Something Awesome: A Life in Neurosurgery

In Something Awesome, William Friedman shares stories from his life as a neurosurgeon. Complex neurosurgery? No problem. Navigating institutional politics? Now that’s a challenge.

Not surprisingly, wanting to practice neurosurgery does not automatically lead to actually becoming a neurosurgeon. Certainly, you don’t become a neurosurgeon without having a brilliant mind. Ironically then, you spend all your time examining, diagnosing, and fixing problems in other people’s brains and neurological systems. Therefore, in this medical memoir, Dr. Friedman recounts the humorous, tragic, and always intense relationships of neurosurgeons to their colleagues and patients. Of course, he details what it takes to become a leading neurosurgeon. Further, he recounts the difficulties of dealing with deadly brain diseases and their devastating complications.

With forty-five years of experience, Dr. Friedman has the perspective to weigh in on universal health care in the United States. Moreover, he addresses fascinating questions to everyone outside the rare space of neurosurgery. For instance, how does the mind work? And again, why is trigeminal neuralgia called the “suicide disease?” Equally important, how will we ultimately cure cancer of the brain?

Through his exhilarating and challenging experiences, Dr. Friedman shares his lifelong journey, one that has truly been “something awesome”.