Name: Emily Mogg's review of War Doctor by David Nott
Item: War Doctor
Rating: 5
Author: Emily Mogg

David Nott

For more than twenty-five years, David Nott has taken unpaid leave from his job as a general and vascular surgeon with the NHS to volunteer in some of the world's most dangerous war zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993, to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out life-saving operations and field surgery in the most challenging conditions, and with none of the resources of a major London teaching hospital. The conflicts he has worked in form a chronology of twenty-first century combat: Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur, Congo, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Gaza and Syria. But he has also volunteered in areas blighted by natural disasters, such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal. Driven both by compassion and passion, the desire to help others and the thrill of extreme personal danger, he is now widely acknowledged to be the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world. But as time has gone on, David Nott began to realize that flying into a catastrophe - whether war or natural disaster - was not enough. Doctors on the ground needed to learn how to treat the appalling injuries that war inflicts upon its victims. Since 2015, the foundation he set up with his wife, Elly, has disseminated the knowledge he has gained, training other doctors in the art of saving lives threatened by bombs and bullets. War Doctor is his extraordinary story.

Surgery on the Front Line

War Doctor

Hala Abdulaziz 

Emily Mogg

I would recommend this book to anybody and everybody. It’s hard to read but also such an eye opener!

altlovesbooks

"But actually it's quite simple: I don't get to choose who I work on."

I am not a doctor. I don't have medical inclinations, a background in medicine, or the ability to look at blood without feeling faint. I do, however, feel compassion for my fellow human, and this book really spoke to that part of me. 

I lack the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to be able to dive headfirst into conflict zones and save lives like David Nott, though, who takes the reader on a trip through his 25 years of experience doing just that. From Sarajevo to Syria and many places in between, we're taken on an in-depth journey into how tragic and complex trauma surgery can be on the front lines. We also get to see inside Nott's head as he experiences these locations, and how deeply impacted he was throughout his career. 

There is a lot of graphic surgery descriptions in this book, and the topics discussed are incredibly heavy. I almost put this book down like three times throughout reading it when I thought I had read something particularly sad, poignant, and graphic. I kept going back, though, which I suppose is the mark of a really good book. Do not read this book if trauma stories aren't your thing, or if heartwrenching stories affect you more than most. This is a *really* sad book, but it's incredibly powerful and a testament to Nott's selflessness that he kept going as long as he did.

Hala Abdulaziz &
War Doctor by David Nott

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Hala Abdulaziz &War Doctor by David Nott

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Hala Abdulaziz &
War Doctor by David Nott