his own hand to saving a woman from paralysis and performing brain surgery while time is running out on a haemorrhaging patient, we see how making life and death decisions and facing unimaginable pressure has shaped one man's life. Now, he shares the many truths about human nature that he has learned along the way: from how we deal with trauma, loss and threat to our innate belief and sense of self.
From a life spent balancing on the line between life and death, above all else, he reveals what it really means to survive.
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 502
For centuries, the human heart seemed beyond our understanding: an inscrutable shuddering mass that was somehow the driver of emotion and the seat of the soul. As cardiologist and best-selling author Sandeep Jauhar tells in The Heart, it was only recently that we demolished age-old taboos and devised the transformative procedures that changed the way we live. Deftly alternating between historical episodes and his own work, Jauhar tells the colorful and little known story of the doctors who risked their careers and the patients who risked their lives to know and heal our most vital organ.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating Insight
- By Ironcharles on 10-27-18
By: Sandeep Jauhar
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Surviving Survival
- By: Laurence Gonzales
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 152
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 151
The shark attacked while she was snorkeling, tearing through Micki Glenn’s breast and shredding her right arm. Her husband, a surgeon, saved her life on the spot, but when she was safely home she couldn’t just go on with her life. She had entered an even more profound survival journey: the aftermath. The survival experience changes everything because it invalidates all your previous adaptations, and the old rules don’t apply. In some cases survivors suffer more in the aftermath than they did during the actual crisis. In all cases, they have to work hard to reinvent themselves.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well written, compelling and honest to the end
- By Mark on 07-21-14
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Confessions of a Surgeon
- The Good, the Bad, and the Complicated...Life Behind the O.R. Doors
- By: Paul A. Ruggieri MD
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 280
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 254
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 254
As an active surgeon and former department chairman, Dr. Paul A. Ruggieri has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of his profession. In Confessions of a Surgeon, he pushes open the doors of the OR and reveals the inscrutable place where lives are improved, saved, and sometimes lost. He shares the successes, failures, remarkable advances, and camaraderie that make it exciting.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyed the anecdotes!
- By suzanne on 07-31-17
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When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28,913
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25,369
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25,303
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
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Final Exam
- A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality
- By: Pauline W. Chen
- Narrated by: Pauline W. Chen
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 149
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
When Pauline Chen began medical school 20 years ago, she dreamed of saving lives. What she did not count on was how much death would be a part of her work. Almost immediately, Chen found herself wrestling with medicine's most profound paradox: that a profession premised on caring for the ill also systematically depersonalizes dying. Final Exam follows Chen over the course of her education, training, and practice as she grapples at strikingly close range with the problem of mortality.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not just about end of life
- By Paul Mullen on 03-25-07
By: Pauline W. Chen
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Healing Hearts
- A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon
- By: Kathy Magliato
- Narrated by: Renée Raudman
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
Dr. Kathy Magliato is one of fewer than a dozen female heart surgeons practicing in the world today. She is also a member of an even more exclusive group - those surgeons who perform heart transplants. Healing Hearts is the story of the making of a surgeon who also calls herself a wife and mother.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Healing Hearts
- By Jean on 01-14-12
By: Kathy Magliato
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The Heart Healers
- The Misfits, Mavericks, and Rebels Who Created the Greatest Medical Breakthrough of Our Lives
- By: James Forrester MD
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 88
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
At one time heart disease was a death sentence. By the middle of the 20th century, it was killing millions, and, as with the Black Death centuries before, physicians stood helpless. Visionaries, though, had begun to make strides earlier. On September 7, 1895, Ludwig Rehn successfully sutured the heart of a living man with a knife wound to the chest for the first time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great review of the landmark achievements in Cardiology.
- By Trauma NP on 12-14-15
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Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them)
- A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying
- By: Sallie Tisdale
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 181
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 155
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 154
You get ready to die the way you get ready for a trip. Start by realizing you don't know the way. Listen to a few travel guides. Study the language, look at maps, gather equipment. Let yourself imagine what it will be like. Pack your bags. This book is one of those travel guides - a guide to preparing for your own death and the deaths of people close to you. The fact of death is hard to believe. Sallie Tisdale explores our fears and all the ways death and talking about death make us uncomfortable - but she also explores its intimacies and joys.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I thought I had more time...
- By Alyssa on 09-09-19
By: Sallie Tisdale
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Falling into the Fire
- A Psychiatrist's Encounters with the Mind in Crisis
- By: Christine Montross
- Narrated by: Christine Montross
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
Falling into the Fire is psychiatrist Christine Montross's thoughtful investigation of the gripping patient encounters that have challenged and deepened her practice. Beautifully written, deeply felt, Falling into the Fire brings us inside the doctor’s mind, illuminating the grave human costs of mental illness as well as the challenges of diagnosis and treatment. At once rigorous and meditative, Falling into the Fire is an intimate portrait of psychiatry, allowing the reader to witness the humanity of the practice and the enduring mysteries of the mind.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Buy this book! and READ it
- By joyce on 08-15-13
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Patient Care
- Death and Life in the Emergency Room
- By: Paul Seward MD
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
Recalling remarkable cases - and people - from a career launched in the first days of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Paul Seward leads us in his memoir through suspenseful diagnoses and explorations of anatomy. Within the conditions of great stress and rapid decision-making that are routine in the ER, Dr. Seward tells us that medical staff must be more than technicians of the body: They must be restorers of the human.
