My Stroke of Insight
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
Author: Jill Bolte Taylor
Amazon info
The story of neuroanatomist who experiences a stroke on the left side of her brain, due to the bursting of an AVM. (Readers of this blog, which is to say, me, will be familiar with an AVM, as that is what I may have in my spinal cord). As the blood spreads through her brain, killing brain cells and disabling swaths of her left brain, she finds a strange and wonderful joy as her right brain takes over. Unfortunately, it is hard to dial the phone for help, as she no longer knows what numbers are. But she is rescued (and obviously recovers completely enough to write a book).
The real story is of how an extremely left-brained person experienced a world without a left brain (until she began her recovery). As one who gives credit to the general differences in the hemispheres, it was a fascinating story. Of course, it is just one person's viewpoint - and there isn't much objectivity (even for a scientist) when writing about your own brain. The descriptions were intriguing - the notion of a right brain that lacks awareness of the body's boundaries (providing a "one with everything" feeling) and that has no sense of past/present/future and therefore no deadlines or even plans - so an unusual concept (at least to me).
The message that we can find joy and connectedness by occasionally "stepping to the right" resonated with me - and my belief is that mediation (and quieting that left brain inner chatter) is the way to get there.
Recommended: Everyone - especially those interested in brain science (without being too, too skeptical) and of course, anyone with an AVM or anyone caring for someone who has had a stroke.