Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease by Dr. Allan H. Ropper & Brian David Burrell

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease by Dr. Allan H. Ropper & Brian David Burrell

"Tell the doctor where it hurts." It sounds simple enough, unless the problem affects the very organ that produces awareness and generates speech. What is it like to try to heal the body when the mind is under attack? In this book, Dr. Allan Ropper and Brian Burrell take the reader behind the scenes at Harvard Medical School’s neurology unit to show how a seasoned diagnostician faces down bizarre, life-altering afflictions. Like Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Ropper inhabits a world where absurdities abound:
• A figure skater whose body has become a ticking time-bomb • A salesman who drives around and around a traffic rotary, unable to get off • A college quarterback who can’t stop calling the same play • A child molester who, after falling on the ice, is left with a brain that is very much dead inside a body that is very much alive • A mother of two young girls, diagnosed with ALS, who has to decide whether a life locked inside her own head is worth livingHow does one begin to treat such cases, to counsel people whose lives may be changed forever? How does one train the next generation of clinicians to deal with the moral and medical aspects of brain disease? Dr. Ropper and his colleague answer these questions by taking the reader into a rarified world where lives and minds hang in the balance.

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole is primarily a compilation of neurology cases treated by Dr. Allan Ropper at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The stories of the patients and their often bizarre symptoms are vivid: heart-wrenching, funny, thought-provoking, but always fascinating. To me one of the most poignant was the young mother with ALS, whose natural maternal desire to see her daughters’ lives as they grew was in constant conflict with the necessity of suffering an ever-declining quality of life. In addition to human interest, the cases provoked reactions of a more philosophical sort, such as the patient about whom Ropper comments that he lacks insight and seems to know that he lacks insight, to which his colleague inquires how a person could be aware that he did not have insight. Think about THAT for a bit!It was interesting to see how conditions far removed from what a lay person would call neurology can show neurological symptoms, such as an ovarian teratoma (a type of tumor), and to realize how difficult it might be to diagnose such a condition accurately. I believe the author wanted to convey what he considers the unique role neurologists play in medical diagnosis, but he could have done a better job.The book came across as rather disorganized. A chapter would begin describing a particular patient, then abruptly take up the story of another patient, and then perhaps a third, before resuming the discussion of the first. Each chapter stands alone for the most part, and the overall message of each chapter, as well as the overall message of the book, could have been more explicit.The subtitle of this book is “A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease”. Unfortunately, there is not nearly enough explanation, beginning with the basics. The author makes a big point of being a “clinical neurologist”, but he did not explain to me just what a clinical neurologist is. There are many other medical terms and concepts that the average reader would not know that are also not defined, e.g., he says the cases in the book occurred over a period of two services on the neurology ward and two on the ICU. How long is a “service”?With better organization, this could have been a much better book, but if you are looking for vivid pictures of the ways neurological diseases manifest themselves and the ways modern-day doctors treat them, you will probably enjoy it.

Cobra by Deon Meyer

Cobra by Deon Meyer

Celebrated as the “King of South African crime,” Deon Meyer is a world-class writer whose page-turning thrillers probe the social and racial complexities of his native country. In his latest novel, the bodies of three people are found at an exclusive guest house in the beautiful Franschhoek wine valley. Two of them were professional bodyguards, but the British citizen they were meant to be protecting is nowhere to be found; left behind are his brand new passport, new suitcase, and new clothes. And the spent shell cases bear a chilling engraving: the flaring head of a spitting cobra.

Meanwhile, in Cape Town, a skilled pickpocket is using his considerable talents to put his younger sister through school. But one day he is caught in the act. Security guards begin to question him, only to be killed with consummate ease by a stranger who leaves behind the distinctive shell cases.

With the help of his colleagues, Detective Benny Griessel rushes to untangle a case that only grows more complex. The British man’s passport turns out to be a fake, but the British consulate is decidedly unhelpful. And then the pickpocket’s sister is abducted. From Cape Town’s famous waterfront to a deadly showdown on a suburban train,Cobra hurtles towards a shocking finale—and someone may not make it out alive.

When foreigners get killed or kidnapped in South Africa, it's particularly sticky for the police. The eyes of the world follow every move they make. In this case several men are shot dead at a supposedly secure location, and the British citizen they were guarding has been abducted.Benny Grissel heads the investigating team. We know from previous novels that Benny's demon is alcohol. In this book he's still in AA, and still struggling to keep sober. He's also living with the love of his life, which adds to his stress. Alexa has expectations Benny can’t deal with.What I love most about these books is the multiracial, multilingual, multicultural team. The Hawks are an elite law enforcement group. They speak a mixture of tribal languages, Afrikaans and English, but they are totally united in their determination to catch criminals. My favorite team member is Mbali, a short fat black woman detective with a high IQ who scolds her fellow officers whenever they swear.The Hawks are up against a professional hit man who's been responsible for at least sixteen international murders. "Cobra" signs every crime by leaving cartridges engraved with a Mozambique spitting cobra. The secret services of both Britain and South Africa also have an interest in the case, which complicates matters.The Hawk's pursuit of Cobra gets entangled with the activities of a charming pickpocket, who inadvertently steals something of value to Cobra. This young man’s adventures add another whole level of human interest (and action) to the plot, which is rich in gunplay, bloodshed, government shenanigans, and personal heroics.The Afrikaans phrases scattered here and there add atmosphere. Meaning can usually be intuited from context, and when that fails, the glossary works fine.Deon Meyer is an excellent writer, and his characters and subject matter are irresistible. I've enjoyed all of his thrillers immensely, and Cobra is right up there.

The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen

All fifteen-year-old Marco Jameson wants is to become a Danish citizen and go to school like a normal teenager. But his uncle Zola rules his former gypsy clan with an iron fist. Revered as a god and feared as a devil, Zola forces the children of the clan to beg and steal for his personal gain. When Marco discovers a dead body—proving the true extent of Zola’s criminal activities—he goes on the run. But his family members aren’t the only ones who’ll go to any lengths to keep Marco silent . . . forever.

Meanwhile, the last thing Detective Carl Mørck needs is for his assistants, Assad and Rose, to pick up a missing persons case on a whim: Carl’s nemesis is his new boss, and he’s saddled Department Q with an unwelcome addition. But when they learn that a mysterious teen named Marco may have as much insight into the case as he has fear of the police, Carl is determined to solve the mystery and save the boy. Carl’s actions propel the trio into a case that extends from Denmark to Africa, from embezzlers to child soldiers, from seemingly petty crime rings to the very darkest of cover-ups.