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"many very many of the case studies used in incognito are used again in this book so for me quite dissappointing"

"when i first began reading the brain i was a little concerned that it might be a rather dull textbook like experience as some popular science books i have encountered before have been"

"i don't know much about the brain but found this quite boring"

"towards the end there is a strangely fanatical air to the ideas around human consciousness not requiring the human brain to exist"

"however a few pages in it became apparent that this was definitely not the case"

"three star for such a late delivery"

"whilst this book was an interesting read personally it may not be for everyone if you have no interest in science then obviously avoid it"

"for example he uses the term "a disproportionate number" several times rather than providing an exact number"

"well in some ways this book is a cut down version of the series with it seems to me less information being presented compared to the tv show"

"sadly i was wrong"

"a few people have said this is very similar to incognito which i haven't read yet so some caution might need to be exercised before buying both but if you're new to this area or curious then this is a great place to start"

"the text is not in an easy to read continual flow as much of the text in the book is set in side boxes which are fine to process in a physical book but requires much jumping back and forward with the kindle"

"i have medical training and did not feel patronised"

"whilst physically this important organ is nothing more than a tangled collection of billions of nerve cells known as neurons with a jelly like consistency the brain is actually a lot more than that"

"the author never delves too deeply into pure science meaning that is book is easily readable for people with very little prior understanding of the field but uses metaphors and real world examples to explain difficult concepts"

"very interesting tho not written in a captivating way unlike for example "missing microbes" or lustig's book on sugar which manage to be informative and fascinating and fun to read simultaneously"

"i just wish it had been rather longer its only around 200 pages long and many of these are full of illustrations i would have liked to learn more"

"took me back to my university day when i studied neuropsychology in my third year"

"but if we somehow interfere with the model in other ways then entirely hallucinatory effects can be produced"

"simplistic and naive when it comes to knowing the self like saying we need the light of the moon more than the sun because it is dark at night"

"i expected more in depth info than was possible to present on screen for fear of overloading the viewer because of the fixed pace of a tv show as compared to a reader being able to read at whatever pace they like but this seemed curiously lacking i have the series on dvd "

"i have medical training and did not feel patronised"

"to be honest i haven't actually read 'the brain' but if you look up raymond tallis' 'aping mankind' you'd find out why i don't deem it worth the bother"

"however a few pages in it became apparent that this was definitely not the case"

"well in some ways this book is a cut down version of the series with it seems to me less information being presented compared to the tv show"

"the author also explains phenomena such as brain plasticity how we become who we are and learn new things the problem of consciousness decision making and the concept of free will and the future of neuroscientific technology in this page turning whistle stop tour of our minds producing a book that both educates and stimulates the reader to think more about what exactly is going on in their head"

"so 4 5 may seem a bit unfair but"

"over the last two decades i have probably read about 35 40 and reviewed many of them"

"not david eagleman’s book though"

"as eagleman points out our perception of colour is quite arbitrary"

"each neuron forms electrical bridges with millions of others to produce quadrillions of connections creating a dense and extremely complicated system unique to each individual as the author points out to electronically store one human brain would require an amount of data so gargantuan that it would only just hold all the digital content of the entire planet"

"what a dreadful waste of tax payers money and loss to the nhs when such a caring and conscientious doctor is forced to leave the profession because he cannot face the lack of sleep the ridiculous demands the job makes on his physical and mental health his home life"

"a complete waste of time and money!"

"i would recommend buying do no harm by the neurosurgeon henry marsh instead of this utter tripe"

"i was so disappointed total waste of money"

"it was a huge disappointment badly written poor editing poor content a miserable little book"

"what i didn’t like it was it sometimes demeans the patients pregnant women and having gone through two difficult births i found a man being glib about women’s health pain quite annoying"

"the ruthless exploitation and abuse of medical staff is a total disgrace for which lying greedy politicians of all political parties are to blame"

"could not be posted to amazon i'm very disappointed you have haven chosen not to allow my feed back i feel this is because the of my negativity which is the honest way i've been treated but 0n this occasion honesty is obviously not your best policy !"

