Walk on Water

Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit by Michael Ruhlman, is about a breed of surgeons who are passionate about their work, trained to operate when medicine and drugs won't work, and are ruthless in their quest for perfection. This book gives you a harrowing perspective of what it means to be a world-renown surgeon who only operates on the sickest of children and their congenital heart defects. The prolific surgeon is Dr. Roger Mee a New, Zealander who has the best success and survival rates.

He has assembled one of the greatest surgical teams in the world at the Cleveland Clinic. One unique aspect is that Dr. Mee is on salary, so he states he has no monetary incentive to perform unnecessary operations, but he always feels he, along with his surgical staff must give their best to each patient: "Everything's a big deal. Everything's got to be perfect... Because this is a kid, this is your kid. It's not a Yugo here, this is somebody's kid. Nothing is good enough. It's got to be perfect. There's no compromise".

Who Should Read

This is an excellent read for anyone who desires to enter a life-or-death specialty such as pediatric heart surgery. You will learn that the patient always comes first no matter what the hour, your level of fatigue or skill-level. If you desire to be the best in your respective specialty I highly recommend this amazing account of what it truly means to be #1 in the world!