I'm a medical student and was happy to receive this book through the early reviewers program just as I was starting a month-long rotation in the neonatal intensive care unit. I found the first few chapters on the history of pediatric surgery, ECMO, and TPN to be fascinating. It was really interesting to learn about the history behind the different treatments I was seeing in action every day in the NICU. The second half of the book was a little less compelling for me, primarily because a lot of the background information given by the author were things I already knew from medical school. However, I do think that this information would probably be interesting and useful for a lay person reading this book and understand why the author included it. I thought the cases the author included were very thought provoking. I just wish there were more cases and less background information. I've read a lot of books from this medical memoir genre and this one was definitely good, but not an all time favorite for me. ( )

Dr. Catherine Musemeche provides a fascinating look into the little known world of pediatric surgery in Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery. Her book tells of a surgeon who is concerned about scientific precision yet who also demonstrates deep wells of human compassion. Some of her patients are stories in unimaginable sorrow; others in astounding success.

As a layman, I had many “aha” moments from this book. For example, we usually think that surgery is surgery and that whatever tools are needed are readily available to any surgeon at any hospital. Children are merely smaller sized people, but all the tools and techniques are uniform. This is patently untrue. Dr Musemeche shows that the proper instruments needed for surgery on such a small scale do not always exist. And even if an implement exists, the physiology of the patient often proves too fragile for the instrument to be of any real use. While a catheter may be inserted into an adult vein, a scaled version may be useless in a neo-natal procedure because the vein lacks the structural integrity to hold the catheter.

This is but an example of the kinds of things that are the daily concern of surgery on the smallest of scales. This book illustrates the words of the Hebrew Psalmist that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

A fascinating record of the history, current state, and possible future of of pediatric surgery. Full of touching stories, including sad ones. Maybe not the best reading material if your family is expecting an addition. ( )

An absolutely wonderful romp through the history and contemporary practice of pediatric surgery written - well - by a pediatric surgeon. I spent many years working beside surgeons of all stripes and count many surgeons as good friends, but the uniqueness and difficulty of operating on and caring for such tiny and anatomically diverse humans has never been as clearly articulated to me until now. This would be a fine gift for a bright high school or college student considering medical school to give them an introduction to the real and sometimes painful realities of medical practice. ( )

From the perspective a a lay person who has long been fascinated by all things medical, this was an absolutely fascinating read. I have taken for granted the notion of the existence of such a thing as a pediatric surgeon, yet had no idea that it is a relatively recent development, in fact, still coming into it's own. The book presents case studies which in and of themselves are amazing, but the cases serve as the platform to the truly engrossing brief history of pediatric surgery, the differences between a child's body and an adult's (significantly more than just size}, the hurdles in the way of creating instruments and devices for use in these tiny bodies, the ethics and politics in this field of endeavor, and above all, the heroic ingenuity, courage, and determination of the innovators in this field. This is a book which is definitely accessible to the lay person and it is also a riveting education for anyone who is interested in the medical aspects of fetuses, preemies, and children in general. Excellent read! ( )