A Doctor in the House: My Life with Ben Carson

We just got the book yesterday and we have already read it all the way through! It is a great story of a life well lived and you can't put the book down once you get started. It is a great insight into an already great view from the outside of a family that cares deeply about the direction our nation is going. We will be watching to see the outcome of the coming election events and we are hopeful that a man of this character will go in to the White House. It is a very refreshing and in some case humorous content of their life together. I hope this book will go far as it is WELL WORTH reading more than once! I am very excited to see a man and woman moving forward to stand for truth though the heavens fall. God bless you! Connie from North Carolina

I have been following this family since Ben's books became available on Kindle. His life was not one of "easy going", rather determination and dedication by both Ben and his mother. Cindy's book shares their beginnings and life stories which continue today. You will receive many hours of blessings, telling about their devotion to God, each other, family, many, friends and associates. Their generosity in sharing with others should be an inspiration to others. Their success was earned, not something given to them. Their 3 sons are following in their footsteps.

What a wonderful book! I have been following Dr. Ben Carson's career ever since the prayer breakfast. His wife, Candy, did a great job on this book! It's so great to see their life through her eyes! I highly recommend this book.

An open and honest reflection of the life the Carsons have lived, eritten with a refreshing humility. There is clear indication that Dr. Carson and Candy are deeply committed to the values they espouse. Also evident is the passion they have pursued with every "call" they were given. They have and continue to be a blessing to not only their generation but are paving the way for those blessings to continue for generations to come.

Excellent heartfelt description from the wife of a very special doctor. These are real people living the same
everyday life we all are just with a little different kind of job and its exciting to see from the inside...

A delightful light read offering an inside look into the everyday life of the Carson family, past and present. Written primarily by
Candy Carson, the book has extra "female" appeal. A must read for those interested in learning more about the remarkable
Carson family.

Got the book as a Christmas present and it arrived yesterday, and once I started it I could not put it down. Well written, inspirational, and filled with warmth, humor, and compassion. The Carsons are amazing people, yet their humility and decency are obvious. A great great book on life ! I think that they will excel at anything into which they put their efforts. Glad they are willing to work to help our country.

So glad Candy wrote her story -- thus far. When she first met Ben at Yale, it's as if she's Anne of Green Gables. Gilbert's teasing her and she doesn't know why, in fact, she's quite irritated by it. But Candy continues to go to church with Ben, and she describes how her faith blossoms (in just two remarkably simple sentences), and how her heart melts when she confronts Ben about all the attention he's giving her.

This book is a must read, and hopefully there'll be sequel: A Doctor in the White House.

This is an amazing story including the scene where Candy gives birth by the toilet, Ben doesn't need to come until until the baby is practically out (if it was Scotty in Star Trek, he'd say "Dammit Jim, I'm a neurosurgeon, not an obstretician!). Ben then need to get something to clamp the chord, so Candy (who just gave birth runs up and down stairs (presumably while attached to the baby) to find something to use - ultimately a bobby pin - to clamp the chord. I'm not exactly sure how Candy can run up and down stairs, whether she was still attached to the baby while doing so, and how that would have worked, why Ben didn't just have her hold the baby while HE ran upstairs instead of hers. Anyway, I can't wait to see how it ends.

A warm, reflective, honest and loving look at a lifetime of togetherness with one of the most widely respected and beloved men. One who has touched so many people and saved the most vulnerable and fragile of young souls from certain death. It is a celebration of life, and the many lessons learned while holding hands with your partner, walking & weathering the storms of life, good & bad.

There are books that make for some really tiresome reads, and Candy Carson’s A Doctor in the House: My Life with Ben Carson (Sentinel, 2016) needs to be added to the list. The author, wife of famed neurosurgeon Ben Carson, can’t mask her unspoken intent of garnering support for her husband’s shot at becoming the next President of the United States. But rather than providing an insider’s perspective of the man’s life, with all its ups and downs, Carson appears to subscribe to the belief that, during a job interview, it’s best to recast one’s weaknesses – and even mundaneness – as strengths.

From the very first page to the last, the doctor is genius and a miracle worker. And when there’s anything that might be construed as otherwise, Carson is quick to put a positive spin on it. The doctor is a calm and cool “hero” when he steps aside to let a robber hold up a fast-food joint. He “comes through” for her when he catches the baby and placenta during an emergency homebirth and then sends her off to find something with which to clamp the umbilical cord. I could go on, but I’ve got a headache.

