Books : My Stroke of Insight
from: Penguin Audio
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Binding: Audio CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.196810092
EAN: 9780143144007
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 0143144006
Label: Penguin Audio
Manufacturer: Penguin Audio
Number Of Items: 5
Number Of Pages: 1
Publication Date: July 03, 2008
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Sales Rank: 4950
Studio: Penguin Audio
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Product Description:
Unabridged CDs • 5 CDs, 5 1?2 hours
A brain scientist’s personal experience with a stroke and her journey to a full recovery.
Amazon.com Review:
A brain scientist's journey from a debilitating stroke to full recovery becomes an inspiring exploration of human consciousness and its possibilities
On the morning of December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four brief hours. As the damaged left side of her brain--the rational, grounded, detail- and time-oriented side--swung in and out of function, Taylor alternated between two distinct and opposite realties: the euphoric nirvana of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace; and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized Jill was having a stroke, and enabled her to seek help before she was lost completely.
In My Stroke of Insight, Taylor shares her unique perspective on the brain and its capacity for recovery, and the sense of omniscient understanding she gained from this unusual and inspiring voyage out of the abyss of a wounded brain. It would take eight years for Taylor to heal completely. Because of her knowledge of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and most of all an amazing mother, Taylor completely repaired her mind and recalibrated her understanding of the world according to the insights gained from her right brain that morning of December 10th.
Today Taylor is convinced that the stroke was the best thing that could have happened to her. It has taught her that the feeling of nirvana is never more than a mere thought away. By stepping to the right of our left brains, we can all uncover the feelings of well-being and peace that are so often sidelined by our own brain chatter. A fascinating journey into the mechanics of the human mind, My Stroke of Insight is both a valuable recovery guide for anyone touched by a brain injury, and an emotionally stirring testimony that deep internal peace truly is accessible to anyone, at any time.
Questions for Jill Bolte Taylor
Amazon.com: Your first reaction when you realized what was happening to your body was one you would expect: "Oh my gosh, I'm having a stroke!" Your second, though, was a little more surprising: "Wow, this is so cool!" What could be cool about a stroke?
Taylor: I grew up to study the brain because I have a brother who is only 18 months older than I am. He was very different in the way he perceived experiences and then chose to behave. As a result, I became fascinated with the human brain and how it creates our perception of reality. He was eventually diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia, and I dedicated my career to the postmortem investigation of the human brain in an attempt to understand, at a biological level, what are the differences between my brain and my brother’s brain. On the morning of the stroke, I realized that my brain was no longer functioning like a "normal" brain and this insight into my brother's reality excited me. I was fascinated to intimately understand what it might be like on the inside for someone who would not be diagnosed as normal. Through the eyes of a curious scientist, this was an absolutely rare and fascinating experience for me to witness the breakdown of my own mind.
Amazon.com: What did you learn about the brain from your stroke and your recovery that your scientific training hadn't prepared you for?
Taylor: My scientific training did not teach me anything about the human spirit and the value of compassion. I had been trained as a scientist, not as a clinician. I can only hope that we are teaching our future physicians about compassion in medicine, and I know that some medical schools, including the Indiana University School of Medicine, have created a curriculum with this intention.
My training as a scientist, however, did provide me with a roadmap to how the body and brain work. And although I lost my left cognitive mind that thinks in language, I retained my right hemisphere that thinks in pictures. As a result, although I could not communicate with the external world, I had an intuitive understanding about what I needed to do in order to create an environment in which the cells in my brain could be happy and healthy enough that they could regain their function. In addition, because of my training, I had an innate trust in the ability of my brain to be able to recover itself and my mother and I respected the organ by listening to it. For example, when I was tired, I allowed my brain to sleep, and when I was fresh and capable of focusing my attention, we gave me age-appropriate toys and tools with which to work.
Amazon.com: Your stroke affected functions in your left brain, leaving you to what you call the "la-la land" of your right hemisphere. What was it like to live in your right brain, and then to rebuild your left?
Taylor: When the cells in my left brain became nonfunctional because they were swimming in a pool of blood, they lost their ability to inhibit the cells in my right hemisphere. In my right brain, I shifted into the consciousness of the present moment. I was in the right here, right now awareness, with no memories of my past and no perception of the future. The beauty of La-la land (my right hemisphere experience of the present moment) was that everything was an explosion of magnificent stimulation and I dwelled in a space of euphoria. This is great way to exist if you don't have to communicate with the external world or care whether or not you have the capacity to learn. I found that in order for me to be able to learn anything, however, I had to take information from the last moment and apply it to the present moment. When my left hemisphere was completely nonfunctional early on, it was impossible for me to learn, which was okay with me, but I am sure it was frustrating for those around me. A simple example of this was trying to put on my shoes and socks. I eventually became physically capable of putting my shoes and socks on, but I had no ability to understand why I would have to put my socks on before my shoes. To me they were simply independent actions that were not related and I did not have the cognitive ability to figure out the appropriate sequencing of the events. Over time, I regained the ability to weave moments back together to create an expanse of time, and with this ability came the ability to learn methodically again. Life in La-la land will always be just a thought away, but I am truly grateful for the ability to think with linearity once again.
Amazon.com: What can we learn about our brains and ourselves from your experience, even if we haven't lived through the kind of brain trauma you have?
