A debut essay collection of remarkable breadth and erudition by a
young Pakistani American doctor and writer. "Wry and smart."―The New
York Times Book Review
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Selina Mahmood―in the
middle of the first year of a neurology residency―found scraps of time
between grueling shifts to write. The resulting collection is her
personal and meticulous chronicle of an unprecedented year in medicine.
It's also the debut of a young and uncommon talent.
In the tradition of Oliver Sacks and Paul Kalanithi, Dr. Mahmood takes
the science of neurology and spins it into poetry, exploring theories of
the mind, Pakistani-American identity, immigration, family, the history
of medicine, and, of course, the challenges of becoming a physician in
the midst of a global health crisis. Skipping nimbly across continents
and drawing inspiration from an array of sources ranging from Thomas
Edison to Yuval Harari to Beyoncé, she has crafted an elegant, incisive,
and utterly original investigation. As Salon put it, this book is "A
profound, moving and unfiltered account of not just a frontline worker's
experience at an unprecedented moment, but a story of family and
identity, of pop songs and PPE."
A must-read for anyone seeking insight into the front lines of the
COVID-19 pandemic as well as a broader understanding of our universal
search for meaning.
