Przybylo, Henry Jay. Counting Backwards: A Doctor’s Notes on Anesthesia. Norton. Sept. 2017. 256p. notes. ISBN 9780393254433. $25.95. SCI Przybylo (anesthesiology, Northwestern Univ.) offers a stirring account of his 30-year career as an anesthesiologist. He tells tales of the first person he ever anesthetized, his experience of working on a baby gorilla, and the time he wasn’t allowed to perform anesthesiology on his own son, all interspersed with the history of anesthesiology and the trials and tribulations its early practitioners encountered. Przybylo also goes through his daily process of administering anesthesia and gives amusing and heartfelt anecdotes of his successes and failures. His passion for his work is felt through his stories, and while his admitted quest for absolute perfection may come off as arrogant to some, Przybylo ultimately allows readers a rare peek into the world of one of the more underrated and mysterious procedures in modern medicine. VERDICT Medical students will appreciate ­Przybylo’s enthusiasm, and casual readers will find his description of his line of work engaging and educational. A solid addition to any nonfiction shelf.—Tyler Hixson, Brooklyn P. L. Lewis, Cherry. The Enlightened Mr. Parkinson: The Pioneering Life of a Forgotten Surgeon. Pegasus. Aug. 2017. 320p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781681774541. $27.95; ebk. ISBN 9781681774954. SCI One might think that a biography of James Parkinson, the man for whom Parkinson’s disease is named (owing to an essay he wrote in 1817 describing the symptoms of what he called “the shaking palsy”), would focus largely on the condition itself. In fact, the majority of Lewis’s (Honorary Research Fellow, Univ. of ­Bristol, UK; The Dating Game: One Man’s Search for the Age of the Earth) biography concerns the many significant scientific and medical contributions Parkinson made in other areas during the early 19th century. For example, Parkinson’s three-volume Organic Remains of a Former World cataloged 700 fossils and was the first of its kind, formally launching the field of British paleontology. Following a linear chronology, this accessible title illuminates the life of this largely unknown doctor. Though Parkinson had a medical practice in the British village of Hoxton, he also pursued many other interests. After a brief stint advocating for parliamentary reform (these efforts almost landed him in prison when he was accused of plotting to overthrow George III), he turned to other endeavors, such as working to improve the conditions of paupers and child laborers. Parkinson was active in efforts to vaccinate against smallpox and conceived of the best way to treat victims of typhus. VERDICT Recommended for medical historians and those who love biographies (particularly those of important yet largely forgotten figures).—Ragan O’Malley, Saint Ann’s Sch., Brooklyn