Taylor: I learned that I have much more say about what goes on between my ears than I was ever taught and I believe that this is true for all of us. I used to understand that I had the ability to stop thinking about one thing by consciously choosing to preoccupy my mind with thinking about something else. But I had no idea that it only took 90 seconds for me to have an emotional circuit triggered, flush a physiological response through my body and then flush completely out of me. We can all learn that we can take full responsibility for what thoughts we are thinking and what emotional circuitry we are feeling. Knowing this and acting on this can lead us into feeling a wonderful sense of well-being and peacefulness.
Amazon.com: You are the "Singin' Scientist" for Harvard's Brain Bank (just as you were before your stroke). Could you tell us about the Brain Bank (in song or not)?
Taylor: There is a long-term shortage of brain tissue donated for research into the severe mental illnesses. Most people don’t realize that when you sign the back of your license as an organ donor, the brain is not included. If you would like to donate your brain for research, you must contact a brain bank directly. There is also a shortage of "normal control" tissue for research. The bottom line reality is that if there were more tissue available for research, then more scientists would be dedicating their careers to the study of the severe mental illnesses and we would have more answers about what is going on with these disorders. The numbers of mentally ill individuals in our society are staggering. The most serious and disabling conditions affect about 6 percent--or one in 17--adults and 9-13 percent of children in the United States. Half of all lifetime conditions of mental illness start by age 14 years, and three-fourths by age 24 years.
For more information about brain donation to the Harvard brain bank, please call 1-800-BRAINBANK or visit them at: www.brainbank.mclean.org
If you would like to hear me sing the brain bank jingle, please visit www.drjilltaylor.com!
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
A very valuable book, not only for those who have suffered a stroke, but for those whose loved ones have. My husband suffered a massive stroke in 2002, several TAI's, and 2006 diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The book shows how small steps are the so important and not overwhelming for the person. Above all treating the patient and loved one with DIGNITY! Take charge of and be involved every step of the way.
Rating:  -
This book does provide a fascinating personal account of Ms. Bolte Taylor's stroke, but it also gives inspiring advice. She had the great opportuniuty of being forced to re-program how she sees and interacts with the world and challenges the reader to do just that.
Rating:  -
I had high expectation for this book, but it was far less interesting than I hoped. There were many redundant passages about being one with the universe and the state of nirvana that the author, Dr. Jill Taylor, achieved. A good editor would have shaved off at least 20 pages. I found myself skimming over more than a few pages. I expected more of the science; explanations were couched in simplistic terms. Although there are descriptions of normal brain function in the beginning, the scientific discussion waned when it came to her actual situation.
After her surgery and her recovery starts, Dr. Taylor glosses over the 8 years it took her to recover to focus on the spiritual aspect of her experience. The steady stream of new-age mysticism is attributed to right-brain function, making an argument that religious/spiritual/mystical experiences are nothing more than a few extra neurons firing here and a few less firing there. And who knows, maybe they are. What might be useful to hospital workers and caregivers is her need description of how their questions, demands, and posture were experienced. She needed questions repeated slowly, not loudly. (As she noted, she wasn't deaf, but folks would repeat a question louder as if it would make understand better.)
At the end of it, I was disappointed in this book. Even at the Kindle price of $9.99 I would recommend waiting to pick the paperback version up for less.
Rating: -
25 years ago, my grandmother suffered a massive left hemisphere stroke that left her half paralyzed and unable to speak. That was a traumatic experience for me and all my family. My beloved grandma died 5 days later, probably of pneumonia. But I always feared to enter her mind during those 5 days in ICU, wondering what it would be like to be buried alive, figuratively, after a massive stroke. So I read this book with trepidation but I am glad I did because it is an enormously positive book, partly because Jill Taylor's outcome was positive. If it hadn't have been, the book would probably not have been written, naturally. The advice towards the end sounds a lot like what Zen masters and other spiritual teachers say, so that tantalizing link makes it more believable and also makes us wonder about spiritual experiences. The only disappointment I must voice is that there is no real practical advice for those of us who haven't had strokes (and don't want to have one in order to become spiritually advanced!) I know, I know... meditation. This merely proves that there is a link between brain function and spiritual states, and also proves that we as a culture are not there yet, with regards to advancing spiritually en masse. We have a long ways to go and the vehicles that can take us there are not easy to drive!
Rating: -
Jill Bolte Taylor captures my attention with her view on energy fields. A must read! Read on to see what I mean. It may mean a major change in health care.
Early on in her experience with her stroke she mentions feeling fluid, flowing in a field without boundaries. She felt part of the universal energy and it was tranquil, safe and blessed. This is a woman who had diminished or no functioning in her left brain.
As she worked to get help she observed the energy of business cards as she held them. She then, after finding the "right" energy, did she match the patterns on the card to patterns on the phone. She did not recognize them as numbers. Some phone numbers she only remembered as patterns...or rhymes. When her co-worker answered the phone it was his reassuring tone/energy that let her know help was on the way. She could not understand what he was saying.
Help arrives and later a kind-hearted paramedic's energy which is compassionate and comforting transported me to the hospital. She really appreciated his response to her. Arrival at the Emergency room was confusing with all the different energies, some good, some not so. It was difficult with all the noises, energy fields (Bodies) moving about and all the questions. What she really appreciated was when the staff connected with her by touching her gently, making eye contact, speaking slowly and softly. She knew these people were there to help her. Her request of them: "Respect ... Read More
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