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abeerhoque's review
4.0
Zasetsky is a bright young student who goes to war (WWII) and exits with a bullet to his brain, and devastating amnesia. Over the course of the next 25 years, he struggles to come to terms with, to explain, to regain his life, his past, his future, his identity, his purpose.
He writes and rewrites over 3000 pages of a journal even though the effort is beyond superhuman: he sometimes takes days to remember a single word or its meaning; a day of writing might yield a single paragraph; he cannot read or understand conversations; his right visual field is destroyed; and he is beset with an ever degrading memory, headaches, weakness, fatigue, depression, fear.
"I can't see the first letter of a world clearly. It doesn't come through clearly but looks as if it's been plucked, gnawed around the edges, and what's left are scattered points, quills or threads that flickr like a swarm."
Dr. A. R. Luria is a Russian neuropsychologist (and Oliver Sacks' mentor) who follows Zasetsky for 25 years. Combining his patient's journal and his own immense knowledge and compassion, he has compiled this little 130 page book which is heartbreaking, and yet not for a moment self pitying. His so called "digressions" are marvelous, insights into brain science and psychology, explained in elegant and clear language.
My only criticism is that the book could have done with some editing. The journal entries have a lot of repetition, and the sequence of sections doesn't always make sense. I also wish the "digressions" had been longer and more detailed. They could have been used to tie the book together, to show progression and narrative and tension.
That said, I recommend it to anyone interested in neuropsychology, the brain's workings, and memory.
He writes and rewrites over 3000 pages of a journal even though the effort is beyond superhuman: he sometimes takes days to remember a single word or its meaning; a day of writing might yield a single paragraph; he cannot read or understand conversations; his right visual field is destroyed; and he is beset with an ever degrading memory, headaches, weakness, fatigue, depression, fear.
"I can't see the first letter of a world clearly. It doesn't come through clearly but looks as if it's been plucked, gnawed around the edges, and what's left are scattered points, quills or threads that flickr like a swarm."
Dr. A. R. Luria is a Russian neuropsychologist (and Oliver Sacks' mentor) who follows Zasetsky for 25 years. Combining his patient's journal and his own immense knowledge and compassion, he has compiled this little 130 page book which is heartbreaking, and yet not for a moment self pitying. His so called "digressions" are marvelous, insights into brain science and psychology, explained in elegant and clear language.
My only criticism is that the book could have done with some editing. The journal entries have a lot of repetition, and the sequence of sections doesn't always make sense. I also wish the "digressions" had been longer and more detailed. They could have been used to tie the book together, to show progression and narrative and tension.
That said, I recommend it to anyone interested in neuropsychology, the brain's workings, and memory.
chiar_'s review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail
jerefi's review
2.0
What makes this book slightly tedious is the fact that the brain injury he has doesn't allow him to retain things so he repeats over and over again, forgetting that he has already said it. I kept thinking I was getting stuck on the same sentence on a page only to realize that it was just the same sentence being repeated aka the epitome of redundancy. The actual injury is rather fascinating; how his vision changed, his memory (and lack thereof), how to read and relate, but unfortunately this information is told in the most boring and uninteresting way humanly possible. It definitely isn't enjoyable to read.
levitybooks's review
4.0
*Review in Retrospect*
Luria makes better, but fewer, readable patient case studies than Oliver Sacks. Luria was the first 'neuropsychologist' and he seems to be figuring out the condition rather than poetically redescribing it as has every other modern clinician-patient story. It's sad really, there is more care and less ego here but it receives less attention. I think this was the most interesting case study I have ever read (even more so than people that believe they are vampires), this man had pure word blindness so he could write but not read and not remember very well either so he had to write everything and get people to tell him what he wrote so he would by chance ask it to be read and then realise he had once wrote it for him to remember in the future. Just trying to imagine that makes my head spin, and Luria does a good job of getting you there.
Luria makes better, but fewer, readable patient case studies than Oliver Sacks. Luria was the first 'neuropsychologist' and he seems to be figuring out the condition rather than poetically redescribing it as has every other modern clinician-patient story. It's sad really, there is more care and less ego here but it receives less attention. I think this was the most interesting case study I have ever read (even more so than people that believe they are vampires), this man had pure word blindness so he could write but not read and not remember very well either so he had to write everything and get people to tell him what he wrote so he would by chance ask it to be read and then realise he had once wrote it for him to remember in the future. Just trying to imagine that makes my head spin, and Luria does a good job of getting you there.