The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head: A Psychiatrist’s Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases

by Gary Small

“Stories of human behavior at its most extreme….With humor, compassion, empathy, and insight, Small searches for and finds the humanity that lies hidden under even the most bizarre symptoms.”
—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind

A psychiatrist’s stories of his most bizarre cases, The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head by Gary Small, M.D., and Gigi Vorgan—co-authors of The Memory Bible—offers a fascinating and highly entertaining look into the peculiarities of the human mind. In the vein of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings, and the other bestselling works of Oliver Sacks, The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head surprises, enthralls, and illuminates as it focuses on medical mysteries that would stump and amaze the brilliant brains on House, M.D.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Memoir, Medical, Mental Health, Medicine

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review It is as good second time round as first. A few of the best chapters:
1. Sexy Stare - Mildly psychotic lady who thought the author, during therapy, had sex with her by staring into her eyes and wondered if she could have got pregnant. When she got a life (and some little pills) she improved a lot from the borderline personality she had.

I always thought borderline personality disorder was the really rather unpleasant, manipulative people who always have to have their own way, throw tantrums and run their mouths and no one, including the medical professionals, wants to deal with them. But here they are defined as being on the border between normal (ie neurotic) and psychotic. Interesting.

2. The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head - Yoga fanatic who let her diabetes get out of hand. A crossover from physical to psychological. It wasn't the first time she'd done this so one wonders if a teeny tiny bit of her brain wasn't crying out for attention.

7. The Shrinking Penis - Hot-shot lawyer who thought his crotch itch was causing his willie to shrink and wouldn't have sex with his wife was diagnosed with schizophrenia, got lithium, something to clear up his crotch itch and was a happier man overall. His wife had a problem with talking much too fast and much too much slowed her speech to a more normal pace and gave others a chance to talk when she was finally getting it again. Happy for them.

9. Eyes Wide Shut - Man who went blind because he couldn't deal with his father. He wasn't blind when he opened his eyes. His domineering father wanted him to be a lawyer he wanted to do philosophy in Harvard. We should all have such problems.

11. Dream Wedding - man has depression and anxiety over what his parents will think of his bride who is in her 40s (he's older, first time marriage) because she wants to get married in front of a castle in Disneyworld wearing a Snow White dress and have all the Disney trimmings. Her house is Disney-themed. I'm surprised it didn't give him pause as to whether he wanted to marry into this lifestyle.

The very last story in the book was how the author's mentor has asked him to become his therapist, the child becomes the parent to the parents in old age, as he slips very slowly from genius to paranoia to Alzheimer's to death. It brought tears to my eyes. Very few books do that.
____________________

Notes on reading Age! I'm rereading this and didn't even know I'd read it before! The description of the book on GR just shows a blurb by Daniel Pink. Having recently researched blurbs and how to get them, I regretted that GR had taken away my Librarian status so I could correct it to the actual description. Blurbs are written by the author of the book and sent as a selection of maybe 3 to the Famous Person who can then graciously add his/her name to the book so they get exposure.

Famous Authors who Blurb generally do not a) read the book or b) write the blurb. But it's supposed to be the best marketing going, that we will all trust the Famous Person if they say this is a fantastic book and so erudite. GR is becoming a selling site first what with featuring blurbs first and all the gushing ARC reviews, and a review site second. Still it is run by Kindle so I suppose it was inevitable.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried to like this book, as I am a huge fan of Oliver Sacks' books. When I discovered this book I had hoped for more interesting, enlightening, and empathetic tales of humanistic first and second person patient experiences with insightful and informative provider. However, this book can't even hold a candle to books such as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. This is merely a cheap knock-off that seems to be geared toward shock-value entertainment rather than quality storytelling. The author seems arrogant and presents his patients in a way that I feel is exploitative, judgemental, and uncompassionate. The sexist undertones (how he speaks about female coworkers and clients alike), unprofessional behavior/communication, and references to people as their diagnosis (rather than a person with a diagnosis) left me cringing and made it so I couldn't bring myself to finish this book. I'm sure it has a few pearls in it, but I didn't pick this up to be subjected to a circus-style freakshow...

[Fadikuş · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu kitaba bayıldım. Nasıl bu kadar düşük puanlar veriliyor anlamıyorum. İnsanlar çok saçma kurgulara yüksek puan verip böyle güzelim kitapları hiçe sayıyorlar.
Okurken çok zevk aldım. Her bölüm farklı şeyler göz önüne alınmıştı, eğlenceli ve öğreticiydi.

