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Mortal Lessons: Notes on The Art of Surgery
In this collection of nineteen unforgettable essays, Dr. Selzer describes unsparingly the surgeon's art. Both moving and perversely funny, Mortal Lessons is an established classic that considers not only the workings and mis-workings of the human body but also the meaning of life and death.
I. The art of surgery --
The exact location of the soul --
The surgeon as priest --
Lessons from the art --
II. The body --
Bone --
Liver --
Stone --
The knife --
Skin --
The belly --
The corpse --
III. Essays --
Bald! --
Smoking --
Abortion --
The twelve spheres --
IV. Down from Troy --
Down from Troy --
Car sickness --
Longfellow, Virgil and me --
Jacob Street --
Birdwatching
219 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
74 people are currently reading
906 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
April 30, 2018
Insightful, creative, and written with prose that soars. I’d have nominated it for a Pulitzer. It’s that well written. If you happen to view life theologically, as I do, this book is a mine from which you’ll pull barrels of gold. Read it.
December 13, 2007
i can't help but have a little green in my eye regarding folk like selzer who have (at least) two monster gifts to give to the people--in his case, both are healing.
July 5, 2021
Read this at the beginning of medical school as a gift from my uncle, a surgeon. It’s a poetic look at medicine and anatomy. For those of y’all in it, you know its sterile environment often does not do justice to the human experiences that happen day in and day out. This book helped me look for the bits of poetry hidden in the days. Excited to read it again this year with a few more of those moments under my belt.
December 24, 2021
I only started reading this book because I came across a particularly beautiful excerpt, after which I decided that I absolutely had to read this book... and I wish I hadn't. This book was first published in 1974... whew boy, I wish I could say it's a product of it's time but honestly... nope. I'm not going to give it that excuse. There are a couple insensitive bits that are racist and sexist... and also an entire chapter about drinking where the author essentially shames people who don't drink... yikes. Also I completely lost my patience towards the end of the book where it's just a bunch of personal essays which was unnecessary and honestly, ones which I could've gone without. The writing is incredibly difficult and I swear he's made up several words in this book. Unbearable.
November 26, 2008
This book, written by a surgeon, was unlike any book I had ever read before. Each chapter is an engrossing story written by a passionate hand. Selzer found a way to combine his love for surgery and anatomy with exceptional dictiona and imagery. He is able to describe the human body from a perspective that is at once graphic and serene. This was an unforgettable novel.
November 28, 2024
Overwrought, self-satisfied with the occasional hint and glimmer of real insight. Eventually completely undone by pernicious and flat attempts at moralising (one pro-life essay on abortion is particularly vile) and the sheer brute force trauma of its prose, which is so purple it left me feeling bruised.
April 3, 2020
Better medical essaying than the usual "my emotional struggle as a doctor" or "why I am a hero" on offer from more recent bestselling memoirs. Examines the human condition, the field of medicine...and himself only after these. In short, far more less dull than most in the genre.
June 18, 2010
Beautiful writing from one who recognizes that he could dissect a body, but never find the exact location of its soul. And funny, too. ;)
October 25, 2010
Imagine a med school anatomy class taught by a poet. Selzer makes the human body vivid, horrifying, ridiculous, and thrilling, often in the space of a single sentence. A remarkable book.
May 16, 2015
amazingly descriptive writing style...engaging and informative...a book that i will pick up and re-read often, no need to even read in order...inspires me creatively...highly recommended
January 27, 2020
I got through about 60% of the book. But the way he was writing was starting to annoy me.
March 6, 2020
The Surgeon as a Priest, alone, is enough of a reason to love this book.
June 12, 2025
Ugly. I can understand why a doctor would like this, given their tendency towards narcissism and general lack of taste. I can not fathom how anyone else could stand this whale of junk.
January 29, 2025
I have had this book on my list for a number of years ever since I stumbled across an excerpt online that was memorable enough to stick in my mind. I finally picked up a used copy on eBay last year during my library expansion project and it has patiently waited on my shelf until this January.
Selzer opens his book on surgery with several pages of ruminations about the whereabouts of the soul in the body, setting the tone for the remainder of the work to be grounded in his lifetime of knowledge concerning anatomy, but frequently rising far above those foundations and illuminating aspects of life that many of us would find difficult to approximate in natural language.
