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The Man with The Electrified Brain: Adventures in Madness
“A GRIPPING DESCRIPTION OF A JOURNEY TO HELL AND BACK, ONE THAT WILL TAKE ITS PLACE BESIDE WILLIAM STYRON’S ‘DARKNESS VISIBLE’ AND KAY REDFIELD JAMISON’S ‘AN UNQUIET MIND.’” —OLIVER SACKS
“I glanced at myself in a mirror and, though unshaven, and my hair still morning-tousled, I appeared to be just the same. It was inside, inside my head, where all had become so wretchedly different. I had the night before been incontrovertibly a man of stable mood, of calm, of good cheer and unforced bonhomie. Now I had become changed, with dreadful suddenness, into another being altogether.”
Simon Winchester has never shied away from big, even enormous, topics—as evidenced by his bestselling biography of the Atlantic Ocean, his account of the Krakatoa volcanic eruption, and his wildly popular “The Professor and the Madman,” about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. In his Byliner Original “The Man with the Electrified Brain,” he takes on arguably his most daunting subject yet: his own flirtation with madness, and one of nature’s greatest and most enduring mysteries, the human brain.
As a geology student in his second year at Oxford, Winchester was known as a young man of even temper and keen intellect, until one June morning when he woke to find himself “changed with dreadful suddenness into another being altogether,” his normal life “slumped into chasm” and “folded in the dirt.” For a period of nine days, he lived in immobilizing fear. Everyday items—familiar paintings, a pile of books, his own robe hanging from a hook—became objects of horror; the world lost color, purpose, all sense and safety. When the episode finally passed, he returned to normal, presuming that what had happened to him was a fluke. It wasn’t. The episode repeated itself at unpredictable and dangerous intervals for four years—always lasting for nine days—and very nearly caused the author’s death while he was on an expedition in the Arctic.
What was wrong with him? Where could he find help? Would he spend the rest of his life anticipating the return of these mental blackouts? With the urgency of a whodunit, Winchester describes the coming and going of these terrifying dissociative states and the chance encounter that led to the controversial treatment of electroconvulsive therapy, which may or may not have cured him once and for all.
Written by a consummate storyteller, “The Man with the Electrified Brain” locates that finest of lines between sanity and insanity and is Winchester’s most riveting and deeply personal work yet.
“I glanced at myself in a mirror and, though unshaven, and my hair still morning-tousled, I appeared to be just the same. It was inside, inside my head, where all had become so wretchedly different. I had the night before been incontrovertibly a man of stable mood, of calm, of good cheer and unforced bonhomie. Now I had become changed, with dreadful suddenness, into another being altogether.”
Simon Winchester has never shied away from big, even enormous, topics—as evidenced by his bestselling biography of the Atlantic Ocean, his account of the Krakatoa volcanic eruption, and his wildly popular “The Professor and the Madman,” about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. In his Byliner Original “The Man with the Electrified Brain,” he takes on arguably his most daunting subject yet: his own flirtation with madness, and one of nature’s greatest and most enduring mysteries, the human brain.
As a geology student in his second year at Oxford, Winchester was known as a young man of even temper and keen intellect, until one June morning when he woke to find himself “changed with dreadful suddenness into another being altogether,” his normal life “slumped into chasm” and “folded in the dirt.” For a period of nine days, he lived in immobilizing fear. Everyday items—familiar paintings, a pile of books, his own robe hanging from a hook—became objects of horror; the world lost color, purpose, all sense and safety. When the episode finally passed, he returned to normal, presuming that what had happened to him was a fluke. It wasn’t. The episode repeated itself at unpredictable and dangerous intervals for four years—always lasting for nine days—and very nearly caused the author’s death while he was on an expedition in the Arctic.
What was wrong with him? Where could he find help? Would he spend the rest of his life anticipating the return of these mental blackouts? With the urgency of a whodunit, Winchester describes the coming and going of these terrifying dissociative states and the chance encounter that led to the controversial treatment of electroconvulsive therapy, which may or may not have cured him once and for all.
Written by a consummate storyteller, “The Man with the Electrified Brain” locates that finest of lines between sanity and insanity and is Winchester’s most riveting and deeply personal work yet.