[Pinariki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derin psikolojik analizler içeren, yoğun bilimsel dil kullanımı veya size psikoloji bilimiyle alakalı çok şey katacak bir kitap beklemeyin... baya baya 'popüler-psikoloji', boş zamanlarda okunabilecek sabun köpüğünden hallice, araya birazcık bilimsel bilgi serpiştirilmiş, ilgi çekici vakalarla dolu bir kitap bu.
Ama bu negatif bir yorum değil. Benim tam olarak aradığım gibi, güzel vakit geçirtecek ve anlaşılır bir dille yazılmış, eğlenceli bir kitaptı. Aralarda doktorun özel yaşantısından kesitler sunması, karısının çemkirmeleri, ergenliğe giren çocuklarıyla ilgli minik bölümler kitabı daha da ilginç ve 'çok satar' yapmaya yönlendirilmiş hoş haraketlerle doluydu..

Okuduğumuz kitapları sevip sevmememiz, aynı filmleri, mekanları ve hatta insanları sevip sevmeyeceğimize karar verme aşamasında, henüz o kişileri veya 'şeyleri' deneyimlemeden önce, içine girmiş olduğumuz beklentilerle doğru orantılı olarak sonuçlanmakta diye düşünüyorum. Beklentimiz büyükse, hayal kırıklığı da o denli büyük ölçüde olabiliyor zira..
Ben büyük beklentilerle okumaya başlamadım bu kitabı. Rahat okunan, ilginç psikolojik vakaları basit şekilde anlatan, büyük laflar etmeyen ve derin bilimsel teorilere dalmayan bir kitap istedim. İstediğim gibi de çıktı.O yüzden kitabı çok sevdim.
Beklentiniz bu yöndeyse alın okuyun,eminim beğenirsiniz. Yok psikoloji alanında 'ağır' bir şey okuyayım diyorsanız, hayal kırıklığı olur.

[Koray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alanında uzman bir psikiyatristin anlattığı ilginç vakaları okumak ( daha doğrusu Storytel'de dinlemek) farklı bir deneyimdi. Edebi olarak üstün bir anlatımdan çok, olayları yansıtması kitap için öncelik konusu olmuş. İleride psikiyatri okumak isteyen kuzenime de okuması için önerdim. En azından nelerle karşılaşacağını "ön bilgi" olarak görsün istedim.
İnsan zihnine "profesyonel" olarak yaklaşmak, ancak bir uzmanın başarabileceği bir iş olduğu için, kitabı bunu göz önünde bulundurarak okumakta fayda olduğu düşünüyorum. İnsan zihni tam bir makine; ve bu makine zaman zaman, tıpkı bir araba motoru gibi bozulup tamire ihtiyaç duyabiliyor.

[Shawn Remfrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I burnt my son's pancakes this morning. I'm not proud of it, but I do decline taking the blame on this one. It started out innocently enough. He brought me a box of pancake mix and said "I hungry!' and I knew that was the point I was supposed to put down the book and start cooking. As I stirred the batter one-handed, I reminded myself that pancakes don't take long to cook and I should just put down the book and do it. As I flipped the pancakes over one-handed I reminded myself that pancakes don't take long to cook and I should just put down the book. As I held out a plate of haphazardly chopped up and burnt pancakes to an empty kitchen and said 'Here!', I realized it was just too late to put the book down and there was just no point. I wanted to put the book down and be a good mom, I really did. I was unable.

Nope, that isn't a story from The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head. That's a story from my real life while I was reading it. Maybe I'm a bookaholic. Maybe one of the stories touched something in my brain that made me incapable of physically putting it down. Most likely it's just because it was a darn good read!

Here's what to expect with this book: Imagine sitting on your front porch with someone you know and trust. They're telling you about the time that a patient came into their office and had a book reading addiction (No! This isn't in the book! Stay with me here!). He doesn't start with 'I had this patient this one time who had this thing.' He starts out at the beginning. 'I was 53 and had just published my first book. As my daughter was attempting to (insert whatever suits your fancy here), I received a call from my publisher. He and I had been friends for years. He told me that one of the girls reviewing my book had a problem and thought she might be benefited by talking to me.' He starts out with personal information and a little background on the story. Then you get hit with the patient. Right away you don't know exactly what's wrong with them, only part of their symptoms. As each story progresses, you learn more about the patient as well as more about the way that Dr. Small dealt with them. Once the story wraps up and you find the issue, it doesn't stop there. I'm definitely a 'But what happened next!' person. I wasn't disappointed! At the end of each story Dr. Small gives a small update on each person.

