Gifted Hands

What Gifted Hands is about

Ben Carson tells his own story here, with writing help from Cecil Murphey. He begins in a poor Detroit neighborhood, where his mother Sonya raises him and his brother Curtis on her own after their father leaves. Money is tight, and she faces mental health troubles of her own. Young Ben does badly at school and has a temper that gets him into trouble. The turn comes when he commits to his studies, earns top marks and wins a place in Yale's premed program.

The account follows him on through college, where he meets his future wife, Candy Rustin, and into medical school and a neurosurgery residency at Johns Hopkins. It covers his rise to the post of youngest director of pediatric neurosurgery there, a landmark 1987 operation to separate conjoined twins, and his work on hemispherectomy. It is an earnest, faith-centered story in which Ben, raised by his mother Sonya in inner-city Detroit, goes from failing grades to a career as a pediatric neurosurgeon, relying on trust in God. A 2009 film adaptation followed.

Questions about Gifted Hands

When was Gifted Hands published?

Gifted Hands by Ben Carson was first published in 1990.

Was Gifted Hands one of the best books of 1990?

Gifted Hands is #11 on BookWard's Best Books of 1990, out of 39 1990 books that cleared our data bar. 286 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.4 out of 5 (16 ratings); 30 are reading it right now.

Why is Gifted Hands on the Best Books of 1990 list?

286 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.4 out of 5 (16 ratings); 30 are reading it right now.

More of the best books of 1990

• Good Omens Terry Pratchett, #1
• Jurassic Park Michael Crichton, #2
• The Eye of the World Robert Jordan, #3
• The Witching Hour Anne Rice, #4
• Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, #5
• The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien, #6

See the full Best Books of 1990, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.