The Tale of the Duelling Neurosurgeons

Forcenturies，scientistshadonlyonewaytostudythebrain：waitformisfortunetostrike-strokes，seizures，infections，lobotomies，horrendousaccidents，phantomlimbs，Siamesetwins-andseehowthevictimschangedafterwards.Inmanycasestheirsurvivalwasmiraculous，andobserversmarvelledatthetransformationsthattookplacewhendifferentpartsofthebrainweredestroyed.Parentssuddenlycouldn'trecognisetheirchildren.Pillarsofthecommunitybecamepathologicalliarsandpaedophiles.Somepeoplecouldn'tspeakbutcouldstillsing.Otherscouldn'treadbutcouldwrite.Thestoriesofthesepeoplelaidthefoundationsofmodernneuroscienceand，centurybycentury，keycasestaughtscientistswhateverylastregionofthebraindid.Withlucidexplanationsandincisivewit，SamKeanexploresthebrain'ssecretpassagewaysandrecountstheforgottentalesoftheordinaryindividualswhosestruggles，resilienceanddeephumanitymadeneurosciencepossible.