Brainquake: In the Grip of Epilepsy
by Amy S. Morris
Category: Medical

Brainquake: In the Grip of Epilepsy is a personal account of the author´s adult-onset epilepsy. As a young woman, she was struck down by the disastrous disorder. Abandoned by her lover, afraid she´d loose her job, worrying if she could do the international travel her job required, concerned about health insurance, trying drug after drug with all the side effects, finally choosing to have traumatic brain surgery, she tried valiantly to overcome deepening depression. The story is told with brilliance by the author, who looks at her own experiences with a cold, examining eye, taking us on her personal odyssey through the "Decade of the Brain." Amy Morris has a Ph.D. in the Humanities from UCLA, worked for seven years at The Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities in Los Angeles (and—as the author´s photo on the back cover reveals—climbs 14,000-foot peaks for personal satisfaction). She wrote this book about her own experiences of the profound personal, social, and cognitive effects of both the epileptic seizures and their cutting-edge treatments. Because of those experiences, Dr. Morris pursued academic interests in aspects of the neurosciences at UCLA, and has been awarded a Fellowship in The Art and Neurosciences Project at The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University, New York.