36 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2013
44 people are currently reading
654 people want to read
About the author
Simon Winchester
90 books2,296 followersSimon Winchester, OBE, is a British writer, journalist and broadcaster who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. As an author, Simon Winchester has written or contributed to over a dozen nonfiction books and authored one novel, and his articles appear in several travel publications including Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.
In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.
After leaving Northern Ireland in 1972, Winchester was briefly assigned to Calcutta before becoming The Guardian's American correspondent in Washington, D.C., where Winchester covered news ranging from the end of Richard Nixon's administration to the start of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In 1982, while working as the Chief Foreign Feature Writer for The Sunday Times, Winchester was on location for the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentine forces. Suspected of being a spy, Winchester was held as a prisoner in Tierra del Fuego for three months.
Winchester's first book, In Holy Terror, was published by Faber and Faber in 1975. The book drew heavily on his first-hand experiences during the turmoils in Ulster. In 1976, Winchester published his second book, American Heartbeat, which dealt with his personal travels through the American heartland. Winchester's third book, Prison Diary, was a recounting of his imprisonment at Tierra del Fuego during the Falklands War and, as noted by Dr Jules Smith, is responsible for his rise to prominence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Winchester produced several travel books, most of which dealt with Asian and Pacific locations including Korea, Hong Kong, and the Yangtze River.
Winchester's first truly successful book was The Professor and the Madman (1998), published by Penguin UK as The Surgeon of Crowthorne. Telling the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book was a New York Times Best Seller, and Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.
Though Winchester still writes travel books, he has repeated the narrative non-fiction form he used in The Professor and the Madman several times, many of which ended in books placed on best sellers lists. His 2001 book, The Map that Changed the World, focused on geologist William Smith and was Whichester's second New York Times best seller. The year 2003 saw Winchester release another book on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Meaning of Everything, as well as the best-selling Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Winchester followed Krakatoa's volcano with San Francisco's 1906 earthquake in A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Man Who Loved China (2008) retells the life of eccentric Cambridge scholar Joseph Needham, who helped to expose China to the western world. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia
In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.
After leaving Northern Ireland in 1972, Winchester was briefly assigned to Calcutta before becoming The Guardian's American correspondent in Washington, D.C., where Winchester covered news ranging from the end of Richard Nixon's administration to the start of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In 1982, while working as the Chief Foreign Feature Writer for The Sunday Times, Winchester was on location for the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentine forces. Suspected of being a spy, Winchester was held as a prisoner in Tierra del Fuego for three months.
Winchester's first book, In Holy Terror, was published by Faber and Faber in 1975. The book drew heavily on his first-hand experiences during the turmoils in Ulster. In 1976, Winchester published his second book, American Heartbeat, which dealt with his personal travels through the American heartland. Winchester's third book, Prison Diary, was a recounting of his imprisonment at Tierra del Fuego during the Falklands War and, as noted by Dr Jules Smith, is responsible for his rise to prominence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Winchester produced several travel books, most of which dealt with Asian and Pacific locations including Korea, Hong Kong, and the Yangtze River.
Winchester's first truly successful book was The Professor and the Madman (1998), published by Penguin UK as The Surgeon of Crowthorne. Telling the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book was a New York Times Best Seller, and Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.
Though Winchester still writes travel books, he has repeated the narrative non-fiction form he used in The Professor and the Madman several times, many of which ended in books placed on best sellers lists. His 2001 book, The Map that Changed the World, focused on geologist William Smith and was Whichester's second New York Times best seller. The year 2003 saw Winchester release another book on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Meaning of Everything, as well as the best-selling Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Winchester followed Krakatoa's volcano with San Francisco's 1906 earthquake in A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Man Who Loved China (2008) retells the life of eccentric Cambridge scholar Joseph Needham, who helped to expose China to the western world. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
December 18, 2022
4 Stars for The Man with the Electrified Brain (ebook) by Simon Winchester
This is a interesting first person account of madness setting in and then being treated with Electriconvulsive Therapy. This therapy has been widely condemned but the author seemed to be cured by it.
This is a interesting first person account of madness setting in and then being treated with Electriconvulsive Therapy. This therapy has been widely condemned but the author seemed to be cured by it.
