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    Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains
    Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains
    Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains
    Audiobook7 hours

    Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains

    Written by Helen Thomson

    Narrated by Helen Thomson

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    A prizewinning journalist with a background in neuroscience, Helen Thomson spent years tracking down people who live with the world's most extraordinary neurological disorders—like a man who tried to break his back because his legs no longer felt like his own, and another who believed that he was dead for nine years. Not content to simply read about these cases on paper, Thomson reached out to ten people with these afflictions, and they agreed to tell her their stories.

    Leaving behind the scans and the clinical histories, Unthinkable ties the first-ever interviews with the people who have these rare conditions together with cutting-edge science. Through these incredible tales, Thomson casts a light on the chaos that the human mind can create. She shows us how these strange conditions hold the keys to unlocking the biggest mysteries of the human brain, and provide a deeper understanding of the human condition itself.

    Combining careful observation with bold science and vibrant storytelling, Unthinkable takes us on a deep dive into the weirdest corners of our brain, and helps us to see our own creativity, our emotions, and our consciousness more clearly.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 26, 2018
    ISBN9780062847959
    Author

    Helen Thomson

    Helen Thomson is a writer and consultant with New Scientist magazine and was shortlisted as Best Science Journalist in the British Journalism Awards. She has won several other awards, including media fellowships at both Harvard and MIT and the Best Newcomer in the ABSW Science Writers Awards for Britain and Ireland in 2010. She has also written for The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Daily Mail and Nature. She lives in London.

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    Reviews for Unthinkable

    4.5/5

    226 ratings19 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I don't think the author was the best choice to narrate this book... It's really interesting book - but read. The audio version, not so great.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A very interest, easy read. Written at a level for those without a strong science background.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A fun book, similar to the man who mistook his wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks though not as good. Some of the same information. On the other hand she explores the rational mind more, I think. A bit brief I. Explaining the complexities of the mind as compared to describing the disorder, a thing she did well.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I never thought I’d enjoy reading about brain disorders but these stories were really fascinating. Helen Thomson also makes this subject matter accessible and at times delightful.
    • 5/5
      Great book I think more psychologist could use this talks about women disabilities and fear of being told they are crazy or a witch but have actual disabilities crazy right?
    • 4/5
      In "Unthinkable," science writer Helen Thomson explores oddities of the human brain in men and women who have unusual disorders or abilities. Thomson begins by providing a bit of history from ancient Egypt, when the brain was "an organ of little interest" and the heart took center stage. Plato placed more emphasis on the brain's importance, while his student, Aristotle, "continued to argue that the mind was contained in the heart." Meanwhile, Galen, a Greek physician at the time of the Roman Empire, glimpsed the brains of wounded gladiators "whose skulls had been torn apart in combat." However, it would take many more centuries for scientists to recognize that our brains help determine how we think, behave, move, speak, and dream.

      These days, researchers use functional MRIs, EEGs, and CAT scans to study the brain's anatomy, chemistry, electrical activity, and the ways in which the various regions communicate with one another. The focus of this book is on brains that do not perform predictably. Most of us have heard of twenty-five year old Phineas Gage, a railroad worker in 1848 who was hit by a rod that "flew up through his jaw, traveled behind his eye, made its way through the left-hand side of his brain, and shot out the other side." Although this accident did not kill him, the damage that Gage suffered changed him from a kind and good-tempered man into an aggressive, rude, and profane one. Thomson also introduces us to various people who cannot feel fear; hear music that is not there; have uncanny recollections of the past; are convinced that a limb does not belong to them and should be amputated; and feel other people's pain--literally.

      The author's well-researched case studies, which are reminiscent of those described so unforgettably and compassionately by the late Oliver Sacks, are disturbing and intriguing, and will interest anyone who is fascinated by the brain's mysteries. "Unthinkable" is enlightening but not always entertaining. For some readers, it will be unnerving to encounter individuals whose rare conditions make daily life so challenging. Still, it is instructive to reflect on the complexity, versatility, and unpredictability of this vital organ. The brain is likely one of the last frontiers, which neuroscientists will continue to explore in an attempt to uncover its many remaining secrets.
    • 5/5
      Amazing. It was very captivating and I loved it so much
    • 5/5
      Absolutely loved it. Changed my perspective on how look mental illness. I recommend this one to everyone
    • 5/5
      Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested to know more about how human brains function
    • 5/5
      Lovely audiobook! Kept my mind the entire time. Very interesting way of learning about the strangest brain conditions. I enjoyed it a lot ☺️
    • 5/5
      Great book! Very well researched, written and narrated. A must read for neurodiverse individuals.
    • 4/5
      An interesting book, written in popular journalistic style, about the brain and people who live with very unusual brain conditions. The book describes the condition, the patient and their interactions with the author, as well as a lot of irrelevant information about how the author travelled to the interview. I listened to the audiobook, and agree with other reviewers that the author may not have been the best choice to read it - the sentence stress was very sing-song, like a school pupil reading aloud to class. It was the interesting cases that kept me listening. Worth a read, rather than the audiobook.
    • 5/5
      What a delightful and insightful book. I definitely recommend this one.