"despite that though kay's descriptions had me laughing out loud and whilst i initially found it really irritating having to refer to the footnotes you'll see what i mean these were often the best parts of the book"

"soooo unfunny it's unbelievable"

"absolutely awful"

"so i'd recommend it as a good read but only if read with caution"

"i find the language he uses unnecessarily crude and lazy"

"this book is a true account of how medical professionals are under valued un loved and treated with disrespect by a small minority of society and the catastrophic effect such attitudes have upon these human beings"

"contrived forced humour sad uninteresting antidotes of life as a junior dr"

"i actually found parts of the book quite depressing if i’m honest and some issues made me feel angry especially the injustice of what the author had to endure not just with some difficult and or dumb patients but worse with how he was often taken advantage of by the medical system with the long hours etc"

"the huge amount of explanations also makes for difficult reading of the diary entries having to break off to read the notes"

"this book shows in shocking technicolour the depth of the water junior doctors are thrown into with very little in the way of lifesaving equipment and kay managed to alter the mood deftly in his recounting of events that led to his decision to leave the profession"

"i'm not sure whether that would have had legs for a dinner table moment for him or whether he just thought i was an actual moron"

"it's quite archaic but the nhs has outgrown itself with more high risk cases such as morbid obesity smokers and cases that are pregnant due to advancing technology therefore requiring high input without staffing that goes with these cases"

"nor do i think it's misogynistic just locker room talk which if you sit primly outside as a third party you could get on a hi horse and criticise but in the heat of the day to day is rather insignificant"

"you might think it exaggerated or farfetched but you'd be wrong"

"it's a wonder there aren't more accidents given the horrendous hours they work!"

"lots of unnecessary bad language that had never been mentioned in the reviews did nothing for the book"

"this book clearly shows the overwhelming job doctors have in hospitals portrayed with humour frustration anger and sadness"

"quite a few negative reviewers accuse him of poor crude language"

"but even so seeing it written down in all its awful sleep deprived reality was still shocking"

"i enjoy reading books about life in medicine there’s been several of them recently henry marsh’s excellent books being amongst some that i have read and it’s good that the disclosures in these books about allopathic medicine are there for all to read: plus it seems cathartic for the authors to write about their experiences in medicine some of which are extremely distressing medical cases for which they get no debriefing or counselling and others about how stupid the nhs can be with how its managed"

"the book itself is boring and repetitive"

"it also brings home the huge stretch put on the nhs by absolute idiots who have self inflicted stupid injuries on themselves but who are still seen and treated"

"no idea why the hype about this book unfunny and bland"

"i would like to use one of his expletives myself in this review but fear it would mean a disqualification which is actually what the bma should do with this incompetent"

"drs aren't expected to go off sick get time back owed and expected to just keep on until finishing their job on shift"

"i found it cynical occasionally bordering on misogynist in his horrible descriptions of women and their bodily parts when they are at their most vulnerable gynae detail in the book but perhaps not for a review but describing a womans vagina as a 'tw*t' is one such example "

"the part where adam says the beds were taken away from on call rooms so doctors can’t be seen sleeping on the job made my blood boil!"

"i veered off into general practice and lasted a little longer than he did however in the end successive governments' total lack of anything remotely helpful or supportive finished off my career just the same and with an incredibly heavy heart i threw in the towel in my early 40's"

"i mean why should i be wanting to read about some pathetic person who was never cut out to be a doctor in the first place?"

"i was thoroughly enjoying this book until around the 65% mark on my kindle when his anecdotes started to become a bit boring and repetitive and his tone ever so slightly ‘cocky’"

"i mean what a total idiot"

"dr kay describes a descent into burn out and it is to his credit that he has the courage to get out of the profession when he is unable to laugh anymore rather than to continue to struggle like hundreds of other doctors do ultimatley damaging themselves their family their relationships and their patients"

"too empathetic to the taxing nature of the life and work of a hospital doctor’s incredibly demanding and merciless daily life and the cruel toll it takes"

"after pouring hard decades of your life into the nhs you can enjoy a salary that is nearly as high as what a 26 year old city lawyer or accountant gets and cut back your unpaid overtime to just a couple of hours a day with sunday afternoons for the paperwork"

"a lot of the stories are blatant falsehoods or ripped off from other medical 'diaries"

"some of the stories did have me laughing but the overall impression it leaves is a doctor working hard long hours a job he takes great pride in but in difficult conditions at the limits of his knowledge and strength"

"this book even raised laughs on a very difficult day"

"as funny as this book is the final section will give you a big dose of reality as life as an a+e doctor and bring you back down to earth where the nhs is getting screwed over"

"the fact that it was non fiction made the humour seem tasteless these are real people kaye is writing about and the thought that relatives of his patients could be reading about their vulnerable relatives made me as a health professional myself distinctly uncomfortable"

"he comes across as arrogant uncaring misogynistic with a god complex"

"it should be read by each politician selected to be sos for health although i imagine they would simply pass it to their grossly overpaid advisor for a one paragraph brief"

"i know junior doctors work incredibly hard long thankless hours with little pay to start with and i am so grateful to them i am a qualified nurse so know a little about the workings of hospitals "

"disrespectful inaccurate and offensive"

"plenty of filthy condescending disrespectful songs about patients there too"

"kay does however fill the reader with the impending doom of his rather arbitarily chosen career"

"those young doctors deserve a footballers wage and free housing accommodation!"

