A Brain Wider Than the Sky

by Andrew Levy

With more than one in ten Americans—and more than one in five families—affected, the phenomenon of migraine is widely prevalent yet often ignored or misdiagnosed. For Andrew Levy, his migraines were occasional reminders of a persistent illness that he’d wrestled with half his life. Then in 2006 Levy was struck almost daily by a series of debilitating migraines that kept him essentially bedridden for months, imprisoned by pain and nausea that retreated only briefly in gentler afternoon light. When possible, he kept careful track of what triggered an onset and in luminous prose recounts his struggle to live with migraines, his meticulous attempts at calibrating his lifestyle to combat and avoid them, and most tellingly, the personal relationship a migraineur develops—an almost Stockholm syndrome–like attachment—with the indescribable pain, delirium, and hallucinations. Levy researched how personalities and artists throughout history—Alexander Pope, Freud, Virginia Woolf, even Elvis—dealt with their migraines and candidly describes his rehabilitation with the aid of prescription drugs and his eventual reemergence into the world, back to work and writing.

An enthralling blend of memoir and provocative analysis, A Brain Wider Than the Sky offers rich insights into an illness whose effects are too often discounted and whose sufferers are too often overlooked

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Health, Science, Medicine, Biography, Psychology

305 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 10, 2009

Reviews

[Douglass Gaking · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed this book. I needed to read someone else's story about what I am going through. Migraines are a lonely condition, particularly if you have chronic daily migraine (a.k.a. transformed migraine), which I have had for nearly 6 months. Hearing Dr. Levy's story of how he experienced the symptoms and how it affected his family meant a lot to me at a time when I am experience many of the same physical and emotional pains.

My one criticism of Dr. Levy is that he tries really hard to find a positive purpose for migraines. As optimistic as I tend to be about things, I feel his argument for this is quite a stretch. Debilitating pain and nausea that can be triggered by almost anything and everything seems pretty purposeless to me, especially when it feels like nobody else, including others who have experienced migraines, understands. Levy's idea that migraines might inspire creativity is something else that I am struggling with. Perhaps people with episodic migraines can use their time of relief to reflect on the pain or the aura and to create something from it. For me, suffering almost every day, I don't have the energy or the brain power to be creative. I normally have music pouring out of me faster than I can write it down. I have barely written anything but a few scraps of chord progressions since this started. No matter how hard I try, I can't create a melody or a timbre. Most of the time, I don't even want to hear sounds of any kind. I am creatively useless with this condition. I appreciate Dr. Levy's efforts to comfort me. I at least feel slightly less alone because of it, but I do not feel any more accepting of my condition. I want this demon out of me, and I don't think that any book or work of art is ever going to change that.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, basically if you suffer from migraine, read this book. If you don't, it will be extremely boring and nonsensical.
It might even be extremely boring and nonsensical IF you suffer from migraine, but I found it very informative and interesting.
Some of it was hard to understand because of the way it was written in some parts just didn't seem to make sense. But perhaps that is because it is coming from a sufferer of migraine and loss of train of thought and befuddled thinking is one of the symptoms --one that I experience so I understand!
He talks about migraine history as far back as the 460 B.C. and the ludicrous methods people used to use was very interesting.(Like drilling holes into their heads) Then again those of us with migraine can understand that a little bit. (Especially back then with no good medicine and for people who have migraine pain worse than me, I can imagine extreme measures!)
He talks about the many many genius's who have had it (which turned out to be MANY amazing people like Darwin, Freud, Dickinson, etc etc etc...) which makes you feel cool, and then makes you feel bad-because you just have migraine and your NOT a genius ;-)
He described the pain and the other symptoms of migraine and how it can be different person to person SO well I found myself nodding in agreement while reading (no aura's or numbness for me, just "God punched you in the side of the face" pain, the hard-to-think thing, throwing up and that fantastic high and period of clarity after the migraine decides to leave you be--- I might just be in a really good mood or come up with a really great meal for dinner or something during my "high"...Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence during his... *rolls eyes*)
It was refreshing to read about someone else who has the same problems (though his are 10 X's worse than mine so it also made me feel lucky)..the effect it has on your work, your friends, your family... how it is a sucky "disease" to have beacause you even feel like you have to hide the fact that you get them and hate talking about it because it is kind of looked down upon and/or just dismissed.. (ex: a friend or co-worker thinking it's dumb that your missing whatever your missing because of a "headache"---the word we migraine-er's CAN'T STAND for people to use because we would get down on our knees and thank God to have just a "headache".
Ok enough rambling, two thumbs up!!!

[Roby · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are some passages from the book that struck me as being good descriptors, or that I could really relate to, in order of their appearance in the book. One thing I don't have in common with many of the migraneurs he describes, sadly, is the sensation of elation or clarity that apparently follows some peoples' migraines. Mine are just followed by exhaustion and more pain.
[My notes in square brackets.:] Any bolding or italicizing is mine.

~ With aura or withou, with pain or without, daily, weekly, monthly, once in a lifetime, the migraine is a simple thing. It is a nerve-storm, as the nineteenth-century physician Edward Liveing called it, as convulsive and as electric as any other storm, nerve cells and blood vessels all shook up (Elvis had migraines, too), because your eyes took in too much light all of a sudden, because of a tall cup of coffee (caffeine stops some migraines but makes others), menstruation, a chocolate bar (maybe), a glass of red wine or a glass of white, cigarette smoke, air travel, that storm front coming down from Denver, the leaves falling off the big oak in your front yard, that extra hour of sleep you got last night, the hour of sleep you lost, too much heat, too little water, too much stress or too little, that other headache, the painkiller you took to stop the last migraine, the last migraine itself, your Eastern European grandmother's errant genes, nothing at all. (p10)
[This really is the frustration of migraines - there are so many things that can set them off, and so many of those things are unavoidable. It's like an unwinable game whose rules you don't fully understand or know.:]

~Soon there was just this little extra madness in the air, just a flirt of something. Early, still August, and the left side of my vision clouded over like a snowstorm, more blurring than blocked, and irritating - I can't explain it, but it really angered me, so bad I almost wanted to punch myself. I was slowing down, too, missing my cues. Standing in the center aisle of a pharmacy, blinking into its lights, forgetting what I wanted or even how I got there. (p65-66)
[My brain slows down about the same time I get the aura, and it becomes very difficult to piece words together. At this point, I start talking more slowly, hesitantly, another clue for those in the know.:]

~ And even worse, Siobhan [his wife:] half an hour late, an hour late, and all I wanted was relief. I resented the lateness, as slight as it was, I hated the guilt about how I was treating Aedan [their son:], but none of it compared to the desire for relief, the absolute carnal, primal desire to dive into a dark, silent bed. (p73)

~ Nine centuries ago, the Abbess of Bingen, Hildegard, described her spiritual visions, and twentieth-century observers have been struck by their resemblance to common migraine auras: "I saw a great star, splendid and beautiful ... and with that star came a multitude of shining sparks, which followed the star toward the south ... they were all extinguished and were changed into black cinders ... precipitated into the abyss and vanished from my sight." (p84)

~ Inside, a low pain lies over my right eye like a thin cumulus cloud at sunset, tilted slightly. Not too bad, but a sad inevitability. (p171)

~ It's not that the migraneur looks blind, stares vacantly, for instance, or is unable to focus, but that the eyes seem to be engaged in some other activity not visible to the nonmigraineurs in the room. The migraineur is staring at something not visible, or looking around something that is not visible, or wincing at light which, to everyone else, seems normal, or even subdued. The first symptoms, of course, describe someone experiencing aura; the last, someone with light-hatred,the sun-pain. (p180).
[I'm sure I get this look. Most people who know me are able to tell when my head is getting bad just by looking at my face, which goes pale with dark circles under the eyes. I also squint a lot, and duck my head to avoid the lights. Sun-glare is anathema.:]

