The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind was fascinating. Barbara Lipska has spent all of her career and a lot of her considerable energy studying the brain and mental illness. Ironically, when her metastatic melanoma surfaced in her brain she begin to exhibit and experience symptoms of dementia and schizophrenia, the very same diseases she studied. The book chronicles her diagnosis, treatments, and descent into madness. A strong Type A personality, some of her natural traits such as leadership and assertiveness crossed the line from strong to obnoxious and she lost her ability to empathize with her family in their struggles. She became angry and completely self-centered and was unable to recognize the changes in herself. She writes of the trauma her family experienced and how loath they are to speak of it to her, even since she's recovered. I was interested in the book partly because I, like almost everyone, have seen a family member suffer from dementia. In my case, my grandfather had Alzheimer's disease and it is such a horrible, horrible disease. This book lets the reader see a little of how the afflicted person's brain is working. While not necessarily comforting, the book is informative, and I hope that Dr. Lipska will be able to use what she learned from her personal experience in her research. Maybe someday we will have a cure for these diseases.
On a much lighter note, I absolutely loved Wild Things by Bruce Handy. A trip down memory lane from beginning to end, I was able to revisit many favorite books from my childhood. Mr. Handy discusses pre-school level books such as Goodnight Moon, elementary favorites like Ramona Quimby, Age 8, and classics like the Narnia series, Charlotte's Web, and Little Women. My only gripe was that he didn't give Anne of Green Gables much of a chance, giving up on her far too soon! I have never really grown out of the enjoyment of reading children's literature, but this book has inspired me to dig up some of my old favorites and read them again!
I am still reading Into the Planet by Jill Heinerth. It is giving me a glimpse into a world and a life completely different than my own. I have absolutely no desire to experience diving into an underwater cave. My claustrophobia makes me tense just reading the book. However, Dr. Heinerth has made a career out of studying and filming these unseen places. I just finished a chapter on an expedition into the mountains of Mexico, where a crew spent weeks diving into submerged caves inside a mountain. I have nothing but admiration for people who wish to risk their lives in the pursuit of discovery (Dr. Heinerth says that more people have died cave diving than climbing Mt. Everest), but reading a book about it is as close as I'm going to get!
I read all three of these books using the Overdrive/Libby apps, but we will be getting a physical copy of Into the Planet in the next few days. I hope you'll check them out!
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