The Dying of Enoch Wallace: Life, Death, and the Changing Brain

What happens in the brain when an old dog learns a new trick--or forgets one? As our health care improves and more of us live longer, we see more neurological deficits, from Alzheimer's to stroke; fortunately, our learning is keeping pace with our aging. The Dying of Enoch Wallace: Life, Death, and the Changing Brain is physician Ira B. Black's look at the state of our understanding of the brain, its development, and its degradation. Peppering his scientific assessments with stories of neurological patients that humanize and make concrete the sometimes abstract concepts, Black keeps the reader's attention throughout. Though he occasionally lapses into strange territory (suggesting at one point that neuroscientists might one day eliminate anger and hate), his historical treatments and thorough explanations of learning, memory, and other brain tasks are engaging and informative. The stories are equally compelling, if mildly depressing--though there's been some progress through the years, most sufferers of brain damage or degeneration have to live with their condition for the rest of their lives. But Black infuses his book with hope and meaning for these patients. We're learning more and more about the brain, and someday we should have its architecture so well understood that treatment will be as simple as setting a broken bone. --Rob Lightner