Two Books Worth Buying

I don't read much hardcopy anymore, since there is so much interesting reading on the internet for free. But I recently purchased two books, and I would like to recommend them.

I found the first one, Cutting Remarks: Insights and Recollections of a Surgeon by Sidney Schwab MD through our interactions on the medical blogosphere. While the more famous House of God got bogged down towards the end such that I lost interest and never even finished it, Cutting Remarks kept me interested throughout, I read it in only two sittings, and I can't wait for the sequel. Dr. Schwab wields the written word as precisely as he dissects through delicate layers of tissue, and the end result is a successful operation indeed.

The second one, The Blog of War, is a collection of blog articles written by the greatest heroes of our generation, those American military volunteers on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. From the back cover, because I can't say it any better: "There are powerful stories of soldiers in combat, touching reflections on helping local victims of terror and war, pulse-racing accounts of medevac units and hospitals, and heartbreaking accounts of spouses who must cope when a loved one has paid the ultimate price." This is a powerful book, and I highly recommend it.