It's a pretty honest book if less exciting than the first book and a step down, but one thing it has going for it is honesty and Mr. Marsh (Surgeons being Mr. in England) delivers it pretty well. There's a pretty memorable section in there about him being a 3rd year resident and being unable to talk to him about approaching death particularly with enterocutaneous fistulae and the room smelling like feces. If you don't know what that is, enterocutaneous fistulae are connections between the bowel and the skin which can occur with poorly healing bowel anastomoses. One skill after reading this as a medical student, to the extent that it can be called one that I've gained is the ability to retain a neutral straight face no matter how rotten the air smells of death or how poor someone's prognosis is, and for that development I have to thank this book.