"i enjoy reading books about life in medicine there’s been several of them recently henry marsh’s excellent books being amongst some that i have read and it’s good that the disclosures in these books about allopathic medicine are there for all to read: plus it seems cathartic for the authors to write about their experiences in medicine some of which are extremely distressing medical cases for which they get no debriefing or counselling and others about how stupid the nhs can be with how its managed"

"sometimes they’ll say nothing sometimes they might moan sometimes they might cry"

"the situation is now desperately and in many cases life threatening deplorable"

"he describes passing through the grades of sho registrar and senior registrar none of which existed much after the millenium the sr grade having been abolished with disastrous effects by the then cmo calman"

"one was found in bushes beside the car park sound asleep worryingly he had been driving for 30 minutes before getting out of his car and simply sat down and fell asleep"

"the saddest part is how they are treated by other more senior doctors and the management"

"the ruthless exploitation and abuse of medical staff is a total disgrace for which lying greedy politicians of all political parties are to blame"

"it irritated me right from the beginning with its foul language and derogatory tone"

"awful book smattered with totally unnecessary bad language if supposedly written by an intelligent educated person who moans all the time about a profession for which he is obviously unsuited for"

"what a dreadful waste of tax payers money and loss to the nhs when such a caring and conscientious doctor is forced to leave the profession because he cannot face the lack of sleep the ridiculous demands the job makes on his physical and mental health his home life"

"but after reading this book i realise what an insult and slap in the face that comment really was"

"i am not a prude but it was early into the narrative that i found the tone of the book dismissive misogynistic and overall lacking in empathy"

"dr kay is a nasty piece of work"

"the end game a medicosurgical disaster something which doctors at the pointy end of healthcare will experience on a regular basis cruelly knocked him down"

"the prostitute who inserted a child's sponge vaginally to sop up menstrual blood the rich seam of finding humour in the category 'patients who put stupid things into their orifices' has been rather over mined in this book to be honest which has 'been schnitzeled flat by her clients' pummellings over the past three months' nice empathy there doctor"

"you were too hard on yourself but i understand completely"

"i’m glad others in the review section have also come to a disappointing conclusion about this book"

"sections are ‘read out loud to the nearest person’ hilarious the last section is so unrelentingly tragic it quite literally sent me into a full on panic attack"

"but above all it made me very very angry!"

"this is one of the funniest saddest books i've read in a long time drama pathos whatever that means tears and laughter"

"also illuminating and very shocking"

"i work in the public sector and understand that you need to be flexible but the thought that we’re putting junior staff under such stress is very unpalatable"

"on many occasion during the book adam points to “stupidity” his own too negligence ignorance ineptitude and fallibility"

"the last bit is perhaps the most important highlighting the bad distribution of nhs funds with the higher echelons being paid the most for doing the least whilst the staff on the ground working ridiculous hours and being paid such a low wage suffer most and as highlighted in this book eventually throw in the towel and leave"

"so much so that if i’m ever taken to a+e for a life threatening emergency i’d tell my doctor to finish their coffee first"

"the book was very badly written boring in the extreme and not at all funny"

"in the nhs in some situations a gallows humour has to be adopted and i am sure it is the same for all the emergency services"

"definitely gives you a better understanding of the ridiculous hours and unfair responsibility the junior doctors are subject to"

"the book does not hold back on any of the difficulties you need to overcome on a day to day basis or the massive drain it has on your own life and instead of painting a picture of doctors as being beyond human it gives a more realistic view"

"the nhs relies on the goodwill of its staff working past their time usually writing up notes or incident forms that you haven’t had time to do during your shift or swapping their shift due to staff shortages at the last minute relies on them building their own support network instead of giving them the right support to deal with traumatic events that are all too common in the job but no amount of training will ever prepare you for working through their breaks “because the ward is too busy”"

"the 6 month all change rule also makes a complete mockery of the info i am given"

"spoiler alert: the ending is not what you might expect"

"what this has also done is make me even more proud of the nhs and its amazing staff and made me even more irritated by the inability of our government to see that and their inability to fix stuff such as failing systems"

"it irritated me right from the beginning with its foul language and derogatory tone"

"it paints a rather depressing picture of life as a doctor in an inefficient and stretched system"

"also known for his song parodies he was the entertainment at prince harry's 30th birthday adam's decision to leave medicine and go into entertainment full time is explained here and it's a very sad story"

