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The Scalpel and the Soul: Encounters with Sugery, the Supernatural, and the Power of Hope
A Harvard-educated neurosurgeon reveals his experiences-in and out of the operating room-with apparitions, angels, exorcism, and after-death survival, and shares the lessons he learned. A young burn victim remains in a coma until a ghost appears. A doctor discovers he can predict when a patient will die. A clinically dead patient later recounts extraordinary details about the private lives of her caregivers. A physician needs the help of a Navajo shaman to exorcise the spirit of his dead patient. These things really happened-and neurosurgeon Allan J. Hamilton was involved in every one of them, and many more. Based on thirty years of medical experience, The Scalpel and the Soul tells the unspoken stories behind remarkable patients and strange events, and shares the moral and spiritual lessons found in them. For physicians, supernatural inklings and intrusions are disturbing. Doctors cannot be candid with colleagues or patients because they are trained to disregard the inexplicable and unbelievable. They're taught to discount elusive, evanescent powers of the soul. Superstition, omens, and divine spirits smack of madness. But patients have the same experiences. Life-threatening illness or surgery frequently brings dormant spirituality to life. The soul often needs more than intensive care alone can give. The Scalpel and the Soul explores how premonition, superstition, hope, and faith not only become factors in how patients feel but can change outcomes; it validates the spiritual manifestations physicians see every day; it empowers patients to voice their spiritual needs when they seek medical help; and, finally, it addresses the mysterious, attractive powers the soul exerts during life-threatening events.
272 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2008
77 people are currently reading
629 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
July 21, 2023
I had to read this for school was actually really good
October 15, 2009
The doctor offers little in ways of stories to support his intriguing title! His ego spreads an auto bigraphy piece meal throughout the book, without any flow, or connections. He is a poor boy working dog kennels with a vet, then next we find him at Harvard Med school?!?! How?!? Never told. His back is injured from a fall during Desert Storm, where he was a doctor--how did he fall? Never told! Now these would have made the Boi part more interesting. Then suddenly one chaprter--he is a mountain climber--done the Apls even! would have been better to do the boi all at once, or just done the book--.
The stories were related from student days and Doctor days--not that many to make the worth buying after all, nor the stories that exciting-at least to me--an ER nurse. I have seen and heard better. He admits to OCD and I thinks he has a couple of issues as well. to practice so long and be out of touch with your patients as he was in the stories--may be nurses see things differently since we are nurses, we are there for the patients the most.
This book just not deliver what the title promised. I am willing to discuss some of the stories even, to show how unspiritual they really are, while others might more fit the title.
The stories were related from student days and Doctor days--not that many to make the worth buying after all, nor the stories that exciting-at least to me--an ER nurse. I have seen and heard better. He admits to OCD and I thinks he has a couple of issues as well. to practice so long and be out of touch with your patients as he was in the stories--may be nurses see things differently since we are nurses, we are there for the patients the most.
This book just not deliver what the title promised. I am willing to discuss some of the stories even, to show how unspiritual they really are, while others might more fit the title.
July 3, 2011
What a great premise! What a terrible disappointment. I hate it when a book writes like it's saying something totally earth shattering when it's really just watered down personal stories. I kept waiting for this book to kick in but it never did; too bad really. I made it through just over half. My roommate that actually bought the book didn't even make it that far.
July 21, 2011
I just finished "Heaven Is For Real" and the friend I borrowed it from gave me this book to read. Sooo interesting to read a neurosurgeon's comments about spiritual and unexplained happenings in his career and in his life.
April 4, 2017
It's been about ten years since I read this, so I just purchased another copy to read it again. I remembered it really stayed with me after I completed it, and it got me thinking about spirituality, supernatural, and all of life's indefinite, unanswered, and unexplainable events...such as death and the after life. I'm not a huge fan of fantasy, paranormal, science fiction or New Age material, and this doctor shared stories from throughout his career that came across as none of those genres. It was more of a well-written memoir of a neurosurgeon's personal experiences in his profession. I'm looking forward to reading it again.
