📚 Friday greetings to all book lovers! "Book Compass" is our special рубрика‑guide through the world of literature: here we help you not to get lost among thousands of stories and find those very books that resonate in your heart, make you think, or simply give you a cozy evening. Today, “Book Compass” is in the hands of Lyudmila Viktorovna Sidorova, Head of the Scientific Library. 🗣 “There are books that don’t just tell a story — they convey the pulse of an era, the breath of a profession, and the strength of human character. These are the kinds of works left behind by Georgy Alexandrovich Margolin (1933–2020), a neurosurgeon, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, and Honorary Doctor of the Northern State Medical University (NSMU). His name is firmly etched in the history of medicine, but not everyone knows that behind his rigorous scientific works lies a rare gift as a storyteller. Margolin’s autobiographical novellas are more than just memoirs. They are an honest conversation about what shapes a doctor’s destiny. In the trilogy, which begins with the novella The Seagulls Are Born by the Sea and continues with The Golden Millstones and The Quest for Knowledge, the author guides the reader through the key milestones of his life: from a childhood scarred by war, through his student years at the Arkhangelsk State Medical Institute (AGMI), to his first independent steps in the profession. The Golden Millstones opens a window onto student life in the 1950s — a time when studying was not just about acquiring knowledge, but also a school of character. These pages capture the atmosphere of the era: austere lecture halls, late‑night exam preparations, genuine passion for the work, and that particular sense of responsibility that rests on the shoulders of future doctors from the very first days. And in The Quest for Knowledge, this responsibility takes on real shape. Right after graduation, the young surgeon is sent to a small district hospital in the Komi ASSR — a place where there’s no opportunity to consult an experienced colleague, and the cost of a mistake is a human life. Georgy Alexandrovich doesn’t sugarcoat this experience: he speaks honestly about fear, doubt, and the weight of his first independent surgeries. At the same time, he also writes about that very feeling of triumph that comes when you manage to defeat a disease. The final lines of the novella resonate especially strongly: “This combination of acute risk and the satisfaction of victory over death itself is an incomparable sensation. It’s a pity for those who have never experienced it. Yes, I have no real home, my salary is meager, and my family life is unsettled — but all of this is trivial compared to what I’ve just been through. And even if the sky falls to the earth, I will remain a surgeon!” In these words lies the very essence of the profession: a calling that is stronger than everyday hardships, stronger than fatigue, stronger than fear. Margolin’s books are valuable not only for future medical professionals. They will appeal to anyone who seeks real depth in literature, rather than mere entertainment. ✅ G. A. Margolin’s books are available in the reading room of the NSMU Library.