"how they cope with the dangerously long hours on duty and often with huge responsibility prematurely on their shoulders is an eye opener"

"they can be confessional and moving and frequently highlight the crumbling structure of the nhs and the failure of politicians to appreciate the effect of policies they enact"

"i am in awe but equally so angry about the way the national health service is funded run politicised putting not only patients’ lives at risk but the terrible toll it has on the medical profession"

"no only is it eye opening into the life or lack of of our junior doctors and the often ridiculous situations they face it will also make you realise without a doubt that the wellbeing of our healthcare providers is worth fighting for"

"an example that haunted me was that if a baby has died in the womb the mother is still obliged to deliver it in a normal labour ward surrounded by mothers giving birth to healthy living babies how insensitive is that?"

"ever been a duty solicitor in crime and had to spend all night in the cells and be paid a lousy wage"

"read this book and then look yourself in the mirror before nagging the doctor for an unnecessary antibiotic or sticking something not designed for the purpose inside yourself!"

"i'm always very sceptical of books and reviewers that claim a book is 'laugh out loud' funny and probably would have been more swayed by the negative reviews had i not decided to read the first few pages before buying"

"at first i was somewhat irritated by the appearance of forced humour but this quickly gave place to enormous respect and sympathy"

"i wish a little more time had been spent on expanding the entries mainly because their brevity sometimes makes the author seem brash when i don't think it is the case"

"mixed feelings but overall i didn't enjoy it as much as i'd hoped"

"the nhs simply does not look after it's staff and like the doctor in the book both he and i and many other staff have left exhausted and frustrated that we never had sufficient staff the management who know very little about medical matters are running the nhs and telling medical staff how to do their jobs!"

"having experienced our health service quite extensively as a father to a very poorly child this could be seen as a very worrying portrayal of the system you rely on however reading this retrospectively when the dark tunnel of constant fear and worry is behind you it really is quite cathartic"

"to be fair he seems fairly misanthropic generally but i can't help thinking that if you view women as silly vapid and a collection of icky body parts that's not going to make you a wonderful practitioner"

"well written extremely frank description of one young doctors journey to becoming a consultant the long hours the unexpected objects inserted in surprising places the cost to his health physical and mental the kindness the missed sleep the missed parties and the ones he'd wished he'd missed"

"he is rude arrogant condescending hates his job moans about his pay his patients his colleagues etc etc etc"

"" as distressing as infertility clearly is it is hardly the same as a life threatening cancer"

"it also brings home the huge stretch put on the nhs by absolute idiots who have self inflicted stupid injuries on themselves but who are still seen and treated"

"the nhs is on its knees and those in power need a damned wake up call it would do them good to roll their sleeves up and actually work on the wards theatres corridors all areas beside the hard working staff from the lowest paid to highest to see what real hard working people have to cope with on a day to day basis"

"the minister in charge must be aware of this but have a callous disregard for the suffering"

"now jeremy hunt’s inadequacy has been somersaulted by further political manoeuvring brexit & the impending privatisation of this marvellous institution"

"the fault lies with the legions of politicians who have lied and bullied anyone who has tried to highlight the bungling inefficiencies and refusal to accept the need for the health service to be properly funded"

"i've also felt my anger escalate to a very uncomfortable level"

"the main problem i had was the short written record of events and i was left wondering if i was reading a comedy script or a account of life in the nhs"

"i'm afraid i didn't like the author's style and in this instance felt that i wasted my money"

"the human condition in extremis is not to be treated flippantly"

"pointless remarks?"

"billions of our tax money are thrown annually at the service"

"whilst there is a is an overwhelming focus on female medical issues due to the author’s career path this is more than compensated by anecdotes about degloving and the dubious use of candles and fans by foolish males"

"sadly the long working hours and overworked staff continue to cause problems and there doesn't appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel"

"they survive on practically no sleep they never get cover and they have to know every inch of every medical condition they might encounter"

"some of the stories did have me laughing but the overall impression it leaves is a doctor working hard long hours a job he takes great pride in but in difficult conditions at the limits of his knowledge and strength"

"of course this is a book about sick people not just the stupidly injured so there are some moments there where you realise how fragile a human life can be and exactly what the mind and body is or is not capable of"

"for anyone like me who has spent hours and days in a&e or sundry hospital wards it is impossible not to be moved by the excessive demands placed upon our medics at all levels"

"they can be confessional and moving and frequently highlight the crumbling structure of the nhs and the failure of politicians to appreciate the effect of policies they enact"

"from cringe worthy blunt to hurtful honesty"