~ Some migraineurs know what to do. The wife of a friend who excuses herself in the middle of parties, her departures as whispery as the leave-takings of Poe heroines (p181)

~ Elizabeth Loder, for instance, has proposed that migraines make sense if we look at them from an evolutionary perspective ... Migraines compel you to eat better and to sleep regularly. They compel you to avoid stress, which can do far worse things than to give you a headache ... And lastly, migraines make their owners "exquisitely responsive to a variety of environmental stimuli," which might be useful if some of those stimuli are toxic, or might trigger worse problems, or might upset the social fabric. (p200-201)

[Norah Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir chronicles personal experiences with migraines and how they have impacted Levy's life. Throughout the book, Levy discusses medical, historical, and cultural aspects of migraines with personal anecdotes, giving a multifaceted understanding of migraines. Overall, it's a compelling and informative read for anyone interested in learning more about migraines or seeking validation for their experiences with the condition. As someone who has a friend suffering from chronic migraine, this book was a simple glimpse into understanding this condition. In the words of Levy, "Pain is the surest thing in the world to the person feeling it, and the least sure thing to the person hearing about it, and that is a bad deal all around." I will remember what I read in this book when my friend is having an attack, and I will surely recommend this book to her.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Brain Wider Than The Sky by Andrew Levy is an informative & insightful read about migraine history as well as a life lived with a chronic form of the affliction in present day.

I removed a star from my rating because of the repeated use of the word headache to describe migraine attacks. Seasoned migraineurs know all too well these two terms aren’t interchangeable - being they are vastly different experiences of the human condition, and the excruciating pain some of us endure during migraine attacks is far removed from that of a minor headache. It’s disappointing to see the many disruptive & disabling symptoms of migraine attacks diminished to those of benign headaches in what is otherwise an enjoyable read.

Finally, as a 26+ year sufferer of migraine attacks that have varied in intensity, duration, and frequency, the following excerpts about migraine resonated with me [blurbs in brackets are my thoughts]:

"And then a throb hits you on the left side of the head so hard that your head bobs to the right. You look for the referee counting you down to ten. There's no way that came from inside your head, you think. That's no metaphysical crisis. God just punched you in the side of the face." (page 11)

"Maybe the language of migraine is a run-on sentence, in part because you can't find the right words, in part because the migraine is also a compound of too many interlocking features...
Maybe the language of migraine is silence: "All words and letters covered by this strange intruder...
Maybe the language of migraine is playful, even if you're not...
Maybe migraine is a visual medium. Some people don't try words; they try art...." (pages 54-55)

"The politics of migraine is one of isolation, of the soul retreating from the made world. Robert A. Davidoff in his textbook Migraine, writes about olfactory triggers that migraineurs are "literally tortured" by perfumes, soaps, detergents. One senses a little extra, untextbooklike intensity in his voice (he's got migraines, too, like many doctors), something that traces the outline of something deep and hard to say; that loved ones, friends, the incidental sensory stimuli of American culture, are what hurt.
In that sense, no one can really turn off what hurts a migraineur, and no one really wants to. The random migraineur's abject frustration with the fresh scent of Dove detergent is just a small representation of the problem, that migraineurs in mid attack require the world to be emptied out. What would it mean to respect such a demand? Millions of Popes with millions of screens, an almost dazzling burden to the economy of the nation and the psychic economy of all those households. Davidoff, instead, refers to the "sensible" decision of migraineurs to withdraw upon onset, to seek a dark, quiet room. This, too, multiplied by millions, becomes a kind of spontaneous public policy. The migraining man, the migraining woman, should be not seen or heard. And they don't want to be seen or heard; they don't want to see or hear you." (page 64)

"The migrainous sensibility understands life as an oscillation between utterly blocked and utterly clear perceptions of the world, because that's exactly how it looks from here." (page 86)

"As the book begins, Alice lolls on a riverbank on a "hot day," feeling "very sleepy and stupid," when Rabbit blurs by her. She pursues Rabbit down his Rabbit Hole and falls for three pages, "down, down, down," plenty of time to "look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next." The stupor, the hot day, are premonitory enough, but the fall down the dreamy hole rings bells." (page 107)

"It is not that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, although let's be mindful that the man who famously said that was talking about migraines among his other ailments." (page 116)

"But mainly the Declaration of Independence is migrainy because of what it asks: leave me alone." (page 131) [Haha! :D]

"The migraineur's gene map is not done, of course; if anything scientists have barely begun that work. But it provides a sense and shape to the problem: migraine is what doctors call "polygenic," which means that it can be inspired by a flaw on any number of genes. Some people have many of these flaws and some have one, and some, it would seem, have none. This means, essentially, that what might cure one migraineur should not be expected to cure another. And when one cross-references the tics hardwired into the body against the multiplicity of lifestyles, of exposures-and when one throws in the matter of aura, and the bad stomach, too, let alone the half-dozen other seemingly disconnected symptoms-the problem of finding what causes migraine and what stops it multiplies exponentially." (154)

"There's a sample population, too, the American soldiers, that places a high value on toughness, as a result of which fewer than 3 percent of those diagnosed have sought treatment with triptans, preferring to self-medicate with ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or aspirin." (page 189)

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

"There is no line between the migraine and worrying about the migraine."

As someone who suffers from not-infrequent migraines, I started highlighting passages on the first page this book (including the sentence above) and continued doing so pretty much right to the end. There's so much here that resonated with me: the descriptions of the debilitating pain of a migraine, but also of the feelings of dread, inevitability and despair that accompany the first vague pangs of a developing headache, the fragility and deep, deep relief you experience once the migraine has passed. The feeling that, as a "migraineur," you are part of a sad club you never intended join. The understanding that one person can never really comprehend another's pain, and the terrible suspicion sometimes harbored by the migraineur and the people around them that maybe the person with the headache is somehow responsible for their own misery. In the parlance of the day, I felt very "seen" reading this book.

But there's another aspect of the book that did not resonate with me at all, and that is the concept of migraine as a force for creativity. The author began to suffer from chronic daily migraine in his 40s, which prompted him to explore the (cultural) history and science behind these pernicious headaches. What he found and held on to (as a way of coming to terms with his own misery) was that artistic and intellectual migraineurs of the past, particularly those with aura, were sometimes able to harness the strange mental states that accompany a migraine and use them for creative purposes.

Maybe it's because I've never experienced aura, but I personally have never found any productive force or source of creativity in my migraines. The "mild" ones just make me feel sick and sort of absent, the bad ones are completely incapacitating, and the feeling they leave in their wake is nothing but tentative, exhausted relief. But everyone's migraine is different (while also kind of the same), and everyone's approach to their migraine is different (while also kind of the same), so if someone can - or needs to - find some "good" in the agony they regularly experience, then more power to them. I'm just not quite there yet.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Levy gives some great historical information in this book and that was honestly what I was looking forward to. I did enjoy hearing his story to a point but it got mundane after a while.

He is way too philosophical about his migraines. And he ponders one random thought to the next and forces it on the reader. Many of his thoughts could be confusing to some if they mistake them as research or god knows what.

He does some things that are not the brightest either. After a period of chronic migraines for four months, he gets on Topamax and it helps him a lot. Then he goes off of it months later because he didn't like how it affected his thinking. He decides to go drug-free and the migraines come right back. But all is good because he is philosophical now about his migraines and even gets a little excited afterward. I have no freaking idea why!!! No one should take this man's advice!

Read this for the historical stuff and some of the decent migraine facts he states.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished it and got a migraine that lasted two and a half days.

I've had migraines for years, and probable migraine without headache since I was little. They've changed course a few times already, and I'm currently in a good period. I can't resist a good book about them, though, the newer the better. So many otherwise great migraine books have old science behind their gears; as a reasonably new book (under a year old), this one doesn't have this problem. Levy's migraines are familiar to me, the same sorts of pain, the same useless sense of being unable to describe them, similar sorts of auras. Travelling somewhat haphazardly through historical diagnoses, current research, critiques of drugs (oh, topamax, how I loathe thee), and coloured with the unsteady and poignant description of pain and dissociation that migraine brings, A Brain Wider Than The Sky was everything I ever wanted in a book about migraines. Except, of course, the migraine I got when I finished.

