The Tenth Nerve A Brain Surgeon's Stories of the Patients Who Changed Him

Combining a humane perspective, lively anecdotes, and a deep curiosity about the uncharted territories of the human brain, The Tenth Nerve is a richly fascinating memoir that will fill you with wonder.

“The scalpel can only go so deep, and technical skill can only take one so far.”


In this absorbing narrative, Dr. Chris Honey, an accomplished neurosurgeon at Vancouver General Hospital, weaves his personal journey together with case studies that reflect the thrill of scientific discovery and the limitations of medicine. Operating on a terminally ill child amid an Ebola outbreak in Liberia, he questions his preconceptions about what it means to "win" against a disease. Reflecting on his own path into neurosurgery, he brings to life a relatively new, high stakes field of medicine—one that historically demanded emotional detachment and often attracts extreme personalities.

With a compassionate eye, he traces the courage and determination of several patients suffering from mysterious, unrecognized illnesses, and  invites us into the operating room with Dr. Honey and his team to witness the extraordinary discovery—involving the tenth cranial nerve—of an entirely new disease and its cure. And, outside the OR, an unusual friendship with a former patient alters his perspective on clinical detachment, and what "quality of life" really means.

Riveting and dramatic, The Tenth Nerve offers a rare window into the world of a pre-eminent neurosurgeon and seven exceptional patients that made him a better doctor.

Dr. Chris Honey is a neurosurgeon at Vancouver General Hospital and Head of the Division of Neurosurgery at the University of British Columbia. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Toronto and his doctoral degree from Oxford University as a Canadian Rhodes Scholar. Dr. Honey lives in Vancouver with his family.