"not a book just a list of nasty experiences and some awful medical definitions"

"what i didn’t like it was it sometimes demeans the patients pregnant women and having gone through two difficult births i found a man being glib about women’s health pain quite annoying"

"not the reality of ridiculously long hours etc"

"this book reports through six years of “private” diaries the course of adam kay’s career from medical student to senior registrar and the reasons for his ultimate resignation from the national health service"

"eventually the pressure is too much and sadly he resigns from the nhs as a retired doctor i was really able to relate to his struggles and the sense of relentless pressure from the job often without time to eat or do anything else and i think things are worse now than when i was in practice"

"of course this is a book about sick people not just the stupidly injured so there are some moments there where you realise how fragile a human life can be and exactly what the mind and body is or is not capable of"

"sounds like he went into medicine for the wrong reasons and learned the hard way"

"don’t be put off by the intrusion of gallows humour i think most of us needed it as a form of mental insurance!"

"lots of cliche over indulgent self pity"

"you cry through laughter and the cold realisation of the abhorrence of doing the most important job in civilisation as an underrested underpaid under appreciated servent of society"

"the guy illustrates himself as a relentless saviour throughout every page of the book with his stories of self sacrifice and dedication to life but then makes fun of someone for grieving their dog"

"a mockery of the misconceptions of medicine a giggle at some of the silly things people do and say an account of many objects rammed into suspicious places and a personal insight into the experiences of one junior doctor"

"i am a doctor and bought this having seen his show advertised at the edinburgh fringe then being unable to get tickets"

"i fled the nhs 18 years ago and even then it was overstretched and creaking friends tell me how much worse it is now which is heartbreaking to hear"

"i hope the "lay person" can gain a better understanding of the stress of the medical staff before their numerous complaints about front line staff as managers in their offices have no idea of what really matters on the "shop floor" was disappointed when i finished the book a hard act to follow adam kay!"

"there are a few sections where the more squeamish might find it a difficult read"

"it is hardly surprising that this book has been a bestseller in the uk given its warts & all account of life working as a junior doctor in the nhs"

"is the third poorest performer compared to the 18 developed countries on the overall rate at which people die when successful medical care could have saved their lives" 3 "it has consistently higher rates of death for babies at birth or just after perinatal mortality and in the month after birth" it is sad to say but for a number of serious conditions you are less likely to survive when treated by the nhs than if you were treated by an "average" health care system"

"what a shame adam felt he had to stop being a doctor but totally understandable"

"the is the most bitter sweet book i have ever read and if i was prime minister it would be law that everyone reads it"

"my major sadness is that the pressures proved too much for adam he isn’t the only one"

"interestingly in it highlights how hard doctors work also v funny in places asia basically anecdotes about former patients"

"i've shed tears of both laughter and sadness reading this book"

"having been a junior doctor myself i completely identified with all his difficulties exhaustion and emotional commitment and dedication"

"and to the obvious detriment to any personal relationships or families?"

"am not in a medically related field however this book was really insightful as to what it must be like to be a medic and the really difficult decisions medics need to make day to day"

"still other reviewers have taken him to task for his potty mouth and crass humour"

"doctors teachers and so many public service professionals are leaving their "vocations" and this little book gives us an insight into why and why as a nation we should try to arrest the decline"

"a very good book marred by unwarranted low life expletives"

"dr kay with his book has broken this taboo"

"it was a huge disappointment badly written poor editing poor content a miserable little book"

"the writer is simply but tragically burnt out by the extremes of his workload & the book has a very poignant message about the unrealistic demands we place on our hospital doctors"

"this was a book club choice for me as this is womens problems!"

"frighten her to death !"

"i felt quite angry after reading this as it clearly shows the disregard the government has for our medical profession"

"lots of cliche over indulgent self pity"

"however comments like ‘the midwife will run along and do the bloods’ and his endless comments about the stupidity of his colleagues nurses and patients was simply unnecessary"

"i have been the impatient nurse paging an already overstretched junior doctor to come and review a patient prescribe more pain relief or fluids check gent or vanc levels or write a discharge letter as the patient is standing in front of me dressed holding their packed belongings with their angry relative who has come to collect them"

"luckily i do not suffer any pain"

"style lacunae: gaps in the text that does not deal with an important issue and is therefore not effective or convincing "

"but even so seeing it written down in all its awful sleep deprived reality was still shocking"

"if it wasn't for how hard some doctors and nurses work beyond their official working hours the nh s would be in a poorer state then it is now"

"you bang your head against a brick wall trying to get the government to understand i am in education"