[Stormy Mochal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be more of a migraine suffers diary, but it included a lot of history and other not-so personal information that was a bit distracting to his personal story.

I'm not one to skip chunks of books, but I found myself doing that with this text in order to get to the stuff I could relate to as a migraine sufferer.

[Megan Hager · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a 12 year old, I was diagnosed with chronic migraine and dealt with it almost every single day until I was 15. Those were truly the worst 3 years of my life so far and many of the symptoms and emotions that came with them made me feel even more of an outsider and crazy. This caused my self-isolation and I never spoke about what my darkest thoughts were. When I discovered this book-I was reading Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat where he mentioned A Brain Wider Than The Sky-my heart actually began to race when I read the summary where he mentioned the "almost Stockholm Syndrome-like attachment to the migraine." I had actually believed that I was crazy for almost wanting to hold on to the pain. I didn't understand that it was possible to be so accustomed to the pain that questions like "what would I be? Who would I be if not for this pain that I carried every day?" were completely normal. Similar to depression, which I now have either from a mix of migraine or genes but probably both, I embraced it in order to continue on and I held on to it so tightly that it eventually became an almost sadistic friend that I continued to miss after being away from them too long no matter how evil they were to me. I didn't understand that this was a normal occurrence until I read this life changing book. To be completely honest, now that I am past those years of migraine, my mind has blocked much of the experiences that I had due to them so reading this book was almost as if I was reading my own story that I had forgotten. When he discussed the clear euphoria he felt during or right after his migraine, I suddenly remembered once during a particularly bad migraine as I was jabbing my thumb into my right temple-always the right temple-to relieve the pain, I was thinking about life and it's meaning and suddenly it all became clear and I felt as if I had unlocked the secrets to the universe, no joke. I wish everyone who was close to me during these years, or anyone who is close to me, would read this book to understand what I had to go through and to understand how it has shaped me as a person. If I had the chance to change anything, I would only change the timing of reading this book so I knew for a fact that I wasn't alone and so I could understand this affliction better. The pain taught me my own will to live and perseverance and I would not be who I am today without that experience (wow can that sound any more cliché?). I still have migraine, and have more than I admit because of how minor they are compared to how they used to be, but after reading this book, my entire idea of it has changed and I understand so much more than I did before. Andrew Levy really did change my life with his thorough research as well as his own personal experiences and I would highly recommend this book to anyone, whether you are the migraineur, love a migraineur, or just seeking more knowledge on this interesting, yet not well known, affliction that affects millions of people worldwide.

[Amanda ☕ Steeping Stories ☕]

I've been looking for some chronic pain memoirs and may check this one out. I have chronic migraine and vestibular migraine, which gives me a daily migraine attack with vertigo (plus nausea, fatigue, light and noise sensitivity etc). The pain is constant, ranging from moderate to excruciating.

It's debilitating to the point where I have been largely housebound for ten months. I had to stop working and studying.

I've started writing a short memoir series about my experience with chronic illness that you can read, if you're interested.

Book Blog | Writer Website | Twitter | Instagram

[AJ Balmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There is no line between the migraine and worrying about the migraine...”.

There are two types of headache books I’ve found, (1) those that offer possible cure “plans,” and (2) those that just provide comfort by being so relatable. This is the latter. I didn’t think this book went in any particular direction or even told a story but I kept turning the pages, and finished within 24 hours, because it provided so many relatable profound statements I kept wanting more. Chronic pain sucks but for some reason it’s easier knowing there are others just like you. I’d recommend this to anyone with headache.

