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 Excellent Read Mar 16, 2010
I heard the author on a broadcast of NPR's "Fresh Air" with Terri Garr and was so intrigued with the conversation that I looked up the book on Amazon. I got it at a great price.
This is one amazing story for anyone who has had the misfortune of being close to someone who has had a stroke, for stroke victims, and medical professionals.
It is a very unique perspective from the stroke victim. We are usually told about strokes in very analytical terms... this personlizes the experience.
GP's should make this a must read!
You will be drawn into and fascinated by this book. The spiritual aspects are most surprising!
Please read... highly recommended.
A career influence Mar 13, 2010
This was a gift to my future daughter-in-law. I am a male nursing student. As a result of reading this book, I have been deeply influenced to pursue neuroscience, with hopes to work in ICU, as my route to advancement. It is the only book I have ever read twice. My copy was a gift from a fellow student who knew it would have a profound affect on me in "my pursuit to be the best nurse possible."
I was most moved by the very first item in Appendix B, in the list Dr. Taylor devised of "Forty Things I Needed the Most [in her recovery from the stroke] which states, "1. I am not stupid. I am wounded. Please respect me." Dr. Taylor is an incredible inspiration and I intend to be a nurse professional who will make a difference to those who suffer brain trauma and require sensitive and understanding caregivers.
 Stroke of insight Mar 06, 2010
A very interesting description of an unusual situation. Gives an insight into the functioning and recovering of a damaged brain.
Wonderfully Insightful! Mar 03, 2010
A must read for every person. It is a bit text bookish in the beginning but you'll understand why as you read it. It truly makes you think!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Seriously. Angel Cards. Feb 28, 2010
"I unconditionally love my cells with an open heart and grateful mind. Spontaneously throughout the day, I acknowledge their existence and enthusiastically cheer them on. I am a wonderful living being capable of beaming my energy into the world, only because of them. When my bowels move, I cheer my cells for clearing that waste out of my body. When my urine flows, I admire the volume my bladder cells are capable of storing." And so it goes.
There are valuable, interesting sections of this book. Specifically, chapters 2 and 3 when she is discussing basics of brain science and current theories of what hemisphere of the brain controls what thought processes. It is truly interesting that the analytical, linear, quantitative left hemisphere is very different from the calmer, empathetic right hemisphere. How they interact to create a view of the world is fascinating. However, after two chapters of engaging brain science, Taylor says, "I encourage you to explore myriad current literature about...the brain." As in, without this book. She then follows with a play-by-play of her own stroke, her loss of the left brain, and tapping into the "total oneness" of her right brain. The most tedious section of the book is the next 100 pages or so after her stroke describing the pre-op and recovery period, endlessly listing how she couldn't read, so she had to learn; and she couldn't write, so she had to learn; and she couldn't do math, so she had to learn. On and on it went until we came to why she supposedly wrote the book: her stroke of insight.
And what is her stroke of insight? If you feel agitated, morose, angry, frustrated, or stressed-out, simply step to the right and become one with the universe. Simple.
I don't want to trivialize the potentially immense, therapeutic value a person can get from meditation, or "quieting the left brain" to find a state of inner peace. The search for inner peace is admirable and we should all be so lucky to find ourselves in states of tranquility and ease. But Taylor trivializes how one gets there and she glorifies her own stroke as the key to what lead her to this insight. Who wouldn't feel grateful to see the sun rise another day after nearly dying?!
She then starts to write like a typical "New Age" spiritual guru (read: above quotation). She meditates (okay), prays (I'll tolerate it), praises her cells for defecating (ummm...what?), loves "vocal tuning with sounding bowls", and "also draws Angel Cards several times a day." Seriously. Angel Cards.
This book is a missed opportunity. She wants to share with the world her knowledge of the right brain and that if we could only tap into it on a given moment the world would be free of war and anger and global warming. Brain science? Cool. Useless, baloney, new age mysticism? Vomit-inducing. Then again, next time I'm feeling a little stressed, I might whip out my Angel Cards while I'm taking a dump just to see what happens.
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