"the last bit is perhaps the most important highlighting the bad distribution of nhs funds with the higher echelons being paid the most for doing the least whilst the staff on the ground working ridiculous hours and being paid such a low wage suffer most and as highlighted in this book eventually throw in the towel and leave"

"as a nurse with over forty years experience in neonatal care i was hooked into this book by the 4 star reviews"

"what i didn’t like it was it sometimes demeans the patients pregnant women and having gone through two difficult births i found a man being glib about women’s health pain quite annoying"

"as a fan of amateur transplants and their work as a band i already had a predisposition to enjoy adam kay's work and the book never failed me"

"also why condoms should have a picture warning on the packet"

"the author dr adam kay worked principally in the obstetrics & gynaecology depts of various hospitals & writes of constantly having to deal with one life threatening crisis after another of over long shifts often having to be extended by yet another crisis 10 minutes before he is due to clock off & of the constant constant need for sleep"

"also i wasn’t sure some of the diary entries particularly those which weren’t about work were really true eg the stag do "

"it made me feel guilty about complaining about how hard i work in my flexible part time work that stretches to almost full time and sometimes 7 days a week"

"no only is it eye opening into the life or lack of of our junior doctors and the often ridiculous situations they face it will also make you realise without a doubt that the wellbeing of our healthcare providers is worth fighting for"

"there is an underlying message that the nhs is itself suffering from too much pressure on essential doctors and nurses"

"should read this book and maybe just maybe our wonderful nhs and medical staff would get the funding they deserve"

"examples of the stress experienced by so called “junior doctors” working often unsupported and having to deal with multiple emergencies often at the expense of their personal commitments"

"if anyone is slightly squeamish about that area you might want to give the book a miss"

"if you don't laugh like a drain reading this then your name is probably jeremy hunt"

"there was an underlying tone that i didn't enjoy"

"i synpathise with adam kay and how hard he worked etc etc but the way he tried to put his point across was completely ruined each time because rather than write properly with descriptive adjectives he repeatedly used swear words"

"it must be aweful to be accused of a mistake knowing full well that you were so tired and could hardly stand when this unfortunate error occurred i think in this man's case it was when through a mishap in communication a baby died and very nearly the mother"

"hearing the hype surrounding this book i was very skeptical i was concerned that a dr had turned patients worst moments in to humour to sell a book"

"also if you don't like the use of the "f" word in this book probably not for you and also probably not one to buy your aged aunt unless you want to"

"the contempt for women who ask questions or want options clearly explained to them"

"i was that disaster"

"unless something is done about it there will be no nhs with cheap doctor slavery but i guess this is what the main aim is from the powers that be"

"an nhs already stretched to the limits in terms of staffing will only get worse if we cant support the staff we have"

"what this has also done is make me even more proud of the nhs and its amazing staff and made me even more irritated by the inability of our government to see that and their inability to fix stuff such as failing systems"

"what a dreadful waste of tax payers money and loss to the nhs when such a caring and conscientious doctor is forced to leave the profession because he cannot face the lack of sleep the ridiculous demands the job makes on his physical and mental health his home life"

"i like the unrelenting attachment to the profession and healthy disrespect for ruling politicians and most of all the glimpse into the life of a specialist doctor"

"it's hard to write funny it's hard to write compelling it's hard to write heart breaking unless that is you're adam kay in which case you can apparently just bash out all three while you're working as a doctor"

"dr kay describes a descent into burn out and it is to his credit that he has the courage to get out of the profession when he is unable to laugh anymore rather than to continue to struggle like hundreds of other doctors do ultimatley damaging themselves their family their relationships and their patients"

"this must be an unimaginably traumatic experience for a caring doctor"

"quite a few negative reviewers accuse him of poor crude language"

"my opinion is it’s rubbish"

"waste of time"

"firstly this book should come with a health warning: do not start reading this late at night unless you don't need sleep and secondly if you do read it in bed ensure you are alone as you may end up in hospital when your partner threatens to shove your kindle up your rectum because your constant laughing and snorting is keeping him awake but thankfully having read up all about pr's i felt confident that the junior doctors would be able to remove it if necessary"

"i'm always very sceptical of books and reviewers that claim a book is 'laugh out loud' funny and probably would have been more swayed by the negative reviews had i not decided to read the first few pages before buying"

"sometimes they’ll say nothing sometimes they might moan sometimes they might cry"

"was looking for humour but a bit of a let down for my taste"

"i had very mixed views about this book"

"it was moan moan moan"

"on a more serious note the reality of being a junior dr and the long hours is quite shocking"

"starts off very funny indeed but soon turns into an endless list of boring and repetitive stories about the gynaecology ward"

