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Saving Our Skin: A Surgeon's Story of Tenacity, Adventure and Giving Back

Perry Robins,

Julie Bain (Goodreads Author)

3.96 · Rating details · 25 ratings · 12 reviews

Perry Robins, MD, saved our skin—literally.

The world-renowned surgeon took on an enemy of unimaginable power: the sun. At a time when most people worshipped a sun-kissed glow, the medical techniques and messages Dr. Robins promoted had the power to affect every human being on the planet.

Born in Newark during the Great Depression, Perry Robins never had it easy, but he alw ...more

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Kindle Edition, 282 pages

Published September 17th 2019 by River Grove Books

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· 25 ratings · 12 reviews

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Start your review of Saving Our Skin: A Surgeon's Story of Tenacity, Adventure and Giving Back

Sep 18, 2019 Cristie Underwood rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kindle

The author wrote a great account of the personal journey they embarked on. The honest and detailed writing made it easy for the reader to feel invested in their journey.

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Feb 28, 2020 Marilyn rated it really liked it

When I entered to win this free book from Goodreads, I thought it would be a self-help book on how to care for my skin...HA! It was so much more. This is the auto-biography of Perry Robins, MD, a world-renowned surgeon and medical pioneer who changed the way people think about the sun. Dr. Robins perfected a type of skin cancer surgery invented by Frederick Mohs, MD.

Dr. Robins' story is fascinating. He was the first person in his family to attend college. His can-do attitude and wanderlust spiri ...more

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Feb 05, 2020 Sarah Trubee rated it liked it

Shelves: giveaways-kindle, memoir, 3-star-reads

Saving our Skin was an interesting book about how Dr. Perry Robins became a "celebrity" in the world of skin cancer. I really enjoyed reading about his journey. It's very clear he has a rag to riches sort of story. His account of that story was quite honest. Overall, this book a-okay. ...more

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Jan 14, 2020 Joan rated it really liked it

Dr. Robins tells an interesting story about growing up, joining the army, going to medical school and becoming a Dr. He has lived a life of adventure and it was an interesting book about skin cancer and Dr. training.

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Oct 13, 2019 Pamela N. rated it it was ok

They say you cannot tell a book by its cover, and they were right again. In addition, my own rule of thumb, beware of long titles, held true, despite this title not being of trophy-winning length. The cover shows a picture of the sun, and mentions it is by a skin surgeon, hinting one might be learning literally about how to save one's skin. Not so.

It's clear that Perry Robins has lived a rags-to-riches life, and somehow he kept track of a lot of detail about his experiences that boggle the mind. They say you cannot tell a book by its cover, and they were right again. In addition, my own rule of thumb, beware of long titles, held true, despite this title not being of trophy-winning length. The cover shows a picture of the sun, and mentions it is by a skin surgeon, hinting one might be learning literally about how to save one's skin. Not so.

It's clear that Perry Robins has lived a rags-to-riches life, and somehow he kept track of a lot of detail about his experiences that boggle the mind. And these copious details seemed to have been accumulated in the pre-computer era. That is amazing.

But reading a book written in the first person can get pretty wearing, especially when many, many paragraphs begin with "I." In addition, the book seems to be a testament to the acheivements of a man who had dyslexia. He also loves to use the word "shekels." Perhaps there is a connection.

Yes, this is the surgeon's story - he's telling it his way - about how proud he is to be so humble and have become a self made man. He performed many mitzvahs (good deeds) that became like a deflated balloon (to me) once he was compelled to tell us all about what a mench he was (is).

He clearly knows how to make connections with others, and use pull, besides skill, to get ahead He is honest about his obsession with money, and what poor husband he was before he retired, and father to his two children. His description of his parenting was very uncomfortable, especially, the multiple quotes about his son, and the lack of a relationship with his daughter.

By the end I was irritated because there was so little information about his specialty that might benefit a reader. I was left suspecting that perhaps the field moved on, and past. After all, this is a memoir.

Being a notable man with a really big ego, and little insight, this book would have benefitted fromt he services of a really good editor who was skilled, and unafraid. And if Dr. Robins would have listened to the editor.

When I finished the book I kept thinking of all the high achieving egoists in my life who still don't know after decades what I do for a living, because they are so impressed with their own lives. I also asked myself some questions: What did I learn from Dr. Robin's book? Not a lot, I answered. Was I entertained? No. What was there to make me care about the author? Very little.

All good books have a number of things in common: a character arc, an inciting incident, a challenge/crisis/conflict that the hero must overcome, and a resolution. The character arc is a flat-line; getting his way was a frequent conflict he managed to resolve all through his life (by getting his way); and there was no resolution. That is, I couldn't find any depth, insight, or considerations that offered me, the reader, a benefit for having taken the time to read this book.

Dr. Robins has achieved a lot in his life - on many levels. He's reached his goals. I hope he's learned that there's more to writing a book than just putting a lot of words on a page and recounting one's life in chronological order. I wanted to have learned a lot from a surgeon. I didn't.

But I did learn about calbshaxen (veal shank or osso bucco). So it wasn't a total loss of time. ...more

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Jan 09, 2020 Ree rated it really liked it

This book was quite enjoyable and entertaining. Dr. Perry Robins' life story is very interesting.

It contained a lot of information about skin cancer. Dr. Robins "Just Do It" life style is very inspiring. Great read! ...more

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Nov 05, 2019 Steve rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-reads

Disclaimer: I received this book as part of GoodReads First Reads program.

Saving Our Skin is the memoir of Dr. Perry Robbins. He started out life as someone with little ambition and ended up one the the premier doctors in his field. While serving in the military during the Korean War, he was stationed in Tokyo, at a military hospital. Seeing his aptitude for medicine, a doctor told him if he didn't become a pediatrician, he would haunt him for the rest of his life. After leaving the service, Rob ...more

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Dec 17, 2019 Darlene Messenger rated it liked it

Shelves: giveaway-goodreads

How a doctor spent his life

I received this book from Goodreads for review. All comments and opinions are my own.
This is a story of how one man became a renowned doctor, philanthropist and friend to stars. The Moh's technique of skin cancer removal has come a long way due to the ingenuity and persistence of this doctor. He reveals his upbringing and college years with humor and transparency. His early years formulated his foray into medicine. He's worked on film stars and dignitaries equally as w ...more

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Dec 18, 2019 Mary marked it as to-read

I am not yet finished but I am enjoying this book. I started it right away but a family member had surgery so I have been so busy.

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Dec 13, 2019 Pastel added it

Shelves: nonfiction, giveaways

I won a copy in a Goodreads giveaway.
DNF
Reads very much like a ghostwriter got Dr. Robins to talk about his life in great, laborious detail... and then simply transcribed the recordings. This is a memoir, and not in any way a text about skin care, and that's fine, but it doesn't touch much on his time spent saving skin, either. I, personally, found the vignettes of his life stories to be tedious, even though the topics themselves could have been really interesting. ...more

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