The Tenth Nerve

A Brain Surgeon's Stories of the Patients Who Changed Him

By: Dr. Chris Honey

Narrated by: Dr. Chris Honey

Riveting and dramatic, The Tenth Nerve offers a rare window into the world of a pre-eminent neurosurgeon and the seven exceptional patients that made him a better person.

“The scalpel can only go so deep, and technical skill can only take one so far.”

In this absorbing narrative, Dr. Chris Honey, an accomplished neurosurgeon at Vancouver General Hospital, weaves his personal journey together with case studies that reflect the thrill of scientific discovery and the limitations of medicine. Operating on a terminally ill child amid an Ebola outbreak in Liberia, he questions his preconceptions about what it means to "win" against a disease. Reflecting on his own path into neurosurgery, he brings to life a relatively new, high stakes field of medicine—one that historically demanded emotional detachment and often attracts extreme personalities. With a compassionate eye, he traces the courage and determination of several patients suffering from mysterious, unrecognized illnesses, two of whom led Dr. Honey and his team to discover an entirely new disease and its cure. In clear, engaging prose, he invites us into the operating room to witness this extraordinary discovery—involving the tenth cranial nerve—alongside him. And, outside the OR, an unusual friendship with a former patient alters his perspective on clinical detachment, and what "quality of life" really means.

Combining a humane perspective, lively anecdotes, and a deep curiosity about the uncharted territories of the human brain, The Tenth Nerve is a richly fascinating memoir that will fill you with wonder.

©2022 Dr. Chris Honey (P)2022 Random House Canada

Critic reviews

“[Honey is] a caring and compassionate physician and an impressive prose stylist. Writing well for a general audience about the complexities of the brain and the challenges of neurosurgery can be a daunting task. . . . Honey takes on the challenge in this compelling human document and tells his stories in polished, engaging prose that moves smoothly from vivid descriptions of brain surgery to profiles of his patients and colleagues, to good-humoured wit, often at his own expense. . . . If The Tenth Nerve confined itself to a mere display of the author’s impressive erudition and clinical experience it would be a perfectly adequate addition to the world of popular science, but it would be a lesser book than the one that Honey has crafted here. . . . This is a terrific book. Highly recommended.” —The Vancouver Sun

“A new book by the Head of Neurosurgery [at the University of British Columbia] offers a fresh perspective about medicine and a riveting look into neurosurgical operating rooms…. Honey’s new book brings the reader into the operating room and reveals the impact that patient and surgeon have on each other's lives.” —The Ubyssey

“In The Tenth Nerve, Chris Honey shows us more than the neurosurgeon’s hidden world—the chaos of the emergency, the ache of the hopeless patient, the subtly pulsing moonscape of the brain under an operating microscope. His is a heartfelt and informed story about crafting a working wisdom, an acumen, about his patients, his profession and, ultimately, himself.” —Dr. Liam Durcan, author of The Measure of Darkness and Garcia's Heart