"i know there is a shortage of both nurses and doctors but my personal opinion is that there is too much hierachy involved in the nhs"

"this book just isn't funny at all and there's too much swearing i it"

"the two parts which will stay with me forever is the description of the lost swab incident yes we do crawl around the floor and delve into the ‘bran tub of doom’ on such an occurrence and the reason for being late out from work almost every single shift"

"it must be aweful to be accused of a mistake knowing full well that you were so tired and could hardly stand when this unfortunate error occurred i think in this man's case it was when through a mishap in communication a baby died and very nearly the mother"

"as a retired member of the medical profession a junior doctor as he was then relies heavily on the nursing staff to keep them right in many aspects of patient care and senior consultants preferences on procedures"

"i am sorry he was unable to carry on"

"i'm a doctor and been through all the same stuff and i must say he sounds quite melodramatic and over the top"

"it doesn't shy away from how negligent quick fixes or plain old accidents might come about i'm not sure i'd have a steady hand after no food or sleep for one day least of all two with a never ending bleep and no rest in sight"

"kay does however fill the reader with the impending doom of his rather arbitarily chosen career"

"the real tragedy is that he's unlikely to be the last"

"working insane hours they are expected to make life or death decisions and be able to function on a level that requires total concentration and commitment"

"i read it really quickly probably won't ever read it again and i've forgotten most of it"

"on the whole though it's a cover to cover whinge about how tough life is as a junior doctor i am sure much the same could be said of junior teachers or junior most things even junior lawyers and how badly the nhs operates again i am sure much the same could be said of most institutionalised professions and maybe this needed to be said by someone to get the attention the nhs needs but kay doesn't offer any solutions or practical advice and it certainly doesn't explain the extraordinary sales figures"

"but it doesn’t stop there once one becomes a consultant the desperation desolation irritation and sometimes rage re appear at regular intervals"

"is the third poorest performer compared to the 18 developed countries on the overall rate at which people die when successful medical care could have saved their lives" 3 "it has consistently higher rates of death for babies at birth or just after perinatal mortality and in the month after birth" it is sad to say but for a number of serious conditions you are less likely to survive when treated by the nhs than if you were treated by an "average" health care system"

"it's probably worth noting that a large part of the book focuses on gynaecology and obstetrics so i imagine it might be too emotionally heavy in parts for people who've had difficulty in either area as a patient"

"there is a political element to this book and given the recent issues that the nhs faces it would have been wrong to ignore these aspects"

"also the level of pastoral care for junior doctors seemed to be totally non existent one hopes that it has changed since the diaries were written but somehow i sadly doubt it"

"he was clearly never cut out to be a doctor he hated every minute of it and is no great loss to medicine"

"i don’t usually read anything remotely to do with human services as i work in them but i happened on this one after a recommendation"

"he's perhaps lucky he chose obstetrics because we can imagine those in a&e or say cardiology face this awful reality far more frequently than an obstetrician"

"having experienced our health service quite extensively as a father to a very poorly child this could be seen as a very worrying portrayal of the system you rely on however reading this retrospectively when the dark tunnel of constant fear and worry is behind you it really is quite cathartic"

"the time framework of the book doesn't ring true"

"i found it cynical occasionally bordering on misogynist in his horrible descriptions of women and their bodily parts when they are at their most vulnerable gynae detail in the book but perhaps not for a review but describing a womans vagina as a 'tw*t' is one such example "

"but do not do what i did and read it while on the bus going to and from work on the way in i was laughing so hard people were giving me funny looks while on the journey home i was an emotional mess after having something in my eye for 20mins *a complete lie"

"this book makes compulsive reading as we follow the ups and downs of adam kay from a medical student to an over worked senior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology"

"whether you're an occasional visitor to hospitals or there far too often you will enjoy it"

"yes there are tragic times"

"having experienced our health service quite extensively as a father to a very poorly child this could be seen as a very worrying portrayal of the system you rely on however reading this retrospectively when the dark tunnel of constant fear and worry is behind you it really is quite cathartic"

"nor do i think it's misogynistic just locker room talk which if you sit primly outside as a third party you could get on a hi horse and criticise but in the heat of the day to day is rather insignificant"

"yes i know the budget is tight but something has to give and sadly it is the patients and those working the frontline that suffer the most"

"some hard hitting and sad stories that will show people what it is really like working in hospital"

"there are definitely a few ‘ouch’ moments and the frequent talk of bodily fluids all the things that can go wrong with the human body and things that people do to themselves for pleasure or vanity might not be for the faint hearted!"