January 25, 2022
After The Professor and the Madman, I went a-hunting for more Simon Winchester and was surprised to discover this short offering about his own mental illness. So that's three books in a row I've finished about twenty-something-year-old men with fragile minds. The Professor was in his 30s when he was permanently hospitalized, but his troubles started a number of years earlier. Winchester was 25. I can't recall Duncan's specific age. Their experiences were all different, but it was striking how things broke for each of them at the same stage of life. It now makes sense how Winchester could tell Minor's story with such compassion — an extra layer of poignancy is added to that book. While Winchester did not dwell on his own father's lack of compassion, he did mention it, and that was quite a contrast to the experience Duncan had — his father was a real hero amid his troubles. Winchester's wife was also heroic, which makes their subsequent divorce all the sadder.
March 3, 2021
I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author himself and I don't know why his voice was irritating, I couldn't enjoy the story at all. It would have been much BETTER if another professional narrator was speaking.
June 27, 2020
If this book had been longer I probably wouldn’t have finished it. The writing style seemed oddly detached even though it was the author’s personal story.
May 26, 2021
Short and enjoyable, well-written; not unlike this review.
May 25, 2020
I tend to romanticise mind diseases and am easily drawn into mental mysteries. Personal accounts, fictional stories, clinical case studies - anything and everything. I am agitated with the fear of developing a mental malady and cling to books as a way to maintain my sanity.
The Man with the Electrified Brain is a short but truthful account of the author’s experience with mental disorder - the betrayal of the brain, questionable yet effective healing and the accompanying fear of a relapse.
As a side note, I deeply related to the author’s love-hate relationship with Somerset Maugham: I am having my own villains whose writings trigger my anxiety and depression. I am too reluctant to resist - the control has long been granted.
The Man with the Electrified Brain is a short but truthful account of the author’s experience with mental disorder - the betrayal of the brain, questionable yet effective healing and the accompanying fear of a relapse.
As a side note, I deeply related to the author’s love-hate relationship with Somerset Maugham: I am having my own villains whose writings trigger my anxiety and depression. I am too reluctant to resist - the control has long been granted.
January 25, 2021
54 - 2021
August 9, 2013
VERY INTERESTING/FRIGHTENING.
“For decades afterwards—and still today, given the persistent mysteries of the brain and the attendant complications in mapping it—I have worried that the debilities of those years might return. I have blamed this fear, irrational though it may sound, purely and simply on the writings of Somerset Maugham.”—screen 8/85
As the man [Oliver Saks] says in his blurb, THE MAN WITH THE ELECTRIFIED BRAIN: ADVENTURES IN MADNESS, by Simon Winchester is: “A gripping description of a journey to hell and back…”
This Byliner ebook captured my curiosity enough to download the free sample from iBooks, and the quote above, blaming his mental problems on Somerset Maugham (whose THE MAGICIAN I happened to be currently reading) cemented my decision to buy and read this small book. I’m glad that I did.
It was just a few months ago that I ushered, sat through, and enjoyed several, emotionally moving, performances of NEXT TO NORMAL—the rock musical stage play that prominently features the effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). Although the play didn’t have very much good to say about this controversial psychiatric treatment, Simon Winchester not only reveals his own half-a-dozen ‘shock therapy’ treatments, when he was in his twenties, in this book, he also seems to sing its praises, highly.
Now I’m conflicted about, though still fascinated by, the idea of ECT. But it still scares the crap out of me.
Recommendation: A quick and very interesting read. If mental malfunction catches your fancy, here’s a viable first-hand (albeit fifty years after-the-fact) account.
“In fact, he [best-known advocate of ECT’s efficacy, Max Fink] writes, there is little doubt that what had ailed me back then was a far less complex—though no less terrifying—case of simple melancholia.”—screen 66/85
“Stuff and nonsense, my father would bellow on hearing of my troubles. Damn tomfoolery was his only diagnosis. Pull yourself together his only prescription.”—screen 9/85
A Byliner ebook, iBook edition < > 32 pages (it all depends what a ‘page’ is—not so easily defined anymore). Also available for Kindle or Nook at $1.99)
“For decades afterwards—and still today, given the persistent mysteries of the brain and the attendant complications in mapping it—I have worried that the debilities of those years might return. I have blamed this fear, irrational though it may sound, purely and simply on the writings of Somerset Maugham.”—screen 8/85
As the man [Oliver Saks] says in his blurb, THE MAN WITH THE ELECTRIFIED BRAIN: ADVENTURES IN MADNESS, by Simon Winchester is: “A gripping description of a journey to hell and back…”
This Byliner ebook captured my curiosity enough to download the free sample from iBooks, and the quote above, blaming his mental problems on Somerset Maugham (whose THE MAGICIAN I happened to be currently reading) cemented my decision to buy and read this small book. I’m glad that I did.
