Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs: The Making of a Surgeon - Softcover

"Collins's gritty memoir traces his journey from a grimy construction pit to the hallowed halls of medicine. An engaging read--and a valuable reminder that doctors come from all walks of life." --Sandeep Jauhar, author of Intern: A Doctor's Initiation

"Collins has a poet's soul, whether describing the sunrise through a laborer's eyes or what it means to be human through a physician's. . . . Literary talent produces this fast-paced memoir filled with easy, unforced dialogue and authentic characters from all walks of life." --Booklist

"Collins has a superb ear for dialogue, and his breezy style makes his world spring to life." --Kirkus Reviews

"This is a perceptive, no-frills memoir of a surgeon who succeeded by dint of hard work and brains." --Publishers Weekly

"Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs is a gripping, humane, humorous, and an enlightening read." --Abraham Verghese, author of My Own Country, The Tennis Partner, and Cutting for Stone

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.

In his acclaimed first memoir, Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Collins wrote passionately about his four-year surgical residency at the prestigious Mayo Clinic. Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs 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.