Brainstorm: Detective Stories from the World of Neurology

A leading neurologist recounts some of her most astonishing, challenging cases, which demonstrate how crucial the study of epilepsy has been to our understanding of the brain.

Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving.

The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work. In this riveting book, Suzanne O'Sullivan takes you with her as she tracks the clues of her patients' symptoms. It's a journey that will open your eyes to the unfathomable intricacies of our brains and the infinite variety of human experience.

Suzanne O’Sullivan, MD, is the author of Is It All in Your Head? (Other Press), which won the 2016 Wellcome Book Prize. She has been a consultant in neurology since 2004, working first at the Royal London Hospital and currently as a consultant in clinical neurophysiology and neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, as well as for a specialist unit based at the Epilepsy Society. She has developed expertise in working with patients with psychogenic disorders, alongside her work with those suffering from physical diseases such as epilepsy.