[Deborah Charnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Levy is an excellent writer. But the reason I give this book five stars is because I learned so much about migraines. Levy shares his personal experiences, along with those of many of his contemporaries. What I found extremely interesting was to hear about all the luminaries through history who were likely migraneurs, and their expressions (in many forms) of their pains or migraine auras.

This book is appropriate for any adult. Having never experienced a migraine, and rarely ever even having had headaches, I was fascinated to put my feet in other people's shoes.

[Faith Spinks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book quite hard to follow in places but then maybe that is the game of one migraine mind talking to another migraine mind. And I had a few migraines during the time I was reading this.

One thing this book did get me thinking about was the positives of migraine. My answer is the dreams. When I have migraines I have truly crazy dreams. I often lose my sight in them and struggle to explain that I suddenly can’t see. But I can also see where fellow migraineur Lewis Carroll got his fabulous Alice in Wonderland inspiration from!

[Pedro Pombo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living with migranes can makes us feel isolated, this book aproaches the theme with the author experience showing that we are able to live and succeed with this condition, several examples of personalities with the same condition. The author help us seeing this condition in a positive way and somehow give us some hope. Not much technical information, but more like a first person experience on how to live with migranes.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent insight into one man's experience with migraine headaches. Captures the essence of this debilitating condition quite well even though each person's experience can vary.

Also includes references to migraines through history with treatments and famous folks who have had migraines.

Should be read by anyone suffering from migraines or living with a person who has migraines.

[Tiffany Horton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this when I started researching migraines. It was informative and a very interesting look into the author’s life.

[Elizabeth Roberts-Zibbel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolute favorite book on migraine.

[Catherine Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone with migraine should read this. Andrew Levy has migraine with aura and he's an amazing writer. He uses words to talk about migraine in ways that I never will be able to. Worth reading.

[Meli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read because it was what came up when I searched the library catalogue for "migraine." Beautifully written words to read while having migraines.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a migraineur, I was drawn to this book. I especially wanted to see how Andrew Levy described migraine, as it's notoriously difficult to describe to people who are lucky enough not to experience our version of hell.

Levy intertwines his personal story with the history of migraine and then with the research he did on treatments and medical advice. Some of this was interesting, even fascinating. I loved the name dropping he did; who knew I shared a migraineur ancestral lineage with so many famous people? On the flip side, I learned that I apparently don't experience "the elation afterward, the extra surge of insight that often accompanies the end of a migraine." Damn. Why couldn't I at least get that?!

Levy gets auras; I don't. It sounds like people who experience auras get some pleasure from them sometimes. I can't relate to that. Levy talks about the joy we get when the world comes back into focus; now that, I can relate to. Some of the way he describes things are poetic and poignant, and he mentions some things that I think are important, like how anything can be a migraine trigger and you just have to live your life, but some of what he writes is difficult to get through. It's one reason why it took me a long time to finish this book. Another reason was that I sometimes felt -- as silly as it sounds -- that reading about migraines would bring one on. After all, it's what I try my hardest to avoid, and instead, focusing on the subject so intensely felt like it could be tempting fate.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

as someone who has suffered from migraines for over half my life, i found this book to be shockingly familiar and beautifully written. levy explains this condition in such compelling language, and in such a way that it draws the reader into the pain, darkness and isolation that every migraineur experiences. although i've had my migraines (and interestingly, every person who has migraines seems to refer to them as "my" migraines - they are so personal and distinct to each sufferer) for over 2 decades, i don't think i'd every really thought about how they have defined and shaped my life. the depression, the lost hours spent in bed or the ER, the missed dinners, concerts, time with family and friends. have they changed me? impossible to know, but equally impossible to imagine that they haven't.

