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Summary: A Story of Inspiration
Review: This is a must read for anyone interested in stories of people overcoming adversity, and making something of their lives. This is the Ben Carson story plain and simple. Dr. Carson gained world wide fame when he and his staff separated the occipital twins from Germany, but the real story of Ben Carson begins much earlier in his native Detroit. Ben came from circumstances that most people do not overcome, but he found a way out through his love of learning. However, he faced numerous challenges before he would reach his desire to become a medical doctor. Early on in his life he was hit with a real whammy when his father left the family under the strangest circumstances when Ben was eight years old. He also shares the fascinating experience of how anger nearly doomed his medical career before he ever graduated from high school. In addition, he discusses his early academic struggles at Yale, and how faith, prayer and hard work got him through. The final chapter of the book provides the doc's prescription for success using the acronym Think Big. This book is a great read, and provides many wonderful ideas on how to make a life.
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Summary: ¿Are Leaders Born or risen out of adversity?¿
Review: It is not too often that we witness the extraordinary success and unusual accomplishment of an individual in spite of his/her disadvantages. Ben Carson who is a son of a black Christian pastor spent his childhood in city of Detroit to overcome many racial and academic obstacles and achieve his dream of being a doctor. Ben, who was not doing well in the school, influenced by the devoted, courageous and religious character of his mother to the level that he beat the odds by going from a worst student in the 5th grade class to win the highest academic achievements in 8th grade. Despite of racial disadvantages he did manage to receive a scholarship from Yale where he met his future wife, Candy, and after obtaining his undergraduate degree he was admitted to the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Dr. Carson also finished his neurosurgical residency at Johns Hopkins University and become an attending neurosurgeon at the university.
One of the major turning points of Dr. Carson's career was the successful separation of the conjoined Siamese twins (Patrick and Benjamin Binder) in 1987. During the 22 hours of the surgery Dr. Carson along with a team of anesthesiologists, heart surgeons and nurses could cut into the scalp, split the conjoined converging vein, removed the bony tissue that held the two heads and reconstructed the skulls. The twins left Johns Hopkins in 1989 in a good health to celebrate their new life.
But may be the biggest achievement of Dr. Carson is yet to come; his wining battle with prostate cancer. It was just recently that this extraordinary neurosurgeon who devoted his whole life to save sick children received the news of his disease while operating on a patient. In an interview with the "Night Line" Dr. Carson stated that he is cutting back on those long hours of surgery to spend time with his three children, wife and his friends. Although it is heart breaking to hear that one the heroes of medicine himself is facing such difficult moments, Dr. Carson's surviving personality has made him surpass everyone's expectation in dealing with challenges.
"Gifted Hands" not only is an fascinating story of an underrepresented kid who beat the odds to become one of the elites in neurosurgery and academic medicine in the world but also it is a story of surviving of ingenuous spirit who devoted his exceptional abilities to bring the best gifts of all, the life, to the children. Perhaps the most precious God given gift to Dr. Carson is his ability to survive and overcome unforeseen circumstances with an unconventional approach. The "Gifted Hand" is an excellent example of risen leader out of adversity.
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Summary: Amazing accomplishment, even more amazing gift of Bragging
Review: This guy can tell you every little compliment he ever received as far back as his childhood, yet he seems to be just way too braggadocios in the way he tells it. (Especially when he tells how he was chosen as "the most honest student at Yale"). I respect how far he has gotten in life, and the fact that he's a soft spoken man, but I just got really tired of his bragging on just about every single page of the book. I'd like to know the names of the people in his class at Yale that bested him, or at least a few of the compliments they received.
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Summary: truely wonderful gift
Review: this story is one of the most inspiring i have ever read. this is a must read for people of all ages. ben carson i believe is one of truely honest great role models for anyone of any race,religion, ace,ethnicity or age. this story will touch your heart and is sure to motivate u to find your model for success as a person.
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Summary: Gifted Hands
Review: I would like to recommend the book Ben Carson because it would appear to be very interesting to everyone who might look at the title. I am very much in love with the first chapter of the book as it was read to mewhile I was sitting here listening
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Summary: Making the Impossible Happen
Review: Few autobiographies hold the reader's interest like Ben Carson. This courageous surgeon makes the impossible happen.The tension and suspense Dr. Carson builds makes this book easy to recommend for both adolescent and mature readers. Dr. Carson examines many of the challenges he faced in becoming a surgeon. He ends his work with a riveting description of an operation where he and a colleague separate a set of Siamese twins joined together by the brain. Dr. Carson paints a colorful picture of the operating arena with all of the visual effects. His vivid description of the procedure holds your attention. As the final scene unfolds, the reader feels the exhaustion each doctor encounters, and the reader shares in the satisfaction of a successful operation.
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Summary: Ben Carson
Review: I recommend the book Ben Carson as a good choice for reading material. The author did a good job of grabbing the readers attention by describing the separation of twins during surgery. He was able to use strong detail, so the reader was able to visualize what was actually going on in the surgery. Also, it gave the reader the opportunity to feel empathy towards the surgeons and the patients being treated because you were able to feel what they went through. The way the author describes how the twins were surgically separated and had to use 50 pints of blood to control the bleeding grasped my attention. I wanted to hear more, thus I began to thirst for added information.
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Summary: Ben Carson
Review: I recommend Ben Carson's book because it drew my attention immediately. The segment read had interesting parts. While hearing the parts of blood vessels being severed, 50 pints of blood was needed to save the twins lives, rare breaks, and swelling of the brain. I also was curious as to know if this story is fiction or non-fiction. This hospital scene had such an array of severity for saving the twin's life. Such tension for this doctor handling such a sensitive procedure must have been a difficult and emotional drain. Such a surgery does take place but are still rare today. I would like to hear or read how this book began and will end.
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Summary: ...
Review: I would not recommend reading the book Ben Carson. The story was about a surgeon who was describing a surgery in which he had to separate two conjoined twins at the brain. I feel the book gave too many gory details regarding the surgical procedure itself. I myself get queasy at the sight and sound of the word, blood. The chapter seemed to be well written, however, if anyone does not like stories about sick babies, or surgery or any detailed medical procedure, this section of the book should be omitted. At one point the descriptiveness of the author in giving details about complications in the surgery caused me to stop listening, otherwise the chapter did retain my attention. In my opinion, the story was well written because it was a first hand account, and because of the use of descriptive terminology. This caused me to be able to visualize a vivid picture in my head of the surgery and the complications the surgical team encountered. I believe that if a writer can cause the reader to form a visual that can elicit a response, such as nausea, then it was well written. Another reason it was well written was again due to the personal account and the writer is writing from first hand experiences.
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Summary: Technical & Touching
Review: I recommend the book Ben Carson for reading by any middle school child... Although it had many technical terms, the narrative was riveting. It contained many verbs adjectives that clearly communicated human emotion! Obviously Mr. Carson was intent upon succeeding. The description was intense! The description of using 50 pints of blood for the surgery indicated the seriousness of the surgery. Transition phrases such as just in time, another call and the final call communicated the seriousness of the blood shortage. The graphic description of swelling indicated the brain would not fit in the skull if the surgeons did not hurry. As the reader, I wanted to shout at the writer to hurry and solve the problem. The terminology became less bothersome the more attached to the emotion of the book, the listener became. I am sure it would have been absolutely spellbinding had we heard the whole book.
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