Prologue -- I: Beginnings. The myth -- The training -- Penetrating head trauma -- Head-on collisions -- Sports neurosurgery -- II: How do brain surgeons think?. Weighing the risks -- Where to begin? -- The hardest part is knowing when to stop -- Journey to the center of the brain -- A time bomb in the brain -- Too close for comfort -- III: Who's in charge?. Psychosurgery or psycho surgeon? -- Luck favors the prepared mind -- What is it like to be a brain? -- We tell ourselves stories in order to live -- The terminal man -- Epilogue

"A popular biography of brain surgery told by one of its preeminent practitioners"--