Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys into the Human Brain

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He sensitively explored the day-to-day impact of ALS, discussing diverse subjects including the controversial topic of assisted suicide. A little hard to follow at times but full of fascinating insights and stories into the world of neurology.

Ropper in the book were to be my consultant, I would walk out of the consultation room - fuming because of his tone and attitude. It sounds simple enough, unless the problem affects the very organ that produces awareness and generates speech. Another interesting point in the book is Ropper’s up-front acknowledgement that doctors and medical professionals are not infallible and are subject to the same pressures, doubts and muck-ups that plague the rest of us. The other takes life by the horns and carries on in spite of considerable adversity, although admittedly helped by their very supportive wife and insurance company (great if you have the cover).Here is a quick description and cover image of book Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease written by Allan H. There are dozens of stories of patients and their problems, but perhaps having more clinical experience than most, but clearly not being a neurologist, I would have greatly appreciated the follow on. This is not helped by the "I don't care, sod off" attitude he (his persona) takes to people with psychosomatic conditions, many of whom seem to have been sexually abused. At every stage, he emphasises to the reader and to the residents he's teaching that each case is individual, that the right answer for one person isn't the right one for the next, and so on. One chapter where he doesn't show his usual compassion is when dealing with those who have psychological problems that cause them to mimic neurological illnesses.

What nearly spoiled it all for me was the fact that Ropper really does revert to talking about hysteria.Another man had been affected by a virus and was almost totally cured by antibiotics apart from a slight speech defect. Or at least Burrell is the prose man, turning Ropper’s professional stories into tight little homilies of neurological and existential meaning. He sees someone who is literally so traumatised by family abuse their entire body stops functioning, and his attitude is "stop wasting my time, I have real patients to help" rather than, I dunno, "let me refer you to another department and ideally the police". At clinics and community hospitals throughout New England, whenever a doctor looks over a patient chart, sighs, and says, “Send it to Boston,” there is a good chance that the patient will end up here.

Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. it turns out that Ropper has been involved in treating and advising Mr Fox through his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, so there’s a bit of bonus celebrity-related material in here too.To read him is not just an insight into the strange workings of malfunctioning brains but also the strange workings of a particularly high functioning brain: Sacks’s own.