It was just a few months ago that I ushered, sat through, and enjoyed several, emotionally moving, performances of NEXT TO NORMAL—the rock musical stage play that prominently features the effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). Although the play didn’t have very much good to say about this controversial psychiatric treatment, Simon Winchester not only reveals his own half-a-dozen ‘shock therapy’ treatments, when he was in his twenties, in this book, he also seems to sing its praises, highly.
Now I’m conflicted about, though still fascinated by, the idea of ECT. But it still scares the crap out of me.
Recommendation: A quick and very interesting read. If mental malfunction catches your fancy, here’s a viable first-hand (albeit fifty years after-the-fact) account.
“In fact, he [best-known advocate of ECT’s efficacy, Max Fink] writes, there is little doubt that what had ailed me back then was a far less complex—though no less terrifying—case of simple melancholia.”—screen 66/85
“Stuff and nonsense, my father would bellow on hearing of my troubles. Damn tomfoolery was his only diagnosis. Pull yourself together his only prescription.”—screen 9/85
A Byliner ebook, iBook edition < > 32 pages (it all depends what a ‘page’ is—not so easily defined anymore). Also available for Kindle or Nook at $1.99)
August 17, 2013
It takes a tremendous amount of courage to write something like this; most people who don't suffer from any kind of mental illness don't understand just how debilitating mood and personality disorders can be. While I admire Winchester for writing about an illness that is still stigmatized nearly fifty years after the events he recounts (though clearly not as much as in the 1960s), I give this mini-memoir a fairly low rating because of the writing itself. As a fan of The Professor and the Madman, I had hoped to read something by a writer I admired that would help me through my own recent bout with depression--something with which I could identify--Winchester's writing style here is so formal and so detached that rather than helping me, it made me a little more depressed. Perhaps Winchester needed to detach so he could write about this painful period of his life without reigniting the trauma. Perhaps the writing is detached and abrupt because he was trying to maintain a delicate balance between giving enough detail to explain his experience and giving too much detail to readers who can't identify with his illness. Perhaps there is another reason entirely. Whatever that reason is, though, I couldn't connect with Winchester's situation the way I had hoped.
January 22, 2021
Interesting when it actually got to the shock therapy but other than that rather rambling and boring
August 4, 2020
3.5 stars, rounded down!
I liked Simon Winchester's use of language, and how there were tints of humor in the book's words. This book is great for an insight into the human experience and the human condition. I loved how short and sweet the book was, and the lack of description was perfect for the focus of the book.
It was a nice read if you are studying up on medical professions and mental/psychological illnesses, along with if you want a short read. I actually might pick up more of his works, his writing style is spectacular!
This book touches on mental illness, and (dispute on) ECT therapy. If you want to read this book, I would recommend reading it with a grain of salt.
If you liked this book I would also recommend you to pick up My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh!
I liked Simon Winchester's use of language, and how there were tints of humor in the book's words. This book is great for an insight into the human experience and the human condition. I loved how short and sweet the book was, and the lack of description was perfect for the focus of the book.
It was a nice read if you are studying up on medical professions and mental/psychological illnesses, along with if you want a short read. I actually might pick up more of his works, his writing style is spectacular!
This book touches on mental illness, and (dispute on) ECT therapy. If you want to read this book, I would recommend reading it with a grain of salt.
If you liked this book I would also recommend you to pick up My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh!
April 27, 2016
Very interesting from a medical perspective. Could be a bit more in-depth in researching the problem and how it was 'solved', but for the length of the book, you can't ask for much more.
May 13, 2020
Simon Winchester awakens one morning while at Oxford and suddenly everything around him seems threatening ... nothing has changed ... but everything is different. Everything from his housecoat, to painting and books, was terrifying. All of this happens about two weeks before he's to set off on an expedition to the Arctic.
After 9 days of suffering in a world of his own... the "fog" lifted. The expedition began without a hitch. He was suffering from strange compulsions - dangerous ones int he arctic, and retreated within himself. He speculates that it was the intense physical labor of the expedition that kept him from focussing too much on his own state. The pattern continued and Winchester began the process of understanding what was going on.
