'Matt Morgan is an engaging, honest and perceptive doctor who has managed to pack an awful lot into his career. This book promises to offer a real insight into an area of life and death medicine that many of us will have seen dramatised on television.’

– Dr Michael Mosley, bestselling author of The Fast Diet, The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet and The Clever Guts Diet

'Matt Morgan writes beautifully and movingly about the edges of life. Through vivid encounters and pitch-perfect insights, he shines a light on the human experience at the frontiers of healthcare.'

– Ganesh Suntharalingam, President, Intensive Care Society

‘A very special book filled with stories of survival, hope and loss.'

– Adam Kay, author of the best-selling book This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

‘I loved it. So carefully written and obviously as a doctor, I could totally get behind the stories of Gram and the origin of ICU, but the patients…just so touching. I love the exploration of what it means to survive, at what cost and so on. A lovely book.’

– Dr Nikki Stamp FRACS, Cardiothoracic and Transplant Surgeon and author of Can You Die of a Broken Heart? A Heart Surgeon's Insight Into What Makes Us Tick

‘A gripping realism of life in intensive care that reminds us how fragile is life. Written with humility and insight this is an intriguing glimpse into a world of life-saving decisions. It is life affirming and hugely reassuring.’

– Professor Dame Sue Black, author of All That Remains: A Life in Death

‘This book is marvellous: buy it, share it, recommend it....We are fortunate to have dedicated, caring and humble folks such as Doc Morgan on the Critical Care front line. We are even better off when a writer can capture all that this exciting, mad, glorious and even exasperating job means. If you work in healthcare, know somebody that does, or simply inhabit a body then this book is for you: in fact it's critical.’

– Peter Brindley MD FRCP Can FRCP Edin FRCP Lond, Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Anesthesiology, Medical Ethics, University of Alberta

'Compassionate and moving… Morgan provides a rich array of stories and characters. Alongside the cases studies, he details the development of the medical practices and technology – from the iron lung to ultrasound – that have helped make such life-saving procedures possible.'

– The Observer

‘An illuminating, compassionate insight into the fascinating world of intensive care.’

– Leah Hazzard, author of Hard Pushed