Neurosurgery has come a long way since the sixteenth century, and this series of historical anecdotes traces the many people who, often by suffering horrific injuries, allowed the study and treatment of brain trauma to evolve and become the sophisticated field it is today...Entertaining and quotable, Kean's writing is sharp, and each individual story brings the history of neuroscience to life. Compulsively readable, wicked scientific fun.

Science writer Kean delves into the strange ways we've learned about the workings of our brains, rejuvenating with invigorating detail anecdotes that otherwise receive only brief textbook mention...Reading this collection is like touring a museum of neuroscience's most dramatic anomalies, each chapter taking us to a different place and time...Kean's colloquial language and intimate voice bring all of this series of mini-histories to life-all of which are sure to stimulate a wide range of brains.

Science writer Kean explores the vagaries and inconsistencies of the human brain via diverting stories that chronicle medical science's fits and starts...Where does the brain end and the mind begin? Curious readers will find both brain and mind fully revved up while engaging with this powerfully appealing and thought-provoking work of neuroscience history.

Strokes, seizures, accidents: if they don't kill, they can traumatize the brain so badly that an individual's personality can be significantly changed. But, explains the New York Times bestselling author of the terrific The Violinist's Thumb, early neuroscientists saw such trauma as an opportunity to study the brain's wondrous workings.

This is Sam Kean's finest work yet, an entertaining and offbeat history of the brain populated with mad scientists, deranged criminals, geniuses, and wretched souls. The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons is one of those books that will have you following your friends around, reading passages out loud, until they snatch the book away from you and read it for themselves. Good luck getting it back.