Why do doctors sometimes see the world through such a narrow lens? Why do we sometimes struggle to see the things through the eyes of our patients? In large part, it’s a natural result of the way that we’re formed and trained.
In my first book, The Human Remains: Drawing out compassion in medicine, I use 256 fully illustrated (by myself) comic pages to tell the story of my own journey through medical school, residency, and into life as a practicing physician, sharing the ways that the science of medicine shaped (and sometimes mis-shaped) the way I saw the world around me. Through the lens of anatomical dissection, I explain how medicine taught me to break a human being down into myriad parts — how to dissect, diagnose, and intervene — but sometimes failed to teach me how to put a patient back together again. I explain how it wasn’t until I stumbled into the field of palliative medicine that I learned how to start piecing patient’s story back into the world of medicine.
The Human Remans will be released in November 2026 with Penn State University Press’ Graphic Mundi Imprint. You can pre-order it through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, and others, or (my favorite option) ask your local bookshop to find it for you!
Early Praise
“What an extraordinary book! Nathan Gray’s drawings and narration convey fathoms of feelings. The Human Remains is insightful, vulnerable, and moving. Gray draws us into his life as a medical student. His artistic perspective poignantly illustrates the entwined visceral, moral, and emotional experiences of his medical training. Few physician writers have conveyed the combined angst and exhilaration of medical training as candidly and powerfully as Gray. In palliative care Gray found a salve to soften the calluses that had grown to encase his empathy and vulnerability.”
―Ira Byock, MD, palliative care physician and author of Dying Well and The Best Care Possible
“The Human Remains is a powerful and beautifully drawn graphic memoir. Nathan Gray skillfully renders our medical culture with clarity, humor and compassion. A potent reminder that by giving form to our collective experience, we also heal.”
―Dr. Rana Awdish, author of In Shock and After Shock
“An unflinching look at a life in medicine, inside out―sometimes disturbing, sometimes cynical, but compassionate and human in greater measure.”
―Kay Sohini, author of This Beautiful, Ridiculous City: A Graphic Memoir
“Gray reminds us not only that doctors are human but that patients are, too. Authoritative, insightful, compassionate, and a powerful contribution to graphic medicine.”
―Brian Fies, author of Mom’s Cancer
The Ink Vessel 