This book is about the author's experience with a concussion, which resulted in traumatic brain injury. His car was rear-ended, and overnight, he started suffering odd symptoms which kept getting worse. Doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him, and then once they suspected a brain injury, just told him that he'd have to live with it, and wouldn't recover. However, Dr. Elliott was determined, and after eight years of struggling, he met two Chicago-area research-clinicians who changed his life, and got him back on the road to recovery.
This is a fascinating book, although I admit I could only read it in bits and pieces, because not only was there a lot of information to take in, but it also freaked me out a bit. The idea that what seemed like a simple car accident could lead to such traumatic brain injury was really sobering. In addition, the fact that this man, a brilliant man in his own right, couldn't get doctors to listen to him, or even really help him, was disturbing. In the beginning of the book, right after the accident, he goes to doctors to get help, but he's quickly dismissed, which is frustrating, but also frightening.
But, I digress. Dr. Elliott's journey to recovery, and what the research-clinicians were able to do to help him is fascinating. Brain injuries aren't something I have a lot of familiarity with, so it was interesting to learn about things like the correlation between the sensory input into the brain and then the resulting behavior. For example, Dr. Elliott, in the beginning, was easily overwhelmed by auditory input (listening to people on the phone, for instance) and basically, his reactions, physically, would just shut down. Definitely a good book if brain injuries, or brain science, is something that interests you.
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