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

3.5 stars for My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor.

This book is a personal account, as seen through the eyes of a neuroscientist, about what it feels like to experience the deterioration of the left brain and then gradually recover it over the years. The author hopes that her book will offer insight into how the brain works in both wellness and in illness, and that it will help to give direction and hope to stroke patients and their families and caregivers.

Author Jill Taylor suffers from a rare form of stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain when she was thirty-seven years old. This stroke rendered her completely disabled; unable to walk, talk, read, write or recall any aspects of her life. In her book, she gives a step-by-step explanation into the deterioration of her cognitive abilities and what she experiences in that unforgettable morning of the stroke. The chapter on "The Morning of the Stroke" is informational and helpful in that it tells us the symptoms of an impending stroke, and what and when to look out for it. The later chapters on recovery are equally useful. They include more than fifty tips for the road to recovery. One only needs refer to Appendix B for a bird's eye view on recommendations for recovery.

Though this is a book about stroke, it is ultimately not a book about stroke itself but insights gained from the traumatic event in which the author is very kind and generous to share with us. It is also about the beauty, resilience and adaptability of the human brain - its ability to repair, replace, retain and recover. Not only do we get to know the pre and post-stroke author Jill Taylor, readers also have a better understanding of the human brain, the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere and the asymmetries of the two cortical hemispheres.

I have no doubt that this book can help people in recovering from neurological trauma. But first, the book needs to be read, from beginning to the end, to have a good understanding of the human brain, and then, the insights gained from the author's journey and experience. This book is not, what I will say, an easy to read book altogether, especially the portion after the surgery. Maybe it is due to the dry facts of the matter, or repetitive narrative at times, I have a tendency to drift off into my own la-la land while reading. Don't get me wrong. I do not mean to say that this book is not a good one. It is just that, well, the stars of this book are not so well aligned with my attention for reading.

Overall, the insights the author gained from her stroke is amazing. Perhaps the most significant insight of it all, at least it seems to me, is the inability of the medical community to know how to communicate with someone who has suffered a stroke, especially one in the left hemisphere of the brain, impairing language. This is surely something that the medical community can work on.


Publisher: Hodder Paperback; First Printing edition
Publication date: 19 Mar 2009

*** Favourite Quote 1 ***

Most of the different types of cells in our body die and are replaced every few weeks or months. However, neurons, the primary cell of the nervous system, do not multiply (for the most part) after we are born. That means that the majority of the neurons in your brain today are as old as you are. This longevity of the neurons partially accounts for why we feel pretty much the same on the inside at the age of 10 as we do at age 30 or 77. The cells in our brain are the same but over time their connections change based upon their/our experience.

*** Favourite Quote 2 ***

I may not be in total control of what happens to my life, but I certainly am in charge of how I choose to perceive my experience.

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

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Jill Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain. Through the eyes of a curious scientist, she watched her mind deteriorate whereby she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Because of her understanding of the brain, her respect for the cells in her body, and an amazing mother, Jill completely recovered.

In My Stroke of Insight, she shares her recommendations for recovery and the insight she gained into the unique functions of the two halves of her brain. When she lost the skills of her left brain, her consciousness shifted away from normal reality where she felt "at one with the universe." Taylor helps others not only rebuild their brains from trauma, but helps those of us with normal brains better understand how we can consciously influence the neural circuitry underlying what we think, how we feel and how we react to life's circumstances.

*Blurb from Goodreads*

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