Not to say that the writing is strictly natural. You will learn at least four new words in the reading of this book if for no other reason than Selzer made them up himself to complete the turn of a phrase that has never before been seen in English. And he cannot be accused of these fabrications on account of any shortcoming of vocabulary or style. Both are available in abundance, coalescing into a kind of illegible prescription scrawl that fingerprint his chapters and defies comparison to any household literary name.
As a medical professional, Selzer is obviously comfortable with the aspects of human physiology that rarely feature in dinner table conversation, though I think the perspective is a healthy one to step into, especially for those of us who appreciate what the field of medicine has accomplished from the outside looking in.
After the first chapter, Selzer moves on from his overt search for the soul, though I must conclude that he never really abandons the chase. It may take strange forms along the way, including an unexplained segue into birdwatching, but it is always there under the surface of the narrative. That, above all else, is what makes Mortal Lessons so human. I am glad that among all the pursuits open to him in his retirement from surgery, Robert Selzer picked up a pen and wrote this book.
Selzer opens his book on surgery with several pages of ruminations about the whereabouts of the soul in the body, setting the tone for the remainder of the work to be grounded in his lifetime of knowledge concerning anatomy, but frequently rising far above those foundations and illuminating aspects of life that many of us would find difficult to approximate in natural language.
Not to say that the writing is strictly natural. You will learn at least four new words in the reading of this book if for no other reason than Selzer made them up himself to complete the turn of a phrase that has never before been seen in English. And he cannot be accused of these fabrications on account of any shortcoming of vocabulary or style. Both are available in abundance, coalescing into a kind of illegible prescription scrawl that fingerprint his chapters and defies comparison to any household literary name.
As a medical professional, Selzer is obviously comfortable with the aspects of human physiology that rarely feature in dinner table conversation, though I think the perspective is a healthy one to step into, especially for those of us who appreciate what the field of medicine has accomplished from the outside looking in.
After the first chapter, Selzer moves on from his overt search for the soul, though I must conclude that he never really abandons the chase. It may take strange forms along the way, including an unexplained segue into birdwatching, but it is always there under the surface of the narrative. That, above all else, is what makes Mortal Lessons so human. I am glad that among all the pursuits open to him in his retirement from surgery, Robert Selzer picked up a pen and wrote this book.
February 11, 2026
This was a painful read. First of all, there were only about 3 chapters about surgery. The rest included a pretentiously-worded (as in, includes about 20 words that I swear are made-up), infographic about liver cirrhosis with a weird interruption of "I don't mean to offend; a man who doesn't drink isn't very cool or trustworthy folks!", a weird rant about how the author would rather commit suicide than quit nicotine, a pro-life statement (the reasoning: "scientifically speaking, the fetus doesn't feel a thing, but because it was disturbing to watch and made me feel bad, it must feel something and abortion is murder!")... and right at the end a short collection of essays about the author's childhood and live. By the time I reached that biopgraphical last section (included essays on birdwatching, car sickness, literally anything but surgery), I was so sick of this insufferable "intellectual" I didn't care to read about his life and upbringing in the slightest. I'm pretty sure he used "tampon" as a verb at one point, and in the first couple of chapters he said some weird shit about Jews and women. Overall an obnoxious and cringy read. Considering the outdated view points I figured it was really old, but this was written in the 70's so I can't even view it as a product of its time. I see why doctors would enjoy this book as in my experience they have a tendency towards narcissism and dismissiveness of anyone who doesn't match their demographic but for the average academic this book is genuinely insufferable pretentious crap, with the wording choices so gross it just left me feeling uncomfortable at times.
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August 24, 2023Don’t be put off by the titular reference to surgery or the publication date – this is (still) a great book.
Before there was such a thing as Narrative Medicine, before Abraham Verghese, MD, and Atul Gawande, MD, hit the bestseller lists, there was Richard Selzer, MD, a respected professor of surgery at Columbia University and a writer of uncommon grace and power.
Yes, Dr. Selzer was a surgeon, and many of his stories involve surgical situations, but this is not a book about surgery – it’s about the mystical connection between doctor and patient, doctor and disease, and the moment when detached observation becomes human engagement and clinical curiosity turns to wonder.
Read our entire review and see more book club selections on The DO!
Before there was such a thing as Narrative Medicine, before Abraham Verghese, MD, and Atul Gawande, MD, hit the bestseller lists, there was Richard Selzer, MD, a respected professor of surgery at Columbia University and a writer of uncommon grace and power.
