Harvard neurosurgeon wins Nautilus Book Award for The Scalpel and the Soul

PR Log (Press Release) – May 04, 2009 – Allan Hamilton, MD, a Harvard-trained neurosurgeon, has received the prestigious 2009 Silver Nautilus Book Award for his inspiring and groundbreaking book, THE SCALPEL AND THE  SOUL: Encounters with Surgery, the Supernatural and the Healing Power of Hope, published by Tarcher/Penguin. Dr. Hamilton stepped across medical conventions when he decided to pen a book about his patients’ spiritual experiences, a taboo topic for many physicians. Fortunately for anyone suffering from cancer or chronic illness, or wearing the hat of caregiver, Dr. Hamilton had the courage to share his moving and insightful stories. In so doing, he offers a large dose of hope to all readers.

The Nautilus Book Awards were conceived to recognize and reward world-changing books. The winners and finalists are carefully selected in a three-tier judging process by an experienced team of book reviewers, librarians, authors, editors, bookstore owners, and leaders in the publishing industry. Previous recipients include Andrew Weil, MD, Deepak Chopra, MD, Barbara Kingsolver, His Holiness the Dali Lama, and Eckhart Tolle.

In his thirty years of treating patients—many with malignant brain tumors—Dr. Hamilton encountered many strange events that medical science couldn’t explain.  Not just uncanny coincidences, but near-death experiences, visions, and premonitions.  His colleagues admitted to him privately that they’d had similar experiences, but weren’t comfortable revealing them to most people.  Doctors are trained to disregard the inexplicable and the unbelievable, and anyone who talks publicly about such things risks damaging their credibility.

THE SCALPEL AND THE SOUL validates the spiritual manifestations physicians see everyday, and explores how premonition, superstition, hope, and faith not only affect how patients feel but can also change outcomes. Dr. Hamilton empowers patients to voice their spiritual needs when they seek medical help, and includes an appendix of “twenty rules to live by”—practical, hard-won advice for patients or their loved ones on how to navigate through surgery or critical care.  

As Bernie Siegel, author of Help Me to Heal and Prescriptions for Living MD, writes, "THE SCALPEL AND THE SOUL is a moving account of what can happen when a doctor opens his heart and his eyes to life’s spiritual lessons and to the mystery that thrives amidst the terror and trauma of life-threatening illness. This book will be appreciated by everyone who reads it, because we are the same at both ends of the scalpel.”

After beginning his working life as a janitor, Allan J. Hamilton, M.D., FACS, went on to attend Harvard Medical School and become the chief of neurosurgery and chairman of the department of Surgery at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center.  He is a script consultant in neurosurgery for Grey’s Anatomy, and lives outside of Tucson, Arizona. For more information, visit www.allanhamilton.com

The Nautilus Book Awards are administered by Marilyn McGuire & Associates, Inc. of Eastsound, WA, in association with Independent Publisher Online of Traverse City, MI.