My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey | Jill Bolte Taylor

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey | Jill Bolte Taylor | Mind altering

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My Stroke of Insig...

	My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey Jill Bolte Taylor Viking Adult, 2008 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 177 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent purchase

This audio-book arrived exactly as described - brand new, still in wrapper, in perfect condition.

Mind altering

For anyone who is interested in how the mind works regarding the processing of raw sensory data into the organized information that we call "consciousness" and "perception", or for anyone who has had a family member or friend with a stroke, this book provides great insight into what is happening. Dr. Taylor describes the occurrence of her stroke and the immediate days and weeks that followed, written with the clarity and precision of a trained neuroanatomist.
Dr. Taylor suffered (temporary) loss of the functions of the dominant logical left brain, and discovered the capabilities of the (normally) subordinate right brain. Later chapters describe some of her long-term learnings regarding trusting and relying on the capabilities of her right-brain. The reader has to trust what she writes, something of a "leap of faith", but that really is to be expected when using the logical left-brain's tool of language to describe the contextual perceptual processing of the right brain.
The book is easy to pick up and start reading at any spot, and hard to put down.
Highly recommended.

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Read the book--skip the audiobook CDs

I checked this audiobook out of the library; it's one of several about the brain that I've "read" lately in the car. This is a very valuable book, primarily for the insights it provides into what having a stroke can be like and what sorts of caregiving can be especially helpful. Unfortunately, the book is also quite repetitive; at times I thought I might have stuck in the wrong CD by mistake, because I was sure I'd heard the same thing before--but no. The worst thing about this particular version of the book, though, is the reader, who is also the author. I don't know why the publisher allowed someone who wasn't an actor or a particularly skilled reader to do the audiobook--perhaps to show how much the author had recovered from her stroke. But listening to her relatively emotionless, flat delivery hour after hour really grated on me. True, I could have returned the audiobook and put a hold on the regular copy--but I would have had to wait a lot longer. In retrospect, though, that's what I should have done, because the reading bothered me the entire time, and this really is a good, worthwhile book. If it weren't for the reader and the repetitiousness, I'd give it 5 stars--very absorbing (and inspiring) reading for anyone interested in the brain, strokes, or caregiving.

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"Okay" But, not great...

My Stroke of Insight is a first person account of a neuroscientist's left hemisphere stroke. The opening chapters of the book are devoted to initiating the non-scientist reader into the basics of brain science so that they may fully appreciate the proceeding story. I found the introductory chapters and the narrative to be entertaining and interesting although together they only constituted roughly half of the book.

The following half quickly changed gears into more of a "self-help" book about finding your inner peace, being one with the universe and the like. Truthfully, after reading this book I would be hard pressed to shelf it as either medical lit. or science. Instead, I would probably put it over in the new age / self-help category.

Notwithstanding, its a well written book. I find the first half entertaining but, I don't entirely buy it. My education is in both psychology and chemistry and I find it hard to believe that this first-person minute-by-minute account of her experiencing the stroke is completely accurate. However, I do acknowledge that the book is insightful and could be a real inspiration for stroke survivors, their families and loved ones.

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Valuable spiritual awakening

I would agree with other reviewers that the value of this book is in the author's "spiritual awakening." While I also find her descriptions too New Agey for my taste, I found myself envious of her new-found ability to turn off her inner critical and judgmental voices and stay in the moment with joy and gratefulness. Christians (and adherents to other faiths, I imagine) are forever trying to get to that place. I, for one, find it nearly impossible.

I have to commend the author for taking away valuable life lessons from her medical emergency, unlike Amy Silverstein in her book Sick Girl. I, too, had a medical emergency this past year and was surprised and relieved to find that feeling close to death was not the entirely terrifying experience I expected. I had feelings of regret, but found I was not afraid of what was to come. The memory of it has provided me with courage to face the future, knowing the end may be more bearable than I ever imagined. In my way of thinking about it, which may differ from this author's, no matter how dreadful our end-of-life experiences may be, God is merciful.

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