April 26, 2020
“One of the great secrets of medicine is that, as a physician, you have unparalleled entry into the lives of others. Every patient is an existential conduit to seeing your own struggles. Each patient brings you one step closer to seeing the truth about yourself”. Love that quote... and how it applies to most helping professions.💕
March 15, 2011
Neurosurgeons generally have strong egos and aim to be quite fearless, when it comes to technical, intellectual and physical challenges, giving people the impression that they are supermen and superwomen. This book was written by a brain surgeon and former department chairman who became a patient left disabled after several spinal injuries and debilitating surgery. That experience possibly solidified his understanding of what it means to be on the other side of the knife, what the impact is of the mind and psyche upon healing, and how insignificant his academic and career accomplishments became in the grand scheme of things. It makes for a good read for anyone, but I would recommend it especially for other neurosurgeons who let their egos get in the way of their humanity.
April 25, 2009
I started reading this book while having breakfast at a restaurant. I don't know how much coffee I consumed, but it had to have been quite a bit, because I couldn't put the book down. The stories that Dr. Hamilton, a Harvard- trained neurosurgeon, shares about his patients and his experiences with them touch your heart, your soul, and that inherent well-spring of hope we all have. This is a physician who has learned from his patients the significance of spirituality in health and in healing. Anyone facing a serious medical condition or caring for someone with a chronic disease should read this. Every health professional should join them.
March 31, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “I AM A BRAIN TUMOR SURVIVOR AND THIS BOOK VALIDATES MY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES!”
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On February 13, 2003 I had brain tumor surgery that was supposed to take four hours. The surgery lasted five hours… then six hours… then seven hours… then eight ½ hours. Unbeknownst to me, when they removed the tumor, underneath it was a “stump”, that had not appeared in any of the pre-surgery MRI’s, and when the Doctor started to remove it; there was severe bleeding in my brain. All of this of course was unknown to me. Not just during the surgery, but after I was blessed by the Lord and allowed to survive and eventually go home, I was not told by my twenty-three-year-old son Justin for a couple of weeks. Even if he would have told me during the first week, I wouldn’t have been able to comprehend what he was telling me. I didn’t know what a bagel was, despite having two bagels and cream cheese for lunch every single day of my life for the last ten years. I didn’t know what Jello was. During the first week at home while Justin was helping me dress and undress, I wanted to thank him from the bottom of my heart for the loving care he was giving me. On my dresser in my bedroom I had always kept a Thank You Card my son had given me when he graduated high school five years earlier. In it he had said: “Dad, I wanted to drop you a line to say thanks for everything. You have always stuck by me on any decision I made, right or WRONG. I don’t know where I would be without you; on this bumpy road I call life. Thanks for always being there for me!” “I LOVE YOU! JUSTIN”. With every fiber in my body and soul, I was trying to point to the card on the dresser and tell him now; I want to thank you… but I couldn’t remember what a dresser was!
Before the surgery I told Justin I wasn’t afraid to die, as long as I could say goodbye. I also told him that throughout my entire life I had always been so proud of what I had accomplished on a basketball court and that I was the best computer/software salesman in the world; but now as I faced death, I realized that the man he’d become, was my greatest accomplishment.
I had always been blessed with a really quick mind and told Justin and the brain surgeon that if I wound up as a “mind-locked-inside-a-body” I would rather die. After about a week at home my mind started to come back and within two weeks my blessing was continued as I got my memory and quickness back. I feel I was saved for a reason. And that is to help anyone I can who is going to face brain surgery. I feel I can help a patient and their family prepare for what they’re going to face better than any Doctor can.
The author Allan J. Hamilton was an accomplished neurosurgeon and is now a professor of neurosurgery and a clinical professor at AHSC. He takes us through his early life and tells us with a “light” humorous touch how he went from being a painting student in college to an English major. One of his early post college jobs was in research and training of raptors to swoop down and kill pigeons so they wouldn’t fly into the jet engines of military aircraft. Since this was funded by the government it would keep him from being drafted during Viet Nam. From here the reader is led through an early adulthood that included cutting the kidneys out of rats all day. Allan found that “he enjoyed the feel of the surgical instruments, the press of steel staples, and the dissection of the tissues themselves. His hands began to move faster. His eyes seemed to flash quicker. It was all over: he knew then and there he had to become a surgeon.”
I feel it’s my responsibility to caution potential readers that the core of this book is not a romantic feel good story. This story is the true narrative of a brain surgeon, and many, many, beautiful, warm, talented, brave, people die during the course if its telling. The author is a very brave writer and Doctor, as he unabashedly crosses the line of science and spirituality (Where I personally feel more Doctors should go.) and shares with the reader his spiritual experiences that range from a native in an African village dreaming of his arrival two days in advance, the ghost/spirit of a deceased Father at the foot of his comatose son’s bed, a shaman casting a dead patients painful grasp out of Dr. Hamilton’s body and more. I also applaud and congratulate Dr. Hamilton for sharing many of his painful mistakes. These missteps are not only in surgery, but in the interpersonal relationships between Doctor, patient and family. Perhaps the most important lapse in judgment he made was in taking “HOPE” away from a patient. As a *BRAIN-TUMOR-SURVIVOR* I can assure you, that that is as important as the surgeon’s scalpel. Dr. Hamilton admits that, where unfortunately many Doctor’s refuse to acknowledge it. Dr. Hamilton says he was taught by his mistake; “to never be afraid of “HOPE” as an integral ingredient of any therapeutic approach. He asserts there is no such thing as “FALSE HOPE”. “HOPE” is simply the desire to prevail, to survive, and to win against overwhelming odds.”
I recommend this gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, true, sad but uplifting, spiritually genuine book. I am thankful and truly blessed for each day I have been given!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
On February 13, 2003 I had brain tumor surgery that was supposed to take four hours. The surgery lasted five hours… then six hours… then seven hours… then eight ½ hours. Unbeknownst to me, when they removed the tumor, underneath it was a “stump”, that had not appeared in any of the pre-surgery MRI’s, and when the Doctor started to remove it; there was severe bleeding in my brain. All of this of course was unknown to me. Not just during the surgery, but after I was blessed by the Lord and allowed to survive and eventually go home, I was not told by my twenty-three-year-old son Justin for a couple of weeks. Even if he would have told me during the first week, I wouldn’t have been able to comprehend what he was telling me. I didn’t know what a bagel was, despite having two bagels and cream cheese for lunch every single day of my life for the last ten years. I didn’t know what Jello was. During the first week at home while Justin was helping me dress and undress, I wanted to thank him from the bottom of my heart for the loving care he was giving me. On my dresser in my bedroom I had always kept a Thank You Card my son had given me when he graduated high school five years earlier. In it he had said: “Dad, I wanted to drop you a line to say thanks for everything. You have always stuck by me on any decision I made, right or WRONG. I don’t know where I would be without you; on this bumpy road I call life. Thanks for always being there for me!” “I LOVE YOU! JUSTIN”. With every fiber in my body and soul, I was trying to point to the card on the dresser and tell him now; I want to thank you… but I couldn’t remember what a dresser was!
Before the surgery I told Justin I wasn’t afraid to die, as long as I could say goodbye. I also told him that throughout my entire life I had always been so proud of what I had accomplished on a basketball court and that I was the best computer/software salesman in the world; but now as I faced death, I realized that the man he’d become, was my greatest accomplishment.
I had always been blessed with a really quick mind and told Justin and the brain surgeon that if I wound up as a “mind-locked-inside-a-body” I would rather die. After about a week at home my mind started to come back and within two weeks my blessing was continued as I got my memory and quickness back. I feel I was saved for a reason. And that is to help anyone I can who is going to face brain surgery. I feel I can help a patient and their family prepare for what they’re going to face better than any Doctor can.
The author Allan J. Hamilton was an accomplished neurosurgeon and is now a professor of neurosurgery and a clinical professor at AHSC. He takes us through his early life and tells us with a “light” humorous touch how he went from being a painting student in college to an English major. One of his early post college jobs was in research and training of raptors to swoop down and kill pigeons so they wouldn’t fly into the jet engines of military aircraft. Since this was funded by the government it would keep him from being drafted during Viet Nam. From here the reader is led through an early adulthood that included cutting the kidneys out of rats all day. Allan found that “he enjoyed the feel of the surgical instruments, the press of steel staples, and the dissection of the tissues themselves. His hands began to move faster. His eyes seemed to flash quicker. It was all over: he knew then and there he had to become a surgeon.”
I feel it’s my responsibility to caution potential readers that the core of this book is not a romantic feel good story. This story is the true narrative of a brain surgeon, and many, many, beautiful, warm, talented, brave, people die during the course if its telling. The author is a very brave writer and Doctor, as he unabashedly crosses the line of science and spirituality (Where I personally feel more Doctors should go.) and shares with the reader his spiritual experiences that range from a native in an African village dreaming of his arrival two days in advance, the ghost/spirit of a deceased Father at the foot of his comatose son’s bed, a shaman casting a dead patients painful grasp out of Dr. Hamilton’s body and more. I also applaud and congratulate Dr. Hamilton for sharing many of his painful mistakes. These missteps are not only in surgery, but in the interpersonal relationships between Doctor, patient and family. Perhaps the most important lapse in judgment he made was in taking “HOPE” away from a patient. As a *BRAIN-TUMOR-SURVIVOR* I can assure you, that that is as important as the surgeon’s scalpel. Dr. Hamilton admits that, where unfortunately many Doctor’s refuse to acknowledge it. Dr. Hamilton says he was taught by his mistake; “to never be afraid of “HOPE” as an integral ingredient of any therapeutic approach. He asserts there is no such thing as “FALSE HOPE”. “HOPE” is simply the desire to prevail, to survive, and to win against overwhelming odds.”
I recommend this gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, true, sad but uplifting, spiritually genuine book. I am thankful and truly blessed for each day I have been given!
January 17, 2009
This was interesting, but seemed somewhat naive for a neurosurgeon. I guess I'm a skeptic...I atribbute the "amazing" to our lack of knowledge and understanding. That said, I think the human body and mind are VERY amazing, even without miracles or magic.
December 21, 2010
Dr. Hamilton summed up everything you need to know about this book at the end of chapter 2: "That's how it is with superstition. I choose to believe."
I have enormous respect for Allan, and his gift of storytelling is mesmerizing, but I simply cannot follow him in his choice...
I have enormous respect for Allan, and his gift of storytelling is mesmerizing, but I simply cannot follow him in his choice...
June 18, 2014
Good observations, though it gets a little preachy at times. I'm not sure if I was convinced by the book, but I defiantly enjoyed reading about all the different cases and pondering the existence of the soul.
April 7, 2011
This was a great read. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone.
January 2, 2013
reinforces my belief on the compatibility of science and spirituality
October 25, 2017
Excellent read. Easy read as well written.
March 18, 2023
Don’t read this book if you have children, anxiety, or ever plan to have surgery!
September 26, 2024
Although this physician's attitude Is pretty alienating at times (via his sarcasm & BTW what kind of a doctor drinks & smokes like this guy??), his experiences which he shares coax you into the book regardless. An early chapter describes his decision to embark on a hazardous trip into the wilds of Africa to a most rudimentary healthcare facility in the midst of unforgivingly harsh weather & seasons, to provide for a leper community & for unvaccinated children. He draws a sketch of his inner landscape as well, depicting his painfully shy, retiring childhood, where his only release from his awkward self-consciousness comes from his grandfather's nature-walks, narrated w/descriptions of how the ailing Teddy Roosevelt overcomes his crippling physical conditions by refusing to limit himself. The author begins identifying w/TR & tries to model his later behavior & decisions (including his Africa mission) along these lines. The book underscores the important message that healthcare is suffering from a lack of humanity & spirituality among its doctors; although in the telling the author appears to have participated actively in that problem at times, chiming in w/his peers while privately dehumanizing patients thru dark-humor, ridicule & name-calling. Clearly, it's stressful being a medical worker, but c'mon!! Go hunting or jogging or cut loose in Vegas, go to an improv or go do karaoke; but don't berate your clients (even privately, it sets an attitude or tone which can't be helpful in performing healthcare delivery). Although there are moments of brilliance in this book, & the doctor/author has an epiphany towards the end (after having his own serious medical experience); it's also very dark & demoralizing at times. The subtitle of the book is "The Healing Power of Hope" & I'd picked it up because I thought it would offer a message of optimism; but it really doesn't do that & I found the subtitle to be a misnomer. The ratio of uplifting to despairing stories is around 20:80 (hopefully that's not a reflection of real life? - maybe it reflects what the doctor encounters, by the time people reach his operating table). The main focus seems to be going towards mortality & death, even in the final chapter of "tips" the doctor offers (ie; "you can't dodge the bullet w/your name on it" & "include death in your life," etc...). There are times when the doctor seems very contradictory in his messages (he's purporting to deliver a message of hope; yet his focus is consistently fatalistic & he often talks about the variable of "luck" as having a great deal to do with outcomes, to the point where he encourages his readers to yield to the concept of death & having no control over when our lives will end - well, then why are you offering tips & "hope"?!?). I found this doctor's brand of "spirituality" to consist more of the supernatural & of eerie superstitions). If you want an authentic message of hope & spirituality from a surgeon-author, consider Bernie Siegel's book, "Love, Medicine & Miracles," which presents realism in perspective w/actual warmth, compassion & hope. Dr. Siegel doesn't make fun of his patients! If you want actual prudent, useful tips about how to approach a hospital visit, consider reading "How to Get Out of the Hospital Alive," written by a doctor who experiences an epiphany & writes a book based on the missteps which occurred during his own hospitalization. Most of "The Scalpel & the Soul's" chapters, I don't enjoy reading & don't find useful. I finally moved this book from my bedside, into the living room, because I found it too morbid to read before sleeping.
January 18, 2022
I purchased this book based on the word "supernatural." There were a couple of intriguing stories that seemed supernatural, but overall the book did not delve much into that realm. And, while all the stories held my interest, each one had an unexpected negative vibe. For example, each story began with the possibility of hope, in some way, for the patient, but...nope, they died horribly. But the doctor learned something interesting. Hmmm. I think I was expecting a softening of the doctor's attitude towards patients from each experience, but that did not seem to happen. I'm guessing that the huge stress of dealing with a constant stream of suffering people AND hospital bureaucracy hardened him. Great list of 20 items at the end of the book, to keep in mind if you have to deal with major hospitalization.
September 29, 2022
This is a lovely non-fiction book written in an engaging style. The medical information is eye-opening and terrific, but it's the message the author has about our spiritual life that makes this read so worthwhile. What believer in God wouldn't adore the perspective of a brain surgeon renowned in his field? What skeptic wouldn't be closer to a believer after reading his words? What fence sitter who has lost a loved one doesn't long to hear stories from an authoritative source about clues to what comes when the body stops functioning? His story of how he started out in life to where he is now and how he got there is fascinating and indivisible from his message.
Also, if I needed brain surgery, he is my go to guy. (Okay, yes, he's retired, but still . . .)
Also, if I needed brain surgery, he is my go to guy. (Okay, yes, he's retired, but still . . .)
August 23, 2017
I related to his feelings as a physician - this was a good reminder to step away from those jaded feelings and focus on people more. The personal stories and humility were great. As an atheist I could have done with less God talk, but still appreciated his input/perspective.
October 20, 2022
This is an excellent book filled with many stories of the patients that this surgeon encountered. It deals with death and dying and gives even the greatest skeptic that there is more for us after this life ends.
January 7, 2023
Very interesting stories and takes, but hard to stay in it since he jumps around so much from chapter to chapter. If his stories were written fluidly, it would’ve been much easier and more enjoyable to read.
January 10, 2019
This book was incredible!
I would recommend this book to everyone in the medical profession. It is compassionate, insightful, and leaves you with a lot to ponder.
I would recommend this book to everyone in the medical profession. It is compassionate, insightful, and leaves you with a lot to ponder.
May 2, 2019
very interesting book and views on life...
June 28, 2019
The deep scientist will find this book to be ridiculous. When experiencing loss and hoping for something, anything "on the other side," this book give lots of good feels.
October 1, 2021
Very interesting look at the dimensions of healing generally ignored by medical professionals, even more powerful cuz it's written by a neurosurgeon.
November 15, 2022
Read for book club. Very nicely written memoir with thoughtful commentary and patient experiences that make us wonder and appreciate our lives.
November 20, 2022
There are a lot of good ideas in this book, especially the list at the end.
The last of the 20 rules is There is no surgery like no surgery. Coming from a surgeon this is gold.
The last of the 20 rules is There is no surgery like no surgery. Coming from a surgeon this is gold.
December 27, 2022
Interesting take on medicine and all that we don’t understand - hope, consciousness, the soul…
Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews