Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

3.5 rounded up to 4

Susannah Cahalan details her month of madness when a rare auto-immune disease ravaged her mind and took from her her speech, her personality, ability to make memories, and her trust in reality. She was able to find a treatment that helped her gain most of her health back, but the month of madness and the fear of it happening again left its mark on Cahalan.

The book is straightforward and well-written. Underlying Cahalan's plight and her recovery is the medical systems that are still in place in today's world. It is no one's direct fault, but the current system doesn't allow everyone to get tested or to have access to the healthcare that Cahalan had. Her comments about the system remind me of my psych professor's rant about capitalism and how in this current state of things, there are health concerns that frankly don't get diagnosed or treated because they aren't profitable.

The major takeaway of this book is just how fragile reality truly is. Cahalan remembers things vividly that never happened and heard her boyfriend or others say things about her. The mind is a truly powerful thing and I find it incredibly interesting. We are truly all brains in skin suits pretending that we have a grasp on reality on this tiny blue marble of an Earth.