A Great Summer Read: My Stroke of Insight

I just finished up what turned out to be a great book: My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor.

You might recognize the name...or perhaps you've seen this amazing woman on one of her many television appearances. My students will perhaps recognize her from her spot on a Discovery Channel production I sometimes show in class called, "The Amazing Brain." Jill was a Ph.D. neuroanatomist (a.k.a. brain scientist) when she suffered a stroke at age 37.

The book describes in great detail what her experience of the stroke felt like, her path to recovery, and the new perspective the experience gave her. Personally, I learned quite a bit about the different types of strokes that our brains are susceptible to in the opening chapters. Since it was Taylor's left hemisphere that was most affected by the stroke, the book does an excellent job of highlighting the distinctive tasks of each hemisphere of the brain. Still thinking like a psych teacher, I also found that the account highlighted the brain's role in perceptual processes quite nicely, since Taylor describes perceptual distortions she had to overcome during recovery. All of it is accompanied by cute diagrams of which areas of the brain are being discussed.

I would definitely recommend the book to other psych teachers and students of psychology. It's a quick read, and I found her amazing story to be inspirational as well.