An easy read with loads of information on how drugs work in anaesthesia and what may or may not
happen. Very very interesting but would not recommend if you are about to have any surgery.

4.5 stars

Anaesthesia is the second book by Australian journalist and author, Kate Cole-Adams. This book explores what happens when we go under. The impetus to write it came when Cole-Adams heard the story of a woman who went under for a caesarean birth. Except she didn’t. Go under, that is.

During her exploration of this intriguing topic, Cole-Adams looks at consciousness and unconsciousness, at hypnosis, at amnesia, at hallucinations and dreams, at awareness, at explicit and implicit memories. She looks at the effects of the different types of anaesthetic drugs used. Apart from asking the obvious questions such as “what is consciousness?” and “how does an anaesthetic work?”, she poses the ethical conundrum “Is it acceptable for the patient to be awake during surgery, paralysed and perhaps, even probably in pain, if they don’t recall it afterwards?” What might the psychological, emotional and physiological impact of that be?

The many years of research that Cole-Adams has done on her topic is apparent on every page, and evidenced by sixteen pages of notes on the chapters (references), thirteen pages of sources and eight pages of comprehensive index. And while she includes a wealth of information, her background in journalism allows her to present it all in a form that is easily digestible even by those with only the most basic medical knowledge.

As well as talking to many, many anaesthetists, attending conferences and doing extensive reading, Cole-Adams shares her own experiences and those of family, friends, acquaintances, work colleagues and total strangers, in first-hand accounts and stories told second- or third-hand. The impression she gets is that is it much an art as a science.

This is a must-read book, not just for those who have undergone or will undergo anaesthesia, but for anaesthetists and any staff working in operating theatres and in the pre-op or post-op situation, for whom the overriding lesson might be “Always assume your patient can hear what you are saying about them”. This is an utterly fascinating read.