Surgery of the Soul: Reflections on a Curious Career

Murray, Joseph E., 2004, xxiv + 257pp., illustrated, revised ed., paperback. 2nd printing, minor revisions, 2012   This remarkable book is the autobiography of one of the 20th century’s most honored surgeons, Joseph E. Murray, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990. In it, Dr. Murray describes his role in breakthrough research in human organ transplantation and his pioneering advances in surgical techniques to correct deformities of the head and face caused by birth defects or terrible accidents. This book tells not only the author’s story, but also the stories of many of his patients. One such patient is a 22-year-old aviator names Charles Woods. During wartime runs in the Far East, Woods’s plane caught fire, and in his attempt to escape, he was burned beyond recognition. His nose, eyelids, and ears were obliterated, and by the time Woods reached the States, he was barely alive. Over the next 2 years, Dr. Murray and the surgical team at a Pennsylvania military h