NEW RELEASE
Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery
Penguin Random House (August 2024)
“If you are at all curious about the brain or the surgeons who operate on it, Gray Matters is a must read and Dr. Theodore Schwartz is the perfect guide, a master brain surgeon and superbly talented writer. I have not read a better biography of our shared profession, and in Schwartz’s talented hands, the most enigmatic 3 1/2 pounds of tissue in the known universe comes to light in remarkable and revelatory ways.”
—Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
“The author is warm and insightful, making the book accessible to general readers as well as specialists. Mixing expertise with storytelling, Schwartz provides a remarkable account of a crucial but misunderstood field.”
—Kirkus (Starred Review)
ABOUT
Theodore H. Schwartz, MD, is a Professor of Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, one of the busiest and highest-ranked neurosurgery centers in the world. He has published over five hundred scientific articles and over two hundred chapters on neurosurgery. He has lectured around the world—from Bogotá to Vienna to Mumbai—on new, minimally invasive surgical techniques that he helped develop, and has authored seven medical textbooks. He studied philosophy and literature at Harvard.
RECENT EVENT
Dr. Theodore Schwartz and Dr. Sanjay Gupta - Gray Matters
IN THE NEWS
WSJ Review: Gray Matters, A Brainy Vocation
The Wall Street Journal
Gray Matters is not simply a history of neurosurgery. Dr. Schwartz has written a book that is part memoir and part biography of his profession. Common problems, such as head trauma, gunshot wounds, brain tumors and strokes, are illustrated through the stories of real patients. Some cases are Dr. Schwartz’s own, tweaked to protect anonymity; others are of historical figures and celebrities. He covers huge amounts of territory, including the deplorable case of Eva Perón’s lobotomy, the brave new world of brain-computer interfaces, and the ominous implications of cutting-edge neuroscience for conventional notions of free will.