i was struck by the years that the author suffered without seeing a neurologist, without seeking further medical attention or medical relief. i've never found it noble to "tough it out." i used to describe my pain as though someone was trying to dig my eye out with a spoon. but levy puts all of it - the auras, the nausea, the pain into words in a way i've never been able to. this is a must read for EVERY migraine sufferer, for anyone who loves them, and for anyone curious about this condition.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pretty torn as to how to rate this book. I found the history of migraine treatment to be fascinating (as well as scary, frustrating, comical and enlightening), and I loved reading many of the historical and literary depictions of migraine suffering. I also enjoyed (although, I wonder if "enjoyed" is the right word) reading about the authors treatment and his bonding with other migraine sufferers. I did find the book could have used some tightening during the early suffering incidents though as much of those segments seemed to ramble a bit needlessly. In fact, I think the author even suspected the reader's impatience as he defended his slowness in seeking medical treatment. Unforuntately, much of that wandering cut the flow of the book for me and it made it difficult for me to get back into it. However, it was very gratifying and validating as a migraine sufferer to read another sufferer's account of the experience.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot to ask if he had a headache.

I’d been fairly circumspect so far, rather than inviting Andrew Levy to grab a beer, or arbitrarily assuming that a coffeehouse was appropriate for our meeting—migraine triggers come in many forms, as his book, “A Brain Wider Than the Sky,” makes exceedingly clear. But somehow, I forgot to ask him if he had a headache, right now. So too, curiously, had the moderator of the discussion he’d just had at the Printers Row Lit Fest, Paula Kamen. But Kamen, herself author of a related memoir, “All in My Head,” always has a headache—a constant presence—unlike the chronic “nerve storms” that foment Levy’s migraines, so perhaps she just considers such queries redundant. In any case, I forgot to ask. http://lit.newcity.com/2009/07/07/hea...

[Marissa Morrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy, this guy milked a lot of words out of a headache. Perhaps because I read it while feeling my own chronic headache throb, I found this book to be quite tedious. However, there is some interesting discussion here about migraines throughout history (Thomas Jefferson had one while writing the Declaration of Independence, Sigmund Freud tried to medicate his with cocaine, and my own fantasy football draftee MVP Terrel Davis had one during the '98 Super Bowl). Levy offers some solid-sounding advice for keeping migraine away--no chocolate, alcohol, or caffeine; and he raises some interesting questions about headaches and marriage.

[Tiffany Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this will be my recommendation title for others ( a must read for the migraineur). It's got tons of clinical info but it's also physically and emotionally SO descriptive.

In fact, it's so well written that at times it has this quality, that on the tip-of-my-tongue sort of feeling, just like my migraines. I think this may be because he wrote parts while under migraine and kept them, so maybe he just captured the positive headspace so well I can feel it. Regardless, it's this quality that I haven't found in any other migraine title that makes me feel like it's the closest thing for the non-migraneur.

[Leaflet · Rating 2 out of 5]

The history of migraines was interesting. It was when the author waxed philosophical about them that I began to slowly back away. He didn't actually come right out and say anything silly like "embrace your pain" or "make friends with your migraines", but I kept half-expecting him to. Even so, he skirts awfully close with a sentence like: "The migraine is my companion now, and I simply can't live without it. It has become my geography, my compass." As a side note, I was nervous reading this book as I was afraid my head would burst into a migraine just from mere force of suggestion.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of a 3.5 star review. I feel like I really liked the science and history, but only moderately liked the author's excessive rumination on his migraines. I found myself skimming those sections as the book progressed.

If you are a migraineur, I would recommend this book. If you love a migraineur, I would recommend this book. Again I found the history of migraine and the science behind it intriguing. Migraines are real. We don't whip them up to get out of life. They stop our lives temporarily.

[Abby Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggle with Chronic Migraine, so I could relate a lot to this book. I think it would be great for those who want to experience what life might be like with severe migraine or for those who want somebody to bond with over it. I gave it to my in-laws to share what my life is like. A good sharing tool! I'm not sure this is the book for the average reader who just wants to read an autobiography or if you are so familiar with migraine you don't want to hear any of the history and science lessons.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, more than anything, was helpful to me in that it validated the pain, both physical and emotional, of dealing with chronic migraines. I also really appreciated the larger perspective it brought to the subject--of migraine as teacher, as creative inspiration, and even as connection to the Divine. I definitely recommend it to anyone who suffers from migraines, or who is close with someone who does.