Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs: The Making of a Surgeon

<p>It looked for a while as if Michael Collins would spend his life breaking concrete and throwing rocks for the Vittorio Scalese Construction Company. He liked the work and he liked the pay. But a chance remark by one of his coworkers made him realize that he wanted to involve himself in something bigger, something more meaningful than crushing rocks and drinking beer. <br><br>In his acclaimed first memoir, <i>Hot Lights, Cold Steel</i><i>,</i> Collins wrote passionately about his four-year surgical residency at the prestigious Mayo Clinic. <i>Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs </i>turns back the clock, taking readers from his days as a construction worker to his entry into medical school, expertly infusing his journey to become a doctor with humanity, compassion, and humor. From the first time he delivers a baby to being surrounded by death and pain on a daily basis, Collins compellingly writes about how medicine makes him confront, in a very deep and personal way, the nature of God and suffering—and how delicate life can be.</p>