Honestly, I just loved this book. I couldn't put it down. The stories were intriguing. Being an amateur sleuth, I always tried to figure out what was wrong with the person before I was told and I failed with every single person! Best of all for me was Dr. Small's writing style. It has just the perfect amount of flow to keep you intrigued. It really is like sitting down and listening to stories from a trusted friend. This is great if you're a psychiatry student and want to read about a few cases. Personally, I think it's even better if you aren't. Just sit back and enjoy the ride! If you'd like to check out a preview of the book, go here and they'll email you one!

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the mental health clinic where I work, the psychiatrists spend 15 minutes with each client managing their medications (30 minutes to interview a new patient and start them on meds). So when I read the subtitle of this book, I expected it to involve stories like, “You wouldn’t believe the bizarre delusions of this client with schizophrenia… But they cleared up after I switched him from Risperdal to Zyprexa.”

I was pleasantly surprised that the stories were deep and interesting cases showcasing the benefits of long term psychotherapy, which psychiatrists hardly ever perform anymore. Most of this work has been outsourced to psychologists and counselors so that the doctors can focus on medication management. This book gave me lots to think about as a counselor-in-training, especially with regard to psychodynamic theory, which the author seems to practice. I recommend it for anyone interested in therapy.

Quotes:

It has always amazed me that people feel such a stigma about their psychiatric conditions. Most people wouldn’t feel embarrassed if they had a broken leg and needed help. Despite the remarkable advances in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, many still believe that mental illness is a sign of personal weakness and something to be embarrassed about.

[Carrie O'Maley Voliva · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title and the subject matter made me think this could be the most interesting book ever written. Maybe I've read too much about psychology or seen too many episodes of Grey's Anatomy, but none of the stories Small recounts were new to me. Small also makes the mistake of thinking the reader cares that he ate sushi after a strange appointment or that he had a date with his wife on a certain date in 1984. I really wanted to like this book, but I was extremely disappointed.

[Burçak Kılıç Sultanoğlu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben beğendim kitabı:)
Kurgu yok sadece gerçek olaylar anlatılmış, kitabın yazarı olan psikiyatr meslek hayatı boyunca karşılaştığı ilginç vakaları bir kitaba toplamış. Psikolojiye merakınız varsa sıkılmadan okuyabilirsiniz 😊

[Merve Özcan Özkan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Çok güzel anlatılmış bir kitap doğrusu. Toy bir psikiyatristin nasıl olgunlaşıp narsist olduğunu adım adım gördük. Belki de ilk başında da öyleydi. Ancak olaylar o kadar da ilginç değil, gene de zevk aldım. Bir iki hikaye dışında diğerlerini duymuş, görmüş bir şekilde haberdar olmuştum.

[Best Friend with Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

California Üniversitesi psikiyatri profesörü Dr. Gary Small’ın, mesleğinin asistanlık döneminden başlayıp sonraki 30 yılı da kapsayan zaman dilimi içerisinde karşılaştığı en ilginç psikiyatri vakalarını içeren 336 sayfalık bir metin. Birbirinden farklı 15 ilginç vaka, ayrı başlıklar altında ve Gary Small’ın meslek hayatının gelişim döngüsü içerisinde aktarılıyor. Bir yandan kronolojik bir sırayla vakalar hakkında bilgi sahibi olurken, bir yandan da Dr. Small’ın hem özel hem de mesleki hayatına dair bir takım durum ve olaylara tanıklık ediyoruz. Bu kitapta Dr. Small, tıp dünyasının psikiyatriye bakış açısının yıllar içerisinde nasıl değiştiğini de gözlemleme şansı tanıyor bizlere. Hastaların isimleri, diyaloglar, mekanlar ve durumlar hasta gizliliğini korumaya yönelik değiştirilerek; vakalar gerçeği birebir yansıtacak şekilde yeniden kurgulanmış. Kitabın psikiyatriden korkanların korkularını yenmelerine ve ihtiyaç varsa psikolojik yardım almalarını sağlamaya yönelik bir amacı da var.

Dismorfofobi, alzheimer, bipolar bozukluk, sınırda kişilik bozukluğu, munchausen, anksiyete gibi psikosomatik hastalıklara yönelik herkesin anlayabileceği türden açıklayıcı bilgiler, bazı psikiyatrik ilaçların etkilerinden bahsedilen kısımlar ve vakaların çözümlendiği yerler beni en çok besleyen; ancak aynı vaka günlüğü içerisinde tamamen yazarın kişisel hayatına yönelik olan rutin akışlar ise beni birazcık sıkan kısımlar oldu. Onların yerine daha çok vakanın ne olduğuna ve nasıl çözümlendiğine odaklanmak istedim. Odaklandığım kısımlarla ilgili olarak her şey çok yolunda gitti.

Hayatımız boyunca karşılaştığımız duygusal çatışmalarla mücadele ederken zihnimizin nasıl işlediğini, bugün keşfettiğimiz travmalarımızın geçmişimizden nasıl ve ne şekilde beslendiğini anlamak isteyen ya da kısaca psikolojiye ilgi duyan herkesin okumak isteyebileceği türden bir kitap olduğunu söylemeliyim.

[aslı · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eğer psikolojiye ilgi duyuyorsanız bence mükemmel bir kitap.İnsanları anlama kapasitenizi arttıracağını düşünüyorum.Kitabı okurken insan psikolojisine dair bir çok bilmediğim şeyi öğrendim ve kısmen vaka incelemesinde bulunmuş kadar oldum.Kitabın sonuna geldiğimde bittiğine cidden üzüldüm...

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. He's no Oliver Sacks.

Also a tiny but ill-hidden bit of misogyny.

[Özlem Güzelharcan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bu gizli defter bir Irvin Yalom kitabındaki edebi lezzetten yoksun fakat alanında uzman bir psikiyatristin kaleminden birbirinden ilginç vakaları okumak oldukça eğlenceli ve öğreticiydi.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head is a collection of short essays by psychiatrist Gary Small describing the "most bizarre cases" he dealt with over decades of practice. The first essays are from encounters at Massachusetts General during Small's days as a resident. From there, we follow Small back to his native California where he continues to treat patients, conducts research, and settles in as a geriatric specialist.

If judged by its subtitle alone ("a psychiatrist's stories of his most bizarre cases"), readers may be disappointed. Any casual student of psychology will not be impressed by stories about shopping addicts, psychopathic husbands with second families, and stress-induced sudden blindness. The subtitle draws in the reader by promising shock value (it happened to me!) and just doesn't deliver.

The value of his book is beyond Small's "craziest" patients. I think this book would have been better if it was framed as a personal memoir, or of a physician's reflections as he looks back on his career. The patient stories are framed by conversations with Small's colleagues, friends, and family, where he gives us context of where he was in his career at the time and how he has grown as a physician since then. He recognizes several times that his response as a young psychiatrist would be vastly different from his response today, as a professional with years of experience. It was fascinating to read about how how Small worked through challenging diagnoses, and how his professional interactions with his patients shaped his personal interactions with friends and family, and vice versa: how his personal life affected the way he treated his patients. Those passages were what I liked best about this book - self-reflection.

Dr. Small is a brilliant physician, and I would have liked to read more about his method as a psychiatrist and less about his house calls to wealthy patients. Hopefully in the future he will give us that book!

[Semih Eker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Az sayıdaki tıbbi terimler dışında, genel olarak rahat anlaşılır bir dilde yazılmış bir eser diyebilirim. Olaylar genelde yüzeysel olarak anlatılmış.

Eserde 15 gerçek hikaye(farklı psikiyatrik vakalar) var fakat şahsen ben bir kaçı dışında çok etkilenmedim.

Eserde beni en çok rahatsız eden durum ise olayları uzun uzadıya anlattıktan sonra bir anda sonlanması oldu. Genelde yazar her hikayede kendi yaşantısını, hastanın onu nasıl bulduğunu, görüşmeleri ayrıntılı bir şekilde anlatıyor ama teşhis koyma ve tedavi sürecini çok kısa işliyor.

Sonuç olarak;
Psikiyatri konusuna ilgi duyanlara tavsiye edebileceğim ama çok fazla beklenti olmadan okunmasını önereceğim bir eser.

[Selin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vakalar çok da sıra dışı değildi ama yine de keyifliydi. Yazar içine kendi hayatından da bir kaç parça atmış ve olayları romanlaştırmış. Dili basit, okunması kolay.

[Sahiden35]

Yıllar önce hep gittiğim bir kafede azar azar okuyup bitirmiştim. Orta karar bir kitaptı.

[Klaudia_p · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesująco. Przystępnie. A przede wszystkim bez nadęcia.

[Mustafa Özgür · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitap, Gary Small adında bir psikiyatrın, meslek hayatı boyunca karşılaştığı en ilginç vakaları konu alıyor.
Kitabı satın almamın nedeni, konuya ilgi duymam ve aynı zamanda kitabın ilginç olacağını düşünmemdi. "Çok Satanlar" reyonunda görünce, biraz tereddüt ettim tabii, ama yine de aldım.
Onbeş vaka anlatmış yazar; bazıları gerçekten enteresandı, okumak heyecanlı idi, bazıları ise o kadar da iyi değildi, kanımca. İyi olmadığını düşündüğüm bölümlerde yazar, hastanın derdini bulduğu anda hikayeyi bitiriyor. İyi olduğunu düşündüğüm bölümlerde ise, anlatıma teşhisten sonra da devam ediyor, hastanın teşhise tepkisini, akıbetini filan anlatıyor, ve vakayı gayet net özetliyor.

Üçüncü, yedinci, dokuzuncu, onuncu, onüçüncü bölümler çok iyiydi. Ama, kitabın en özel vakaları, onbirinci, ondördüncü ve onbeşinci bölümlerde anlatılan vakalardı.

Yazar, vakaları anlatırken, konuya teknik açıdan yabancı kalabilecek okuyucuyu, yer yer verdiği bilgiler ile doyurmaya çalışıyor. Bazı bölümlerde ise, sanki, sayfa doldurmak için verdiği gereksiz bilgiler ile sıkıyor.

Genel olarak kitap iyiydi. Yukarıda bahsettiğim bölümleri okurken çok keyif aldım. İnsanların hayatlarının bir anında yaşadıkları bir olayın (travmanın), ileride neleri etkilemiş olduğu, bunun farkında dahi olmamaları, ve konuşarak, farkındalık sağlanarak ve/veya ilaç tedavisi ile çözümlenebilmesi, gerçekten ilginç bir durum. Yazar, her bölüm için kitabın arkasında, ilgili bazı bilimsel makaleleri de referans vermiş. Bu da çok hoşuma gitti.
İyi okumalar.

[Sinem · Rating 2 out of 5]

vakaların bir kısmı hayli ilginç ama yazan adamın tarzı aşırı kötü. bu tarz bir adamdan psikolojik destek almak istemezdim. tipik amerikalı bir amcamız kendisi, ve başarılarını gözümüze sokmakta herhangi bir sakınca görmemiş. adamın kendisinden o kadar rahatsız oldum ki kitabın sonlarına doğru vakalara karşı pek bi ilgim kalmamıştı.

[Jesus Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contados de forma que es sencillo entenderlos te cuenta casos muy interesantes de como nuestro cerebro nos puede hacer ver la realidad de forma distinta causando un una enfermedad o problema y formas en que los pacientes logran ajustarse para controlar o sacarles la vuelta

4 stars

[Gizem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Başlarda durağan başladı ama ilerideki bölümlerde aktı, gitti.. Çok etkileyici vakalar var ve çeşitli psikolojik rahatsızlıklarla ilgili çok güzel bilgiler veriyor sıkmadan.. Etkilendim, tavsiye edilir..

[Beril · Rating 3 out of 5]

Psikoloji&psikiyatri ilginç ve dipsiz bir kuyu. Değişik psikolojik vakaların anlatıldığı kitapta bir iki iyi vaka olsa da genelden çok sıradan geldi bana. Yine de konuya
ilgi duyorsanız okunabilir.

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Tarlan A. Latif]

Müəllifləri pedaqoji fəaliyyətlə məşğul olan kitablar daha axıcı, izahı sadə amma profesional və oxunaqlı olur. Hal-hazırda trend olan #gülserenbudayıcıoğlu kitablarından sonra açığı #birpsikiyatristingizlidefteri başlamağa tərəddüdüm var idi. Lakin bu iki müəllif #dreamsvsreality (arzu olunan v reallıq) kimi oldu. Dr. Budayıcıoğlu məsələlərə nə qədər səthi və bayağı, qeyri-profesional ifadə tərzi ilə yanaşırdısa, Dr. Small elmi və tibbi yanaşma göstərir. Hadisələr dramatikləşdirilmək əvəzinə misallar və çıxış yolları ilə dəstəklənir.

