The Mind Electric (forthcoming June 10\, 2
025) speaks to \;the stories we tell ourselves about our brains\, and
the stories that our brains tell to us.
A girl believes she has
been struck blind for stealing a kiss. A mother watches helplessly as eac
h of her children is replaced by a changeling. A woman is haunted each mon
th by the same four chords of a single song. In neurology\, illness is ine
xtricably linked with narrative\, the clues to unraveling these mysteries
hidden in both the details of a patient's story and the tells of their bod
y.
Stories are etched into the very structure of our brains\, c
oded so deeply that the impulse for storytelling survives and even surges
after the most devastating injuries. But our brains are also porous&mdash\
;the stories they concoct are shaped by cultural narratives about bodies a
nd illness that permeate the minds of doctors and patients alike. In the h
istory of medicine\, some stories are heard\, while others&mdash\;the narr
atives of women\, of Black and brown people\, of displaced people\, of dis
empowered people&mdash\;are too often dismissed.
In \;<
a href="https://www.linkin-libraries.org/iii/encore/record/C__Rb12372667__
SAnand%2C%20Pria__Orightresult__X4?lang=eng&\;suite=def">The Mind Elect
ric\, neurologist Pr
ia Anand reveals&mdash\;through case study\, history\, fable\, and mem
oir&mdash\;all that the medical establishment has overlooked: the complexi
ty and wonder of brains in health and in extremis\, and the vast gray area
between sanity and insanity\, doctor and patient\, and illness and wellne
ss\, each separated from the next by the thin veneer of a different story.
Moving from the Boston hospital where she treats her patients\
, to her childhood years in India\, to Isla Providencia in the Caribbean a
nd to the Republic of Guinea in West Africa\, she demonstrates again and a
gain the compelling paradox at the heart of neurology: that even the most
peculiar symptoms can show us something universal about ourselves as human
s. Register now to join this intriguing virtual conversation!
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br />
About the Author: Pria Anand is a neurologist at the Boston Medical Cen
ter and an Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Medicine
. She is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Medical School\, and s
he trained in neurology\, neuro-infectious diseases\, and neuroimmunology
at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Please Regi
ster for link to program.
Live Virtual Author Talks&n
bsp\;- \;This new series through Library Speakers Consortium
offers live online talks by bestselling authors of books in a variety of g
enres. Participants receive a link to the program when they register. Plea
se see https://libraryc.org/gail
borden \;to register and also view recorded videos of past speaker
s.