There are pills, doctors, things that don't work, side effects, and no progress for four years. When he found himself attempting suicide and leaving his job the healing began. He met a doctor on a house call to see his Aunt... and he suspected he knew what was wrong. This meeting leads to Winchester getting electroconvulsive therapy. After six weeks of therapy... Winchester's life was returned to him. He was cured.
He didn't write about his mental health challenges and the subsequent treatment for many years. In part, he says, due to the thoughts/ concerns of his parents. It wasn't until he was researching years later for a book he was writing that he picked up a copy of the DSM-IV and discovered that a diagnosis of dissociative disorder matched his symptoms perfectly.
There's some discussion in this book about the validity of the DSM-IV and the like as tools for diagnosis, the stigma of living with mental illness, fear of relapse and both sides of the argument regarding ECT.
After 9 days of suffering in a world of his own... the "fog" lifted. The expedition began without a hitch. He was suffering from strange compulsions - dangerous ones int he arctic, and retreated within himself. He speculates that it was the intense physical labor of the expedition that kept him from focussing too much on his own state. The pattern continued and Winchester began the process of understanding what was going on.
There are pills, doctors, things that don't work, side effects, and no progress for four years. When he found himself attempting suicide and leaving his job the healing began. He met a doctor on a house call to see his Aunt... and he suspected he knew what was wrong. This meeting leads to Winchester getting electroconvulsive therapy. After six weeks of therapy... Winchester's life was returned to him. He was cured.
He didn't write about his mental health challenges and the subsequent treatment for many years. In part, he says, due to the thoughts/ concerns of his parents. It wasn't until he was researching years later for a book he was writing that he picked up a copy of the DSM-IV and discovered that a diagnosis of dissociative disorder matched his symptoms perfectly.
There's some discussion in this book about the validity of the DSM-IV and the like as tools for diagnosis, the stigma of living with mental illness, fear of relapse and both sides of the argument regarding ECT.
May 10, 2025
Winchester is one of my favorite authors, and I always search out audio versions of his books, he is an excellent narrator of non fiction - they are hard to find!
If this were fiction, I would classify it as a novella, the audio version is just under an hour and a half.
As an undergraduate at Oxford, in his mid twenties, Winchester began to be plagued with episodes of a distressing sort of disconnect - inanimate objects look strange and threatening; he had trouble carrying out the most mundane daily tasks. These periods would last about a week or so, and then he would return to normal.
An intervention by a caring older relative proved to be the key to his recovery.
Since I have long admired his work as a writer, I found a special pleasure in learning a little more about him as a person. And I have always liked books with happy endings!
If this were fiction, I would classify it as a novella, the audio version is just under an hour and a half.
As an undergraduate at Oxford, in his mid twenties, Winchester began to be plagued with episodes of a distressing sort of disconnect - inanimate objects look strange and threatening; he had trouble carrying out the most mundane daily tasks. These periods would last about a week or so, and then he would return to normal.
An intervention by a caring older relative proved to be the key to his recovery.
Since I have long admired his work as a writer, I found a special pleasure in learning a little more about him as a person. And I have always liked books with happy endings!
December 4, 2021
💛💛💛💛🖤 - 4/5 - A thoughtful reflection on the author's shortlived experience of mental illness that was rapidly 'cured' by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the early days of its use. The author's pensive style and British candor in this short memoir are reminiscent of the essays by Oliver Sacks. A point off because in some ways this could have functioned better as a full-length work, perhaps with a bit more context and history of ECT. I was sad it was over so quickly. This is regrettably my first read by Simon Winchester and I hope to read more works by him.
Title: The Man With the Electrified Brain by Simon Winchester (2013)
Format: audio (delightfully read by the author)
Date finished: 12/3/2021
#roccasreads2021
Title: The Man With the Electrified Brain by Simon Winchester (2013)
Format: audio (delightfully read by the author)
Date finished: 12/3/2021
#roccasreads2021
July 22, 2025
This was fascinating to me, but I do wish it had been a full-length book. I thought it was a spot-on description of what it feels like to have a dissociative disorder, especially depersonalization and derealization disorders. These diagnoses are not discussed or accurately described very often, so it would have been great to dive more into that on a personal level, as well as with his research. The same goes for his description of ECT. From a personal experience, I can say it was very accurate, but would have been much more meaningful if expanded on. I appreciate Winchester's perspective, but this felt too short to have any major impact on me.