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5 out of 5 stars
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very enjoyable
- By Patricia Oxenham on 03-21-19
By: Paul Seward MD
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Birth Day
- A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth
- By: Mark Sloan MD
- Narrated by: Mark Sloan MD
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story5 out of 5 stars 27
"I delivered twenty babies in the summer of 1977. I was hardly more than a baby myself, just turned 24 and starting my third year of medical school." So began Mark Sloan's three-decades-long exploration of the wonders and oddities of human childbirth. Pediatrician, husband, and father, the author has attended nearly 3000 births since that long-ago summer, encountering everything from routine deliveries to tense labor-room dramas.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book - Heavy on the History
- By Robert Ingalls on 03-16-17
By: Mark Sloan MD
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Blood and Guts
- A History of Surgery
- By: Richard Hollingham
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story5 out of 5 stars 53
Today, astonishing surgical breakthroughs are making limb transplants, face transplants, and a host of other previously undreamed-of operations possible. But getting here has not been a simple story of medical progress. In Blood and Guts, veteran science writer Richard Hollingham weaves a compelling narrative from the key moments in surgical history. We have a ringside seat in the operating theater of University College Hospital in London as world-renowned Victorian surgeon Robert Liston performs a remarkable amputation in 30 seconds - from first cut to final stitch.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I love this book!
- By Kristin on 08-25-19
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Early
- An Intimate History of Premature Birth and What It Teaches Us About Being Human
- By: Sarah DiGregorio
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
The heart of many hospitals is the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It is a place where humanity, ethics, and science collide in dramatic and deeply personal ways as parents, doctors, and nurses grapple with sometimes unanswerable questions: When does life begin? When and how should life end? And what does it mean to be human? Nearly 20 years ago, Dr. John D. Lantos wrote The Lazarus Case, a seminal work on ethical dilemmas in neonatology. He described the NICU as “a strong, strange, powerful place”. The
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5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping read for this late preterm infant mom
- By R. Ash on 08-08-21
By: Sarah DiGregorio
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The Undead
- Organ Harvesting, The Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers - How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death
- By: Dick Teresi
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4 out of 5 stars 40
Important and provocative, The Undead examines why even with the tools of advanced technology, what we think of as life and death, consciousness and nonconsciousness, is not exactly clear - and how this problem has been further complicated by the business of organ harvesting.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Eye opening
- By Amy Giglio on 07-01-18
By: Dick Teresi
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Rise and Shine
- The Path to Life
- By: Simon Lewis
- Narrated by: Kelsey Grammer
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
Crushed between a truck and a tree, Simon and his wife were both pronounced dead at the scene of a horrific car accident. Enduring a broken skull, jaw, arms, clavicle and pelvis, followed by a coma, Simon lives to tell his remarkable journey from tragedy to triumph.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing opportunities for healing!
- By Leah on 04-29-17
By: Simon Lewis
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One Doctor
- Close Calls, Cold Cases, and the Mysteries of Medicine
- By: Brendan Reilly
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,217
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,016
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,012
An epic story told by a unique voice in American medicine, One Doctor describes life-changing experiences in the career of a distinguished physician. In riveting first-person prose, Dr. Brendan Reilly takes us to the front lines of medicine today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Simply Brilliant
- By Jan on 06-20-14
By: Brendan Reilly
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The Last Best Cure
- My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life
- By: Donna Jackson Nakazawa
- Narrated by: Karen Saltus
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 106
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 105
One day Donna Jackson Nakazawa found herself lying on the floor to recover from climbing the stairs. That’s when it hit her. She was managing the symptoms of the autoimmune disorders that had plagued her for a decade, but she had lost her joy. As a science journalist, she was curious to know what mind-body strategies might help her. As a wife and mother she was determined to get her life back. Over the course of one year, Nakazawa researches and tests a variety of therapies including meditation, yoga, and acupuncture to find out what works.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Amazing book, but struggled with the voice.
- By erin norton on 01-05-18
What listeners say about Life on a Knife’s Edge
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 08-24-21
Intriguing
What a journey! Intense yet eye opening, skillful maneuvers between life lessons and medicine.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Joshua R Homes
- 08-09-21
Worthwhile Read But Heavy
This book was good but heavy. Good learning lessons, good compelling stories. Heavy content that doesn’t make you feel warm inside.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Michele Matheson
- 12-12-23
Wonderfully shared
This is a very thoughtful and wonderfully shared book that I highly recommend. The author covers deep subjects that are not often spoken about but should be. Thank you Dr. Jandial.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gary W Taylor
- 11-11-21
Listening better than reading this book.
Loved it. Narration was great. I appreciated the author expressing his vulnerabilities and humanity. I believe I would have missed out on some of the nuances by only reading this book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dan
- 08-15-21
an extraordinary doctor yet so humble and kind
took me back early in my life dealing with my father cancer Made me understand and heal my journey through all Merci merci to had more peace to myself and move on to new challenges with more knowledge 🙏
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-14-22
Heartstring pulling, inspirational, informative
Not quite what I expected but an amazing book that I'm blessed to have listened to
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- James
- 12-04-22
great learning
awesome read. alot to learn. alot to grow from as a person. super human story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- E C
- 03-08-23
A Unique Way of Teaching
Dr. Rahul Jandial,
Thank you for taking us into your mind & behind the curtains, on your every day journey! Enjoyed listening to the stories very much! I was stressed. I cried. Thank you for the unique way of teaching us, about the brain.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- tamar brown
- 03-11-24
Changed my life
I have Never been so moved by a book. It has had a great impact on my life. I have suffered much grief and depression, and this somehow has given me a new way of dealing with life.
Perfection! I am encouraging everyone I know to listen or read this book. Thank you,
Sincerely, Tamar Brown
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brenda
- 07-17-21
Amazing
One of the best audible books I have heard.
I highly recommend this to anyone!
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2 people found this helpful