Yes, Dr. Selzer was a surgeon, and many of his stories involve surgical situations, but this is not a book about surgery – it’s about the mystical connection between doctor and patient, doctor and disease, and the moment when detached observation becomes human engagement and clinical curiosity turns to wonder.
Read our entire review and see more book club selections on The DO!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2025
"Here, in the crook of this arm, where the loose skin lies in transverse folds, in this very place, she rested the back of her head, her hair so black and glossy I could see myself in the mass of it.
And from this lower lip she drew two drops of my blood, that I was glad to give her.
And look, this scar upon my cheek that marked the end of love between two brothers.
It is all here engraved, that which I was, that which I did, all the old stories, but now purified somehow, the commonplace washed away, rinsed of all that is ordinary, and glowing as they never did, even when they happened."
imagine a book written by a doctor and he likes to use really big words and that is what this book is. moments of shining prose but altogether a slog with the addition of a horrible pro-life essay to tie it all together. never seen the word "undulating" more in my life.
And from this lower lip she drew two drops of my blood, that I was glad to give her.
And look, this scar upon my cheek that marked the end of love between two brothers.
It is all here engraved, that which I was, that which I did, all the old stories, but now purified somehow, the commonplace washed away, rinsed of all that is ordinary, and glowing as they never did, even when they happened."
imagine a book written by a doctor and he likes to use really big words and that is what this book is. moments of shining prose but altogether a slog with the addition of a horrible pro-life essay to tie it all together. never seen the word "undulating" more in my life.
May 27, 2017
Such a lush, lovely book, filled with gorgeous language and images. Whoever thought I could be moved, or even interested in, an essay titled "Liver"? There is an intermingling of seriousness with sly & clever humor, beauty and queasiness (at least on my part). The essay "Abortion" is why the book drew me, and is well worth reading, as is the remainder, the bulk of which is medically related essays plus some reflections on the author's early life.
January 4, 2020
Saw this book referenced in another book I was reading so I followed up and read it for myself.
Selzer is a really funny writer and this collection of essays on different parts of the body (liver, heart, brain, spine) and his stories of being in the theatre of surgery were fun to read.
The end of the book drags on a bit, as he steers away from the medical theme...but up to that point it’s a great and fun read.
Selzer is a really funny writer and this collection of essays on different parts of the body (liver, heart, brain, spine) and his stories of being in the theatre of surgery were fun to read.
The end of the book drags on a bit, as he steers away from the medical theme...but up to that point it’s a great and fun read.
March 29, 2018
This collection of philosophical essays by a surgeon turned writer showed promise, but I think I should've read 1 of his other books first. I will read Rituals of Surgery based on the potential shown here, but often times these essays just went deep into anatomy and surgical procedures and added flowery literary metaphors.
July 28, 2022
Being in the medical field I found this book quite entertaining! I loved the review of all of the body systems which included his comical one-liners that would be easy to miss if you weren’t paying close attention. All in all an entertaining read!
March 25, 2025
Maybe Abraham Verghese spoilt this for me…. I was looking for tales of human compassion and surgical innovation and while some os Seltzer’s early essays were insightful, they gradually became more academic and turgid, then the final set changed direction entirely. Very uneven.
February 25, 2026
"The Exact Location of the Soul" is possibly the single most healing and spiritually transcendent essay I have read in an extremely long time. There was a time where I slept, each night, with my battered copy of this book cradled in my arms like a teddy bear.
July 6, 2019
Amazing book. Every medical student, resident, physician would benefit from reading it.
August 29, 2021
What lovely prose, what hysterical dramatics! Selzer is unfailingly charming and comic; what I wouldn't do to chat with him.
December 4, 2021
happy tears.
November 29, 2022
Hands down the very best book I’ve read on the minutiae, fragility, and absurdity of our bodies. What it means to be a physical being navigating the world as a spiritual presence.
October 13, 2024
Surgery as poetry. A bittersweet look into what the art of medicine used to be.
February 18, 2026
Richard Selzer is brutally honest with his humor and blatant warnings of one's lifestyle choices. It is a great handbook for society in whole.
February 12, 2011
Selzer is a little too exotic in his choice of words and allusions, but it is fun to have such explorations by a surgeon, where these things are at times the antithesis of the personality of a surgeon. Any surgeon who attempts to capture surgery on paper should be commended. Selzer is very good and I absolutely loved the essay called the Knife.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews