Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Admissions

  • A Life in Brain Surgery
  • By: Henry Marsh
  • Narrated by: Henry Marsh
  • Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (434 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Admissions cover art

Admissions

By: Henry Marsh
Narrated by: Henry Marsh
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Life in Trauma cover art
The Trauma Chronicles cover art
Undoctored cover art
When the Air Hits Your Brain cover art
Beyond the High Blue Air cover art
The Five Wounds cover art
The Surgeon's Daughter cover art
Jane Eyre cover art
Catch Your Breath cover art
The Bell Jar cover art
I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out cover art
Wuthering Heights cover art
The Well of Eternity: Blizzard Legends cover art
Not Your Average Nurse cover art
A Seaside Practice cover art
Dr. Mutter's Marvels cover art

Summary

Henry Marsh has spent a lifetime operating on the surgical front line. There have been exhilarating highs and devastating lows, but his love for the practice of neurosurgery has never wavered. Prompted by his retirement from his full-time job in the NHS, and through his continuing work in Nepal and Ukraine, Henry has been forced to reflect more deeply about what 40 years spent handling the human brain has taught him.

Moving between encounters with patients in his London hospital to those he treats in the more extreme circumstances of his work abroad, Henry faces up to the overwhelming burden of responsibility that can come with trying to reduce human suffering. Unearthing memories of his early days as a medical student and the experiences that shaped him as a young surgeon, he explores the difficulties of a profession that deals in probabilities rather than certainties and where the consequences of your decisions alter the lives not just of patients but also of those around them. The overpowering human urge to prolong life can often come at a great cost to those who are living it and to those who love them.

In this searing, provocative and deeply personal memoir, the best-selling author of Do No Harm finds new purpose in his own life as he approaches the end of his professional career and a fresh understanding of what matters to us all in the end.

Written and narrated by Dr. Henry Marsh.

©2017 Henry Marsh (P)2017 Orion Publishing Group

What listeners say about Admissions

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    273
  • 4 Stars
    108
  • 3 Stars
    38
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    274
  • 4 Stars
    77
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    236
  • 4 Stars
    90
  • 3 Stars
    38
  • 2 Stars
    15
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Admissions. A life in brain surgery.

I so much admire the courage of Mr Marsh who has done so much to show that a group of people who have been put on a pedestal by patients and staff are in fact human like the rest if us. Fascinating though the description of his work is, I found myself wanting to know more about the progress of his work on the cottage. This book has been written by a deeply thoughtful and almost painfully honest person. So few of us have the courage to exam ourselves with total honesty and fund aspects of our lives and behaviour wanting.. Thank you Mr Marsh.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

So good I listened twice

As a nurse,who trained in the same era. I found it interesting, stimulating and so comforting. I am not alone in my frustration and disgust at what has happened to our wonderful NHS, and to old England.
Well done ! A candid, honest and insightful book. Thanks

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

This is a NEGATIVE review.

I hate leaving negative reviews but I can’t, in all honesty leave a positive one.
I purchased book 1 in this series and it is excellent. I wanted surgery, drama, and well described results and outcomes. I got them all.
Book 2 however is a moan and a rant. Hours of ranting about his age, the NHS, his age (again!) his doomed career, the lack of respect in the NHS and in general. He then transfers his rage to his surgical stays in Nepal and Ukraine moaning non stop about everything. Very little surgery, all of it negative.
This could have been brilliant. It isn't.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Frank and honest view of the world he inhabits

This was a real eye opener I’ve listened to Henry’s desert island discs episode on that famous British radio station and he seemed a very fascinating and interesting man who has had his own battles and demons to overcome. His view of the NHS and of surgery in general is very refreshing and shows a true understanding of his craft and of the wider issues affecting us all as we age. I only hope if I ever need a surgeon like this that it’s someone as pragmatic and understanding. The book can come across a little negative and disgruntled and at times depressing but this is the reality facing a lot of people and shows true integrity of the writer that it’s not just smiles hand shakes and big salaries.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!

Beautifully explains the process and ups and downs of brain surgery. This man should be knighted!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastically honest

A wonderful and honest account of an extraordinary career. Humble, insightful and enthralling. I have already recommended it to others to listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another fabulous book from Henry Marsh

This has been my second listen and, once again, I’m bereft to reach the end. Henry’s self-deprecating way of storytelling is compelling - he fully admits his short-comings which, in the medical world, is admirable and somewhat refreshing, making his triumphs all the more pleasing. His narration is superb and I didn’t once find myself drifting. I hope that the Lock Keeper’s Cottage proved to be everything that he dreamt it would be.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Long on biograohy and short on brain surgery

Long on biography and short on brain surgery but intetesting none the less. A very honest book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I very much enjoyed listening to this book. Narrated by Henry Marsh himself made the experience even more special than the first one. Looking forward to listening to the third book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

deeply touching, honest, vulnerable

Written with deep compassion, addressing multi layered complexities, conflicts and hopes of mortals in the 21st century

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!