My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

When I was given My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey for Christmas this year, I was quick to crack it open and begin reading. I had head many good things said on the topic of the book, and her credentials were undeniable. Unfortunately, so is my disappointment with the work itself.

The book has several key follies, and the most prominent of these is the book's indecisive lack of depth. The author, Dr. Taylor, dips back and forth between scientific fact and (extremely) anecdotal accounts. Though this is usually a delightfully effective combination for non-fiction books, both styles are poorly executed by Taylor. The fact is overly dumbed-down and spoken mostly in euphemisms meant to appeal to the lowest denominator. Somehow, this manages to make the facts even more difficult to learn. Despite a few sentences with content, the author runs in circles and repeats the same confusing mess over and over.

The anecdotal accounts were equally disappointing. Her stories lent little interesting information to the reader; instead, they awkwardly describe the author's various feelings and pseudoscientific musings. The language used in both the science and the personal accounts is bland and repetitive.

To describe the book as a non-fiction, even is pretty difficult, as many parts of the book are fantastical assumptions made by the author. The writing style, too, floats somewhere between that of a fiction and a nonfiction book. Though Taylor tries to describe with some elegance her experiences, an otherwise excellent tale is brutally marred by a poor vocabulary and an utter lack of the literary techniques (even simple ones like basic comparisons and metaphors) characteristic of informal, fictional books. However, so little is explained plainly or scientifically, it hurts to call this a nonfiction science book. Instead, I would describe the book as written by Taylor for herself (and perhaps a small selection of people helping stroke patients recover) as a sort of crude and uninteresting diary. I could have saved several hours by just reading the 40-point list in the appendix of the book- it contained every last bit of the story's meat anyway.

At a glance, however, the book does have its merits. Despite genuinely poor authorship (Dr. Taylor should definitely stick to science), it is a fairly interesting story to be told. If you decide to stop reading 3/4ths of the way through, however, don't say I didn't warn you. In the face of Taylor's bumbling repetition, it is surely tempting.

The book is excellent and packed with information. It is presented in a logical, easy to understand format and Jill Bolte Taylor's voice makes listening pleasureable. She manages to convey the medical information well and her description of what happened to her is facinating to hear in her voice.

Jill Bolte Taylor has gifted the world with her knowledge and experience.
She explains that the left side of the brain is where our thought processes
chatter about our past experiences, and worry about our potential futures.
When a blood vessel exploded on the left side of Dr. Taylor's brain, she
learned the meaning of simply "being". She shares her blessing in disguise
as she got to experience the nirvana of living in the moment, without the
chatter that usually occupies one's mind when both brain hemispheres are
functioning properly. She is an amazing and courageous person.

Jill Bolte Taylor discovered that the feeling of nirvana is never more than "a mere thought away". I have also experienced this truth by reading awarding winning books, Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: The 3 Simple Ideas That Will Instantaneously Transform Your Life, How to Create a Magical Relationship: The 3 Simple Ideas that Will Instantaneously Transform Your Love Life, and Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment, written by Ariel & Shya Kane. By reading the Kanes books I have learned how to live in the moment and experience the feeling of nirvana, even as the chatter in my mind continues endlessly. If you want to check out their style, listen to their internet radio show called "Being Here" on The 7th Wave Network channel on Voice America.com. Dr. Taylor and Ariel & Shya Kane have written the road
maps to living life in the moment. Check them out!

My Stroke of Insight is one of the best books I've read. It is Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's experience of a stroke... from the inside. I'm entering my final year of the Physical Therapist Assistant program. I will always remember Dr. Bolte Taylor's experience of how health professionals made her feel when she was under their care. I will strive to be a health care provider who will make my patients feel safe and well cared for.

This is a fascinating book, which I was eager to read after seeing an article by the author in Scientific American. However, around chapter 15 it begins to sound repetitive and as if she is trying to fill extra pages with...whatever. The tone turns preachy and leaves science behind. However, still worth it up to that point.