31 Books Like Gifted Hands

This is one of my all-time favorite books! Raised in India by missionary parents, Dr. Brand saw firsthand the effects of leprosy on the body. He trained as a doctor in England and returned to India where he pioneered the concept of the “gift of pain”—the idea that lepers’ “rotting” extremities resulted from the loss of sensation and subsequent infection, not the disease itself. A renowned surgeon, he was the first in the world to use reconstructive surgery on lepers, techniques he later applied to diabetics.

The book goes through the body, system by system, relating the physical body to the body of Christ. My favorite parts are Dr. Brand’s vivid stories of treating the “outcasts” society shuns but God does not.

This book spent five years on the New York Times bestseller list. Despite what some see as controversial claims that the author spent ninety minutes in heaven and then came back to life, only five of the eighteen chapters dwell on Piper’s “near-death experience.” The majority of the book chronicles his horrifically painful struggle to survive and then recover the use of his legs which were mangled in an accident. He often begged God to let him die. Instead, God brought people into his life to help him move past self-pity and find a renewed purpose.

As a registered nurse, South African writer Shirley Corder knew cancer from a medical standpoint, but she didn’t really know the disease until she heard the words “you have cancer.” In her book, she walks readers from diagnosis through surgery and cancer treatments to recovery, shedding God’s light along the path. Her subtle humor and genuine faith lighten a heavy subject. Though she never sugarcoats reality or implies that we should “just trust God and everything will turn out all right,” her book provides a shot of needed encouragement at a critical time.

Depression can sneak up on anyone, even a Christian comedian such as Chonda Pierce. Her busy schedule and constant pressure to make others laugh ran her own tank empty. Where did she turn? To God, of course. But she found that God often works through friends, family, and yes, even psychologists to haul people back onto their feet. With faith, hope, and humor, she exposes depression from the inside out and leads people from the dark into the light of Jesus. Though I’ve never experienced depression, I feel better armed should I ever meet this foe.

Through reading this book, I learned some practical things people with epilepsy can do that might decrease their seizure frequency.

I appreciated that the author emphasizes the importance of people with epilepsy taking control of their lives and being engaged in doing what they can to prevent seizures. This book was written from the perspective of a person with epilepsy, Andrienne Richards, and a doctor, Joel Reiter, which helped me understand epilepsy from two different perspectives. I liked learning about what various treatments there are for epilepsy aside from prescription medication.

I enjoyed reading about how a woman’s epilepsy impacted her life and yet she also pursued her dreams.

As a person who has had seizures and has gone through epilepsy brain surgery, I felt her determination and struggles to live each day not knowing if a seizure would happen. I could relate to her motivation and courage to earn a college degree and undergo brain surgery to obtain a better quality of life. While each person’s story is different, Deanna Brady’s story and mine story have some things in common.

I could relate to Abby’s struggles of living with epilepsy and how her family was impacted by her seizures.

I liked that Abby explained what she felt before she had a seizure, the emotional toll her epilepsy took on her, and how her seizures impacted her everyday life. I liked that Abby explained how she dealt with having seizures in high school and college. I enjoyed reading about her determination to earn a college degree despite having seizures.

I found her story to be inspirational and one that I could relate to since we both have experience with having epilepsy.

I liked learning about the different types of epilepsy and the terminology pertaining to epilepsy. I enjoyed learning about different forms of treatment for epilepsy, such as vagus nerve stimulation, responsive neurostimulation, and deep brain stimulation. I liked learning about practical ways that people with epilepsy can manage their seizures.

It was refreshing to read a book written by a neurologist that recognizes that the side effects of seizure medications are serious and that the whole person is important when considering what treatment to provide to a person with epilepsy. I liked reading about the medical tests that are used to diagnose people that might have epilepsy and what the results mean. I appreciated reading about how epilepsy and seizure medication impact women.

I love the fake romance trope! Characters pretending to be in a relationship for convoluted reasons get me picking the book up every time. This one is a cracker! Top neurosurgeon Samantha Thomson needs a wife like now and advertises to find one. The ad is answered by Hayden Pérez, an ER nurse in the same hospital. Trouble is, Hayden dislikes the rude and aloof Sam and is only doing this for the generous payment for a year of her time.

Watching Sam and Hayden banter and snark around each other is delicious fun. As their relationship develops, the women start to understand and support each other through their individual problems in a very positive way. Readers who love a longer read will adore this one: the word count clocks in at 122,000.

This book is a delight from start to finish.

This book reminds us of the human aspect of surgery, aging, and disease.

The brain is superbly complex, and its innermost workings of the brain lie beyond our grasp. I love the thwarted circularity of how we can use our brain to think about how our brain thinks without really understanding how it thinks.

In many people the brain goes wrong, this is often caused by cancerous tumours growing there. Where drugs and radiotherapy fail, surgeons are often the last resort. Marsh describes his experience as a literal brain surgeon and the effect on him of having to make life-altering decisions.