    • 4/5
      A real interesting book and as the title says, a journey through the world's strangest brains! Similar to Oliver Sacks but from a journalist point of view. Easy to read and hard to put down!
    • 5/5
      Helen Thomson is a science writer with New Scientist, who became fascinated by the human brain, its complexity, and what can happen when that complexity goes wrong. In this book, she recounts her meetings and experiences with people with nine different, unusual brain conditions. This isn't a clinical textbook; it's about Thomson exploring how these conditions affect the lives of the individuals living with them. She also talks about what we've learned about these conditions and their origins, but that's not the main focus, here. The people are. And no matter how strange the conditions are, she always treats these people with respect, not as mere examples of how bizarre humans can be.Bob is a man with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM. He can remember every day of his life, back to surprisingly early childhood, in great detail, at least as far as his personal experiences. In other respects, he and other people with HSAM don't have particularly exceptional memory. It's a very rare condition, with perhaps 100 known examples worldwide. It might seem like a kind of superpower, but in practice it isn't. You remember the good things in detail, but also the bad or sad experiences. Bob says even the negative memories can help somewhat, though. When he has negative experiences similar to things that have happened before, he knows it's something he has coped with before. It's not as intimidating.Tommy is a man who experienced a major personality change after suffering a stroke. He'd had a rough childhood, resulting in a career more on the criminal and sometimes violent side, while sometimes being a rather sweet guy despite all. After his stroke, he changed dramatically--creative, imaginative, overflowing with ideas and poetry, and taking up painting.Sharon is a woman whose mental map of her world breaks down frequently; she can get lost in her own house. She's had to learn how to cope with this, find her way around, and for many years, hide her problem, because her mother told her it was witchcraft.Sylvia is profoundly deaf due to an illness, who suffers auditory hallucinations of music constantly playing. Sometimes it's pleasant, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it's disruptive and intrusive, and the only thing she can do is find a way to create a distraction.Joel Salinas is a doctor in Boston who has touch synesthesia. He can literally feel his patients' pain. He also feels the emotions of the people near him, and even feels on his own body the touches he sees them experiencing. It's a syndrome that can cause burnout for doctors and nurses who experience it, but so far, he's managed to make it an asset.I'm barely touching on what Thomson covers, and she makes the people I've mentioned as well as those I haven't real people whose lives and experiences matter. It's highly readable, or listenable, and well worth your time.I bought this audiobook.
    • 3/5
      I didn’t expect to be called out so hard by this book but here we are. I thought I was just bad at directions, but I went online and did some assessment tests and it turns out I may have Developmental Topographical Disorientation! I’m not sure what to do with this information but thanks, I guess.
    • 4/5
      A science journalist’s interest in rare brain disorders takes her around the world as she meets people with lycanthropy, audio hallucinations, Cotard delusion or Walking Corpse Syndrome (ie thinking you’re dead). I listened to the audiobook, read by Thomson herself, & I felt all the earnestness and hard work that she poured into her research as well as her fascination for the subject. #scienceseptember

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      A good if somewhat bizarre collection of biographies of different people with strange and interesting brains that make you reevaluate the nature of humanity. I think there’s insight here and some of it is genuinely fascinating. Some of it however drags a little. A good book.
    • 4/5
      3.5 Our brains are capable of so many things, such a complex organ, and the least understood. This book highlights the many ways a glitch in the circuitry of the brain can cause some unique, and at times harrowing conditions. I was drawn to this book because of a show on TV I saw a while back. It featured some people who can remember in detail every day of their lives. I have a pretty good memory, but nothing close to that, but I was curious about how that type of memory came to be, what were the changes in the brain. Memory as a whole interests me, as the closer I get to the age where memory supposedly drops off, can that be prevented?This is the first topic covered, the science behind memory, well explained in understandable terms by the author who even offers tips on how to improve memory. The other sections cover other conditions that can manifest, such as synsthesia, a person who believes they are dead, a man who turns into a tiger. How they live with these conditions, and again the science behind them. Never really felt the connection as a reader to these people, though I thought the science was explained well, and I enjoyed the authors musings. I think if you enjoyed the books of the late Oliver Sacks, you will enjoy this. It is both interesting and informative.ARC from Edelweiss.