"people who are offended by what he's written need to chill or come up with a alternative to dark humour that helps medical professionals retain their sanity"

"mine certainly is not i became really bored at 25% so abandoned the rest"

"thank god he has left and the way it has been written😫😫😫 quite frankly i am astounded this boring and offensive excause for a book was written by a person of allegedly high intelligence"

"managed to plough my way through 20% before giving up in frustration"

"other reviews have taken a rather less sympathetic approach that his book is essentially a 280 page whineathon"

"other passengers may notice when you get to the bits about human stupidity"

"it's quite archaic but the nhs has outgrown itself with more high risk cases such as morbid obesity smokers and cases that are pregnant due to advancing technology therefore requiring high input without staffing that goes with these cases"

"this is a really funny book but at the same time a very sad reflection of how ridiculously stretched staff at all levels are and how over worked and underpaid they are by the nhs!"

"the unbelievable pressure the people who save lives work under is totally criminal they have no time for a private life no time to relax barely any time to sleep"

"i am a doctor and bought this having seen his show advertised at the edinburgh fringe then being unable to get tickets"

"the lack of public resources and some very sad events"

"having an alternative career as a writer would have helped but the relentlessness of the work so angrily described must have made the decision easier"

"don't get me wrong it's very readable and quite amusing but it got repetitive rather too soon"

"i have also been the nurse on nightshift when things have been the “q” word turning a blind eye as a junior doctor sneaks into the day unit next door for some shut eye because they are exhausted on their 5th night"

"the real tragedy is that he's unlikely to be the last"

"it’s also ugly cry heartbreaking"

"i'm just a little old fashioned where the f word is used so commonly these days everywhere so much that babies will be bungie jumping out of the womb screams 'f who turned the light on'"

"i won’t spoil anything but that part is where your laughter tears change to sad tears"

"his dry sardonic wit literally had me crying with laughter his sarcasm and self depreciating humour and observational comedy was pure gold"

"it left me even more concerned about the nhs and how it’s going to cope with the baby boomers generation growing old"

"an example that haunted me was that if a baby has died in the womb the mother is still obliged to deliver it in a normal labour ward surrounded by mothers giving birth to healthy living babies how insensitive is that?"

"how wrong could i be"

"contrary to their views that the author was arrogant and rude and didn’t care about his patients adam struck me as a great dedicated doctor"

"to be fair he seems fairly misanthropic generally but i can't help thinking that if you view women as silly vapid and a collection of icky body parts that's not going to make you a wonderful practitioner"

"this doctor came across as arrogant and conceited"

"i don't want to get too much into the political side of it as i'd probably write enough to make my own book but a huge change needs to happen and asap before an already dying nhs finally gives up the ghost completely"

"however they did not effectively address the bullying boasting intimidation lack of consideration and nastiness they had to endure because of the consequences to their career"

"what doctors have to deal with on very little sleep the huge responsibilities they have and the decisions they have to make are shocking"

"despite this the brevity does also help in conveying the rush and chaos of the job and how little time there really is to care or show you care as the next emergency beckons tiredness overcomes you and numbs you"

"from the report: 1 "the uk’s nhs performs worse than the average in the treatment of eight out of the 12 most common causes of death" 2 ""

"but this really brings it home in all its falling asleep at the traffic lights brutal reality"

"i agree with most comments that the book is very funny but we should not forget the roots of a bad medical system that allows individual or a group of individuals to fail to apply knowledge if any correctly"

"uproariously funny for the most part but tinged with the frustration that medical staff in the nhs are fighting an uphill and possibly a losing battle in terms of patient satisfaction due to inadequate funds and trained personnel"

"their training is an ongoing baptism by fire during which sadly more and more doctors are moving abroad to countries where they are properly valued properly paid and never asked to work continuously for close to 100 hours"

"we are losing wonderful doctors like this from the profession due to the unbearable intolerable pressure they are put under"

"very accessible for non medics kay provides footnotes to explain procedures and medical jargon throughout the book which can be a bit irritating at times but are also funny in their own right"

"read it in oct 2019 when the whole stupid time and money wasting saga of brexit was in full cry"

"the short sections on cancer are particularly tough"

"life seems to be a tsunami of problems accompanied by sheer exhaustion"

"contrary to their views that the author was arrogant and rude and didn’t care about his patients adam struck me as a great dedicated doctor"

"we should support these doctors more"

"it must be aweful to be accused of a mistake knowing full well that you were so tired and could hardly stand when this unfortunate error occurred i think in this man's case it was when through a mishap in communication a baby died and very nearly the mother"

"it was a huge disappointment badly written poor editing poor content a miserable little book"