Overview

"Another ""pitch-perfect book of short essays"" (New York Times Book Review) from the acclaimed author of Blood of Strangers, this one exploring the contemporary practice of medicine from the perspective of a doctor with 25 years of experience in the ER. In the late 1990s, a young physician in Albuquerque, New Mexico, published a stunning memoir of his experiences in the highly charged world of the ER. Presented in a series of powerful, poetic vignettes, The Blood of Strangers became an instant classic. Now, over two decades later, Dr. Frank Huyler delivers another dispatch from the trenches--this time from the perspective of middle age. In portraits visceral, haunting, sometimes surreal, Huyler reveals the gritty reality of medicine practiced on the razor's edge between life and death. From the doomed, like the Iraq vet with a brain full of shrapnel, to the self-destructive, like the young woman who inserts a sewing needle into her heart, to the transcendent, like the homeless Navajo artist whose sketches charm the nurses, Huyler assembles a profound mosaic of human suffering and grace, complemented by episodes from his personal life: the hail that fell the night his wife gave birth, his drive through a snowstorm to see his father in a Colorado ER, the beautiful wedding of his childhood friend with terminal cancer. Melding hard-earned wisdom with a poet's crystalline vision, Huyler evokes the awesome burden of responsibility, the exhaustion, the relief of a costume disco nurse party, and those rare occasions when the confluence of luck and science yield, in the author's words, ""moments of breathtaking greatness."" White Hot Light offers an unforgettable portrait of a field that illuminates society at its most vulnerable, and its most elemental."

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9781094170152

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Reviews

Haunting...instantly grabs readers' attention...Huyler's compassionate perspective and gripping stories result in a memorable account of the life he leads and the patients he sees and sometimes saves. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Moving...What characterizes each of these miniatures is the candor in which they are offered and their authenticity. -- San Francisco Chronicle Tales from the emergency room, told with no-nonsense brevity, clarity, and compassion. In this long-awaited follow-up to The Blood of Strangers, Huyler returns with more interesting, largely stand-alone stories from his work in an ER in Albuquerque...The title aptly describes the illumination Huyler brings to patient care--and to writing about it. -- Kirkus Reviews

Tales from the emergency room, told with no-nonsense brevity, clarity, and compassion. In this long-awaited follow-up to The Blood of Strangers, Huyler returns with more interesting, largely stand-alone stories from his work in an ER in Albuquerque...The title aptly describes the illumination Huyler brings to patient care--and to writing about it. -- Kirkus Reviews Moving...What characterizes each of these miniatures is the candor in which they are offered and their authenticity. -- San Francisco Chronicle Haunting...instantly grabs readers' attention...Huyler's compassionate perspective and gripping stories result in a memorable account of the life he leads and the patients he sees and sometimes saves. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Author Information

An emergency physician in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Frank Huyler is the author of the essay collection The Blood of Strangers as well as the novel The Laws of Invisible Things. He grew up in Iran, Brazil, and Japan. Gary Bennett is a SAG-AFTRA audiobook narrator. He was born and raised in California and then in Bozeman, Montana, and is the oldest of four children. He now calls the greater Seattle area his home, and he's a huge fan of the Seattle Seahawks. Gary has always been passionate about not just telling a story, but telling it well. From reading bedtime stories with his children to performing in front of the microphone, bringing a story to life is one of his greatest joys. Gary has pursued his career in audiobook narration with zeal, continuing to not only invest in personal coaching from some of the best in the industry, but also investing in some of the best equipment for his professional home-based studio. There are few things he enjoys more than stepping into his StudioBricks home studio and recording his favorite books. Gary is also a licensed electrical engineer and a private pilot. He loves watching and participating in sports and listening to and playing music, and is an avid outdoor enthusiast.

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