The point is that it’s rather boring to read two hundred pages of a doting wife’s…doting. Yes, the doctor has been a vanguard in neuroscience, and that’s amazing. But I think most readers are interested in reading about a real person, not a constructed flawless superhuman. My only recommendation is to leave Candy Carson’s book to its proper place. Her grandchildren can cherish it as a hodgepodge collection of stories about their grandparents’ lives, accompanied by written endorsements from their colleagues and children. Future (real) biographers can use it as a source of information probably not available elsewhere. To everyone else I recommend leaving it on the self.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book as a First Reads giveaway winner on GoodReads.com. There was no obligation to write a review.

I got this book for Christmas, and it arrived just in time on January 6! (We follow Eastern Orthodox tradition and celebrate Christmas on January 7.) I just couldn't put the book down and finished it in one sitting! (Ok, ok, ... I admit it! I did take a couple of restroom breaks, and I had to take some time off to call the cops to have my wife arrested since she tried to snatch the book away from me, asking me to clean up around the Christmas tree, but what I am trying to say is I did read the book from cover to cover within about a couple of hours.) There are so many truly amazing things in the book about Dr Carson that really should have been included in newer editions of Gifted Hands. I don't know why they weren't; so I am happy that Candy Carson decided to write a book.

The anecdote about the birth of BJ is simply astounding. It would really have been nice if Candy had included a photograph of Dr Carson holding the baby in one hand and the placenta in the other! But I guess Candy had barely enough time to run up and down the stairs looking for something to cut the umbilical cord. (I assume that she wasn't overweight as she is now. Otherwise it would have been really hard on her. But she is clearly a resourceful woman, like the doctor!) My gynecologist friend tells me that it is really important to quickly clean the baby and wrap it in a towel to keep the body warm and to gently massage the baby. Or, something like that. I guess she (the gynecologist, that is) knows what she is talking about. Ben must have found a way to do this while holding the placenta in the other hand! Ben's mom was also apparently in the house and was running around with Candy, instead of asking Candy to stay with Ben and the baby while she (Ben's mom) volunteered to look for something to cut the umbilical cord. Or, she could have helped Ben, instead of frantically running around with Candy. Maybe she did come back to help Ben. It is not quite clear. Maybe the second edition of the book can fill in more details.

The story about Ben's heroic - and successful - attempt to stop the carjacking is also incredible! What bravery! Ben must have been able to run "faster than a speeding bullet" (at least, faster than a speeding Jaguar)! (This is a clue to Ben's real identity! See my closing comment below.) Again, I wish Candy had included at least one of the pictures the carjackers took with Dr Carson. Maybe the carjackers forgot to send copies to Ben. After all, they are thieves (with good taste! They were trying to steal a Jaguar!); they are only used to taking -- not giving. Besides, they probably have long criminal records for previous crimes; perhaps even outstanding warrants for arrest. So they probably didn't want to leave behind anything that would identify them. By the way, what I don't understand is why Ben left the car key in the car when he went to pay for the gas, especially since Candy says that the gas station was in a less-than-safe neighborhood (and Ben's car was a Jaguar). Well, I guess he is only a brain surgeon, and, contrary to popular misconception, brain surgeons are not necessarily brainy, as Ben has been good enough demonstrate many times. The only important thing for brain surgeons to know is where the brain is in the human body (usually in the head area) so that they know where to cut for doing brain surgery. (Ben used to think, before medical school, that the brain was in the waist area, near the groin, but then he realized that the patient's belt buckle would get in the way when one tries incision.) Anyway, maybe another possible reason why Ben left the car key in the ignition is that he is a very trusting and honest fellow (read his Gifted Hands). So he probably thought that everybody was like him, honest and looking for a More Perfect Union (or that everybody drives Jaguars and so would have no inclination to steal other people's Jaguars). I am afraid that we have to wait for the second edition of Candy's book to get additional details. Or, we may have to wait for the sequel to the movie about his life story. Let us be patient; there is enough to chew on in Candy's book for the moment.

Finally, the ending of the book, where Dr Carson's true identity is revealed, was, however, a bit anticlimactic, since by the time one is in the second chapter it is clear that Dr Carson is actually Clark Kent from Kansas. This is the main reason I am only giving the book a one-star rating.

I am truly looking forward to the sequel, with newly discovered superpowers of Dr Ben Carson!