View Katrina's appearances

Reviews for Another Day in the Frontal Lobe:

• "As the tofu comparison suggests, Dr. Firlik likes vivid examples, and she has a gift for translating medical issues into everyday terms..." —New York Times - read full review>>
   
• "This is a book of remarkable breadth, covering the state of the science and the art of the practice, the study of consciousness, personal stories... and the future of cognitive enhancement, transcranial magnetic stimulation and something called 'a brainlift.'" —Los Angeles Times
   
• "It is close to amazing that a surgeon could make her life and her work interesting to a lay readership, but she does, and she does it with wit, with flair—and with sharp writing that never ascends to the out-of-reach level of medicine-speak."
  —Deseret Morning News, Salt Lake City, Utah - read full review>>
   
• "A thoroughly entertaining and candid look at the rarefied world of modern neurosurgery." —Cleveland Plain Dealer
   
• "Not only is Firlik a breezy and engaging writer, she has urgent things to say about the nature of modern medicine and the ethical issues raised in any decision to operate on the brain."
  — O Magazine
   

• "This witty and lucid first book demythologizes a complex medical specialty for those of us who aren't brain surgeons."
  —Publishers Weekly
   

• "A medical rarity -- only five percent of this country's 4000 neurosurgeons are women -- Firlik lets us in on the secrets of her job." —Library Journal
   
• "In her macabre and quirky memoir, Firlik devotes a whole chapter to noggin-busting tools, gushing over a prized cranial drill." —Wired Magazine
   
• "Firlik tells about some of her most dramatic, intriguing and bizarre cases, adding wry asides and imparting a dash of her philosophy." —The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ
   
• [Firlik] writes with candor and a self-deprecating wit that seems untainted by false modesty." —Houston Chronicle
   
• "Broaching topics such as tools, risks, emotion and death, Firlik brings tremendous empathy, passion and a surprising dry wit." —Seed Magazine
   
• ". . . Firlik recounts some of her more wrenching cases. In the process, she demonstrates unusual empathy -- sometimes a rarity in her specialty, one of medicine's toughest . . ."
  —The Washington Post - read full review>>
   
• "'Another Day in the Frontal Lobe' is no ordinary memoir. .  ."
  —The Free Lance-Star - read full review>>
   
• "Her descriptions of her work are original . . ."
  —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
   
• "'Another Day' provides a fascinating look into the oh-so-routine practices brain surgeons face daily."
  —Bookmarks Magazine
   
• "... a friendly, witty, and remarkably candid tour through a brain surgeon's daily life."
  —American Scientist
   
• "For readers curious about cutting-edge brain surgery, the chapters on epilepsy surgery and stereotactic radiosurgery alone are worth the price of the book."
  —Journal of Neurosurgery
   
• "(Firlik) demystifies some of the technical aspects of surgery, while making readers feel like privileged insiders."
  —The Lancet
   
• "A breathless and inspiring perspective on a fascinating field."
  —Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
   
• "Firlik tells a good story. One after another, in fact."
  —Daily News - read full review>>
   
• "Oliver Sacks has company on the bookshelves."
  —The Windsor Star (Canada) - read full review>>

Recognition:

• Another Day in the Frontal Lobe was selected as part of The 78th Annual Exhibition of Books for the Teen Age, 2007, at The New York Public Library
   
• Library Journal selected Another Day in the Frontal Lobe as one of their Best Sci-Tech Books of 2006
   
• Another Day in the Frontal Lobe was ranked as #3 on the Science Best Seller list in the August edition of Discover Magazine.

Book Excerpts/Serials:

• Part Scientist, Part Mechanic, Chicago Tribune, September 21, 2006
• PittMed magazine, Fall 2006
• Cornell Alumni Magazine, July/August 2006
• Scientific American Mind, August 2006

Radio Interviews:

• The Bob Edwards Show, October 26, 2006
• Cover to Cover with Richard Wolinsky, June 29, 2006
• Talk of the Bay with Robert Pollie, June 29, 2006
• Tech Nation with Moira Gunn, June 6, 2006
• The Leonard Lopate Show, NPR, WNYC, May 31, 2006
• Fresh Air with Terry Gross, May 10, 2006
• Forum with Michael Krasny, May 2, 2006

