Even so, I find it challenging to write just 500 words about any book I've read. My hope is that I capture the essence of the book and convey enough information for a readers of the review to decide whether to not to spend time reading the book. So far, I've reviewed only non-fiction books but plan to review some fiction and poetry in the future.
Here's a sample of my latest book review (others featuring Finding Our Fathers, The Mature Mind, The Last Lecture, and The Legacy Guide are available in back issues of Springfield Connection and on my website):
My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor
By Todd Peterson
The human brain. It’s mysterious. And it’s marvelous!
Our brain contains about 100 billion neurons. It consumes a quarter of the body’s oxygen and most of its calories. Yet just weighs about three pounds.
Our brain is the seat of consciousness, thought, memory, and emotion. It is the control center that regulates bodily activities, receives and interprets sensory impulses, and transmits information to our muscles and body organs.But what happens when the brain is injured? In My Stroke of Insight, neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor tells about her personal experience and remarkable discoveries about the brain.
At the age of thirty-seven, Taylor experienced a massive stoke in the left side of her brain. The brain scientist observed her own brain deteriorate over four hours as she lost her ability to recall any of her life. She could no longer talk, walk, read, or write.
It took Jill Taylor eight years to recover from her stoke. What she learned during her healing journey has implications for every human being, not just those who suffer a stroke or other brain injury.
Taylor’s stroke damaged the left hemisphere of her brain – the language center, home of the ego, the rational, time-oriented “left mind.” She experienced living from her brain’s right hemisphere – her “right mind” that remembers isolated moments, thinks in pictures, and perceives the “big picture”.
Taylor writes that “to the right mind, no time exists other than the present moment, and each moment is vibrant with sensation. Life or death occurs in the present moment. The experience of joy happens in the present moment. Our perception and experience of connection with something that is greater than ourselves occurs in the present moment. To our right mind, the moment of now is timeless and abundant.”
The two hemispheres of our brain not only perceive and think differently neurologically, they “demonstrate very different values based on the types of information they perceive, and thus exhibit very different personalities. My stoke of insight is that at the core of my right hemisphere consciousness is a character that is directly connected to my feeling of deep inner peace. It is completely committed to the expression of peace, love, joy, and compassion in the world.”
By recognizing the differences in the right and left mind, we can lead our lives with a more “balanced-brain approach.” We have more choice in how we think, fee, and behave when we are clear about which side of our brain is processing different types of information. The author describes how to connect with the deep inner peace that resides in the right side of our brain.
From her experience, Taylor believes “the more time we spend running our inner peace/compassion circuitry, then the more peace/compassion we will project into the world and ultimately the more peace/compassion we will have on the planet.”
Ultimately, all the difficult work Jill Bolte Taylor did to recover her left hemisphere functions has made possible the sharing of her right mind discoveries. (Her speeches and interviews are available at www.drjilltaylor.com).
My Stroke of Insight is a fascinating look at the human mind, an inspiring guide for people recovering from a brain injury, and a gift to everyone seeking deep inner peace in their lives.
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