Brain on Fire

September 24, 2012
In 2009, Cahalan was in a serious relationship and her career as a reporter at the New York Post was taking off. But suddenly, as she tells it in this engaging memoir, she began suffering from a bizarre amalgam of debilitating symptoms including memory loss, paranoia, and severe psychosis that left her in a catatonic state that moved her close to death. Physicians remained baffled until one extraordinary doctor determined that Cahalan was “in the grip of some kind of autoimmune disease.” Released from the hospital after 28 days, she had no memory of her stay there. DVDs recorded in the hospital were the only link she had to her startling condition. “Without this electronic evidence, I could never have imagined myself capable of such madness and misery,” she writes. Focusing her journalistic toolbox on her story, Cahalan untangles the medical mystery surrounding her condition. She is dogged by one question: “How many other people throughout history suffered from my disease and others like it but went untreated? The question is made more pressing by the knowledge that even though the disease was discovered in 2007, some doctors I spoke to believe that it’s been around at least as long as humanity has.” A fast-paced and well-researched trek through a medical mystery to a hard-won recovery.

April 1, 2013
A "New York Post" reporter whose work has also has been featured in the "New York Times", Cahalan, at age 24, seemed launched into life; she was building a successful career as a journalist, had met a man with whom she shared common interests, and seemed perfectly healthy. Until, that is, she woke up in a hospital with no memory of going there or of the previous month. She created this memoir using her father's journal, her medical records, and interviews with family and friends. The book is interesting as a work of reconstructive journalism and as a record of methods the doctors tried and failed to use on her behalf. The author's own reading adds authenticity and poignancy. VERDICT For those interested in medical memoirs. ["Cahalan's hip writing style, sympathetic characters, and suspenseful story will appeal to fans of medical thrillers and the television show "House"," read the review of the "New York Times" best-selling Free Pr: S. & S. hc, "LJ" 11/1/12.--Ed.]--Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence

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