Television Appearances and Commentaries:

• Fox News, June 2, 2008
• Fox Morning Show, Oct. 5, 2007
• CNN Anderson Cooper 360, July 30, 2007
• Fox News, January 26, 2007
• Fox News DaySide, June 6, 2006
• CNN with Lou Dobbs, May 18, 2006
• Fox News Live, May 6, 2006
• Tavis Smiley, Late Night on PBS, May 4, 2006

Print & Online Interviews:

• New Canaan-Darien Magazine, August 2008
• Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Winter 2007
• Greenwich Citizen, September, 7, 2007
• Blender magazine, July, 2007
• Palo Alto Daily News, October 31, 2006
• Part Scientist, Part Mechanic, Chicago Tribune, September 21, 2006
• Cornell Alumni Magazine, July/August 2006
• Sun News, August 24, 2006
• The Hartford Courant, May 28, 2006
• The New Scientist, May 20, 2006
• JobFind.com, July 9, 2006

Book Signings, Readings, & Lectures:

• New: September 25, 2008
  The Idea Festival
  Louisville, Kentucky
  http://www.ideafestival.com
   
• April 24, 2008 - 11:15 am
  American Association of University Women
  Book and Author Luncheon
  Woodway Country Club, Darien, CT
   
• October 30, 2007 - 7:30 pm
  Panel Discussion: "How Surgeons Think"
  Concord Festival of Authors
  Concord, Massachusetts
  www.concordfestivalofauthors.com
   
• June 27, 2007 - 1-2 pm
  Live chat with readers
   
• June 21, 2007 - 7 pm
  Borders
  Braintree, MA
   
• June 19, 2007 - 7:30 pm
  Books & Co.
  Dayton, OH
   
• June 18, 2007 - 7 pm
  Joseph-Beth Booksellers
  Legacy Village
  Cleveland, OH
   
• June 13, 2007 - 7:30 pm
  New Canaan Library/Elm Street Books
  New Canaan, CT
   
• May 24, 2007
  Legg Mason Capital Management
  Book Club lecture and discussion
  Baltimore, MD
   
• April 18, 2007 - 8 pm
  Cornell University
  University Lecture
  Statler Auditorium
  Ithaca, New York
   
• October 12, 2006 - 7 pm
  YWCA Greenwich
   
• September 23, 2006 - 2 pm
  Borders
  14 Danbury Rd
  Wilton, CT
   
• June 5, 2006 - 7 pm
  Barnes & Noble
  2289 Broadway at 82nd Street
  New York, NY

Advance praise for Another Day in the Frontal Lobe:

• “Katrina Firlik is one of those rare individuals who have graciously opened the door to the secretive life of a brain surgeon. She is at once engaging and incredibly informed. Her stories will make you laugh out loud and cry in silence as you see patients through the eyes of a brain surgeon. You will read this book and immediately want to call your best friends and tell them about it.” —Sanjay Gupta, M.D., staff neurosurgeon, Emory Clinic, and senior medical correspondent, CNN and Time
   
• “Firlik writes with a surgical attention to detail and a literary eye for style. She proves to us that fact can, indeed, be stranger than fiction -- and every bit as entertaining!” —Tess Gerritsen, author of Body Double
   
• “At times funny, at times wrenching, and utterly intriguing throughout, this is partly the story of how a neurosurgeon is made and partly something more. Katrina Firlik’s engaging tale gives us all a chance to peer into heads alongside her, and to grasp how it is that ordinary human beings can do this extraordinary work.” —Atul Gawande, M.D., author of Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science
   
• “With openness, simplicity, and candor, Dr. Katrina Firlik demystifies neurosurgery for the layperson. The reader shares her fulfillment in saving a life, smells the human bone dust coming off a drill, and tastes the black humor that allows neurosurgeons to face the stress of their patients’ diseases. Neatly done with unprecedented clarity.” —Dennis Spencer, M.D., Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery, chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, Yale University School of Medicine

Other Writing

• A Messy Art: Managing the Fiddle Factor in Brain Surgery, Technology Review, Jul/Aug 2008.  
   
• TB or Not To Be. Op Ed, The Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2006