Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys into the Human Brain

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While I was engaged and challenged by the more emotional and worrying patient stories, I also very much enjoyed the initial chapters of the book which aptly described the range of bizarre cases that can pop up in the neurology department and the interesting and unexpected ways in which medical staff go about trying to figure out what’s wrong. For example, a woman who was having seizures and foaming at the mouth was recognised by Dr Ropper as having a benign tumour on an ovary.

It was interesting to learn how the change of the medical profession following the introduction of scanning technology - MRI, CT etc - has caused an over reliance on such technologies rather than listening to the patient or patient's family to learn their actual symptoms. The young residents, developing their skills and trying to nurture them and develop their critical thinking. His empathy and tenderness were most evident in the two chapters he dedicated to the dreadful disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This isn’t a beginners guide to neurology and psychiatry, but it is well explained and rationale is given for decisions made by the author and his team for the care of his patients.If he did, he would realize he spends an entire book blowing eighteen over-inflated tires of sexist, egotistical, out of touch diesel right up his own glowing red exhaust stack. I was hoping for someone to talk about being a neurologist and the rigors of having such an interesting title, an adjunct to the great "Do No Harm".

It's surprising that the first cuts aren't done by candy stripers, followed by maintenance staff and kitchen workers. From the quotidian to the exotic, from the heart-breaking to the humorous, the authors present an honest and compelling look at one of medicine's most fascinating specialties. This is not helped by the "I don't care, sod off" attitude he (his persona) takes to people with psychosomatic conditions, many of whom seem to have been sexually abused. Allan Ropper's Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys into the Human Brain, cowritten with Brian Burrell, is a first-person narrative about hospital neurology. She speaks with a strong North Shore accent, and despite her downscale style of dress, she has above-average verbal skills: she listens carefully, processes information quickly, and answers helpfully.I'm sure you need a gigantic ego to do the job and there are plenty of stories where he gets stuff wrong (at first, before getting it right obv) but the overall impression is of being sat next to someone at a dinner party who starts off seeming an absolutely fascinating and enthralling raconteur and by the third course you're wondering who you ought to stab in the eye with a dessert fork: yourself or him. I especially wanted, or needed, to contemplate the juxtaposed stories of two ALS patients who chose such different paths for themselves. In the end, I felt I had witnessed not only the workings of an astute medical mind, but also a highly sensitive, caring human being. Ropper |author2=Brian David Burrell |date=7 January 2016 |title=Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole |url=https://archive.

of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease by Allan H. His initial diagnosis of a patient with acute quadriparesis is wrong, and events then unfold too rapidly to avert catastrophe. A moderately interesting story of the life of a neurologist, marred by the gigantic ego of the author.It sounds simple enough, unless the problem affects the very organ that produces awareness and generates speech.