Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease

Posted on 06 September 2018 by Allan H. Ropper

Tell the doctor where it hurts It sounds simple enough, unless the problem affects the very organ that produces awareness and generates speech What is it like to try to heal the body when the mind is under attack In this book, Dr Allan Ropper and Brian Burrell take the reader behind the scenes at Harvard Medical School s neurology unit to show how a seasoned diagnostician faces down bizarre, life altering afflictions Like Alice in Wonderland, Dr Ropper inhabits a world where absurdities abound A figure skater whose body has become a ticking time bomb A salesman who drives around and around a traffic rotary, unable to get off A college quarterback who can t stop calling the same play A child molester who, after falling on the ice, is left with a brain that is very much dead inside a body that is very much alive A mother of two young girls, diagnosed with ALS, who has to decide whether a life locked inside her own head is worth livingHow does one begin to treat such cases, to counsel people whose lives may be changed forever How does one train the next generation of clinicians to deal with the moral and medical aspects of brain disease Dr Ropper and his colleague answer these questions by taking the reader into a rarified world where lives and minds hang in the balance. Read Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease – kino-fada.fr I have a great interest in neurology, psychoneurology especially I really like Oliver Sacks, except when he concentrates on himself, i don t find him as interesting as a neurological example as he does himself Better is Harold Klawans who tells neurological stories with lots of ah ha moments It is my perception that Allan Ropper is just too delighted with himself The book is patronising in tone and very self congratulatory I mean, he s just such a genius and has to let us know it I know I have a great interest in neurology, psychoneurology especially I really like Oliver Sacks, except...As a retired neurologist, I really wanted to like this book, but I found it very disappointing I have tremendous respect for Dr Ropper Principles of Neurology, the textbook of neurology that he currently edits, is still my favorite introduction to general neurology I have heard him speak several times and always found him to be an eloquent and thoughtful speaker This book seemed to have been written by someone else and perhaps it was Most disturbing was the dismissive and ... Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole is a really fascinating book It s a little fictionalised, so we get dialogues and little portraits of character, enough that we can care about the cases discussed Dr Ropper is pretty much everything an ideal doctor should be knowledgeable, capable of acting fast, capable of explaining complex processes clearly, intuitive, willing to listen, willing to admit he s wrong At every stage, he emphasises to the reader and to the residents he s teaching that each case Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole is a really fascinating book It s a little fictionalised, so we get dialogues and little portraits of character, enough that we can care about the cases discussed Dr Ropper is pretty much everything an ideal doctor should be knowledgeable, capable of acting fast, capable of explaining complex processes clearly, intuitive, willing to listen, willing to admit he s wrong 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.There are a couple of very good chapters on Parkinson s and ALS, some fascinating things like the fact that an ovarian teratoma can cause seizures and all sorts of neurological symptoms, etc At every turn, it demonstrates the complexity of the brain, the limits of our understanding.Wha...A moderately interesting story of the life of a neurologist, marred by the gigantic ego of the author I m sure you need a gigantic ego to do the job and there are plenty of stories where he gets stuff wrong at first, before getting it right obv but the overall impression is of being sat next to someone at a dinner party who starts off seeming an absolutely fascinating and enthralling raconteur and by the third course you re wondering who you ought to stab in the eye with a dessert fork A moderately interesting story of the life of a neurologist, marred by the gigantic ego of the author I m sure you need a gigantic ego to do the job and there are plenty of stories where he gets stuff wrong at first, before getting it right obv but the overall impression is of being sat next to someone at a dinner party who starts off seeming an absolutely fascinating and enthralling raconteur and by the third course you re wondering who you ought to stab in the eye with a dessert fork yourself or him 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 He sees someone who is literally so traumatised by family abuse their entire body stops functioning, and his attitu...3.5 StarsA neurologist takes us through multiple cases he s dealt with over a short course of time Some very interesting cases with many diseases I d never even heard of A great read, especially if you enjoy books like The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons.I wanted to like this science based nonfiction book because I always like books like this But the title seemed somewhat inaccurate for this book It wasn t about the mystery and drama of brain disease..it was really all about one particular neurologist I, I, MY, MY, ME, ME was incredibly repetitiv...This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here view spoiler Bettie s Books hide spoilerI read it wondering if the author, a neurologist, would ever turn professional insight on himself If he did, he would realize he spends an entire book blowing eighteen over inflated tires of sexist, egotistical, out of touch diesel right up his own glowing red exhaust stack I was hoping for someone to talk about being a neurologist and the rigors of having such an interesting title, an adjunct to the great Do No Harm Instead, I got the self important musings of a tactless, namedropping, I read it wondering if the author, a neurologist, would ever turn professional insight on himself If he did, he would realize he spends an entire book blowing eighteen over inflated tires of sexist, egotistical, out of touch diesel right up his own glowing red exhaust stack I was hoping for someone to...The cases are generally interesting, but the narrator is a hard voice to like A subtitle that would better catch the tone is The Many Times I Have Been Right And Others WrongWish I could review this book I won it on September 28 as a giveaway on goodread Never received the book Looks like other people liked the book I always read the books I win and do a review on them Too bad I did not get my copy I sent a message asking why I did not receive my copy but never heard back UPDATE I received my copy of this book last week I can now do a review of the book i won in first reads giveaways Dr Allan Ropper is a Neurologist in Boston In his book he writes many Wish I could review this book I won it on September 28 as a giveaway on goodread Never...

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease

06 September 2018

Allan H. Ropper