This message comes from NPR.
Sponsor Shipbob the holidays start earlier every year, so get your store in Shipshape now.
With Shipbob, they'll handle fulfillment, provide key metrics and more.
Get a free quote@shipbob.com.
shipbob this is FRESH AIR.
I'm Terry gross.
As a neurosurgeon, my guest's tools include special saws and drills to open a patient's skull.
But he also uses very high tech imaging as well as laser and computer technology that have transformed the field and can offer an alternative to opening the skull.
Doctor Theodore Schwartz has spent nearly 30 years operating on people with neurological illnesses.
A lot has changed in that time.
He helped develop minimally invasive surgical techniques.
In his new book, Gray, a biography of Brain surgery, he writes about the past, present and future of brain surgery.
He says brain surgery has also contributed to our understanding of the human mind, the existence of the self, and our illusions about being in control of our actions.
Doctor Schwartz is an attending neurological surgeon and professor of neurological surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine.
If this kind of talk about brain surgery makes you squeamish, this interview might not be for you.
Doctor Schwartz, welcome to Fresh Air.
The book is really fascinating.
I just want to start by asking you, right, that being a neurosurgeon is a dirty occupation.
Really dirty, like a mechanic whose coveralls get covered in grease and grime.
We often leave the or covered in blood, betadine and bits of brain.