Maraqlısı odur ki, oxuduqca ətrafımızdakı insanlarda bəzi simptomları aşkarlaya bilərik. Lakin, Dr. Small onları psixoloji xəstə adlandırmaq yerinə, problemli dövr adlandırmağı üstün tutur. Bu yanaşma mənim #gulserenbudayicioglu nun yanaşmasından, damğalamasından daha çox xoşuma gəlir. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Qısası, psixologiyaya marağı olan şəxslərin zövqlə oxuyabiləcəyi bir kitab qoyuram bura. Fikirlərinizi və psixologiyaya dair kitab tövsiyyələrinizi gözləyirəm ⬇️🙋🏼‍♀️

[guclu gozaydin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Psikoloji, psikiyatri, terapi, insan aklının ve ruhunun garip açmazları ve tıp dünyası hakkında akıcı, yer yer şaşırtıcı ve sonu kestirilemez vakalar içeren bir kitap. Türün meraklıları okusun.

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really think there should be a special entry in the DSM-IV for "1970s Housewife." That's my personal opinion, as the word "housewife" alone is enough to send me into a neurotic spin: thanks to Gloria Steinem and folks who taught a whole generation of educated/thinking women that if they don't fall in love with their Formica countertops and make daily love to their washing machines there is nothing wrong with them going crazy staying at home. That said, Gary Small's nonfict book on 30 years of bizarre psychiatric cases almost lost me on the first chapter, which deals with a neurotic "housewife"--and Small doesn't use this word with any irony. Since I have a peculiar brain lesion that forces me to finish reading everything I pick up, I soldiered on and found the rest of the book fascinating: people who want limbs cut off; freaky parents and traumatized children; betrayals, Cinderella freaks, and liars--good stuff. Sandy Dykstra's peeps could have done a better job editing: "her face reddened [in rage]" or "she stomped off [in a huff]"--but we have a physician here who's first love isn't the craft of writing, so I allowed for him not being an Oliver Sacks and honored his mission showing readers that psychiatry is not such a bad thing. He accomplished that, and showed much humility despite his fancy-schmancy LA milieu. Lots of nice nuggets in his recaptured dialog, as in a heart-breaking segment on his diagnosing his esteemed colleague with early Alzheimer's, after the colleague feels he's been a fraud and denies his particular genius. Small says to him, "Anything that's new and makes the world a better place is at the core of creativity." Cowritten with his wife. That's just...wife. Met them both at Book-Works for its mind-brain book series last night--they're good characters on their page and pretty nifty in person, too.

[Deniz · Rating 3 out of 5]

In his selection of psychiatric cases, Dr. Small ensures you don't put the book down until you finish it. The cases are interesting, and Dr. Small gives an expert's insight about them. The narration (which, I assume, is the work of his wife, Gigi Vorgan) is simple enough to understand for people without technical knowledge of psychiatry. I would've given the book 4 stars, but I was deeply disturbed by the book's depiction of people Dr. Small disliked. It felt like he was taking a revenge he wanted for years, from people who couldn't respond to these depictions (unless they wrote their own books). Sure, their names and details about their lives were changed, but I'm sure people from his social circle still could recognize who they were. It felt really unprofessional and 10-year-old of him to diss these people and nearly call them names. Also, there were lines where he was praising his wife. It would've been romantic if she wasn't the co-writer, but instead it felt awkward. Nevertheless, the book is interesting enough for a quick read, and I liked it.

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reads like an episode of house and is likely as fictional. One chapter pits neurologists against psychiatrists. I can guarantee you that many neurologists respect psychiatrists. However, this author is exactly the kind of psychiatrist that always drove my neuro professors crazy. After having read this book I am not at all surprised that he has an issue with neurologists and that they have an issue with him. Prior to reading this, I did see he wrote a "train your brain" book that every professor I have ever had warned me against, but I thought maybe he had some good things to say. He went to Harvard; so I assumed he was titling his book to appeal to the masses but actually planned to include solid, replicated, and reasonable neuroscience. If this book is any indication of what his train your brain book will be like, I will pass. That said, I did find the book entertaining enough to finish it. So, I guess there is that.