Books with a Prismlab Twist

Books are currently searching for a home. If you know of a good cabinet, please let the book’s owners know. For now, if you’d like to borrow a book, just ask your friendly labmates!

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean-Dominque Bauby

On December 9, 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a massive stroke, locking his mind in the prison of his body. He then produced a work so unusual, moving and beautiful that it was published, read and admired around the world. With grace and economy, it describes his life before and after the stroke, his continuing imaginative freedom, and how he comes to terms with what has happened.

• owned by: Steph

This Is Your Brain on Music - Daniel J. Levitin

This unprecedented investigation of the role of music in human evolution and everyone’s daily lives synthesizes psychology, neuroscience and musical examples from Mozart to Eminem. Levitin explains the elements of music - pitch, rhythm, tempo, timbre, harmony and melody. Then, building on his own research and that of his colleagues, he explores the perception of music in the human brain. The parade of music continues from Bach to Count Basie to Creedence to Van Halen, as Levitin shows that a cascade of activity, from the eardrum to cells deep inside the brain that regulate emotion, is set off whenever we hear music - at weddings, in shopping malls, at dance clubs, at church. He also shows how composers exploit the way our brains make sense of the world, how our musical preferences begin to form before we are born and how musical expertise is built.

• owned by: Steph

My Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor

On the morning of December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four brief hours. As the damaged left side of her brain—the rational, grounded, detail- and time-oriented side—swung in and out of function, Taylor alternated between two distinct and opposite realties: the euphoric nirvana of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace; and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized Jill was having a stroke, and enabled her to seek help before she was lost completely.

In My Stroke of Insight, Taylor shares her unique perspective on the brain and its capacity for recovery, and the sense of omniscient understanding she gained from this unusual and inspiring voyage out of the abyss of a wounded brain. It would take eight years for Taylor to heal completely. Because of her knowledge of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and most of all an amazing mother, Taylor completely repaired her mind and recalibrated her understanding of the world according to the insights gained from her right brain that morning of December 10th.

• owned by: Steph

Look up for Yes - Julia Tavalaro

Heart-wrenching story of a young mother who had a brain stem stroke in her early 30’s. She was institutionalized and treated as a “vegetable” for 6 years while being completely alert and cognizant of everything and everyone around her. It was eventually discovered that she was sentient and she eventually dictated her memoirs. She lived to her 60’s (just died a few years ago actually).

• owned by: Tom

Only the eyes say yes – Philippe and Stephane Vigand

Husband and wife co-authored book. Husband had a brain stem stroke that left him completely paralyzed and dependent. Interesting book in that both the patient and spouse perspective are provided.

• owned by: Tom