*Free copy provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
*Free copy provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
August 30, 2017
I love Simon Winchester's work! The Professor and the Madman was one of the best books I've ever read in my life. This one doesn't come close, but it is a totally different genre. Here he relates a real life experience of mental trauma and his subsequent treatment. He is understated, clear and non judgemental about himself and his series of treatments, making the reader seriously engaged in his process. It's a short and precise read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the workings of the mind.
May 27, 2020
The book shows the discovery of the author and the conditions of his brain which eventually need an unknown procedure called electric therapy. By stimulating the brain with current, can help to reboot the brain from the disorder problem that the patient suffer.
The therapy is barely known back then in the 80s and the story that ensues the author suffering and recovery is unfathomable for reader.
The therapy is barely known back then in the 80s and the story that ensues the author suffering and recovery is unfathomable for reader.
July 1, 2020
Short, but true, autobiographical story of how the writer developed some form of mental illness in his youth and was treated for it, nd cured, by electro-convulsive therapy.
Only 30m-ages or so long so more of a long magazine read, but good on him for that, many authors feel the need to spin out the full 300 obligatory pages.
Well written and engrossing.
Only 30m-ages or so long so more of a long magazine read, but good on him for that, many authors feel the need to spin out the full 300 obligatory pages.
Well written and engrossing.
July 29, 2020
A quick look into the author's strange experience. Enjoyable to me because I like looking into people's lives and also because malfunctions of the brain always offer a fascinating and intimate view into both science and lives lived.
May 29, 2023
It is boggling to me that the mental illness revolution happened only a few year ago, and that there are people alive who can testify to the cruel treatments that were commonplace.
Imagine destroying your brain in the hopes of killing the part that isn't "normal."
Imagine destroying your brain in the hopes of killing the part that isn't "normal."
June 3, 2023
Good short book
A good short book, with a fascinating look inside an illness. However, it was spoiled by bad proof reading (Kindle edition) - mostly, but not limited to, running together ends of sentences or sometimes words. A minor annoyance, but off-putting.
A good short book, with a fascinating look inside an illness. However, it was spoiled by bad proof reading (Kindle edition) - mostly, but not limited to, running together ends of sentences or sometimes words. A minor annoyance, but off-putting.
December 13, 2023
Was there no editor for this? So many words were crammed together without spacing. Nor was there spacing between many sentences. It was very difficult to read because of this. I am happy that Mr. Winchester found relief with this treatment. I still find it barbaric.
May 31, 2020
*3.5 stars*
Interesting. Makes me want to do a lot more research on ECT.
Interesting. Makes me want to do a lot more research on ECT.
June 15, 2020
Interesting story about innerworkings. It’s like somebody describing a drug effects - dissociation, you look at things and you dont know their meanings, words etc.
April 20, 2023
A short description of a person’s dissosiative disorder in a time when mental disorders were tabus still.
November 30, 2013
The best writing is often autobiographical, at it roots if not its genre. Simon Winchester certainly is included in my pantheon of best writers,and this small booklet reveals some of the foundations for his success. Strangely enough it is the story of adolescent melancholy, and its treatment. Common enough story, but told as only Winchester can do it, and there by telling us much about the source of his style and success. The story is simple, one day while in college Mr. Winchester woke up in a strange world which just happened to be the commonplace world he had fallen asleep in. The change was his perception of the world, in which the picture on his wall was not quite as it seemed. What is the fellow in the painting doing and where will his story lead? Is life more complicated and complex than expected. This of course is the Simon we have grown to love, as his stories create tapestries of complexity, filled with side excursions and revelations. But this came latter, at the time, the personal experience was terrifying and fraught with fear and loathing, leading eventually to treatment. The story of the electrified brain is embellished and enriched with excursions into the side streets of our limted understanding of mental perceptions, the value of clinical practice, and the limitations of classification as treatment. Other side trips include rides across the stiff upper lip, and skiing across glaciers. Taken as a whole, and it is an extremely small whole, it is as exciting and intriguing as Simon's larger works including The Professor and the Madman, which perhaps grew from the same seed.
August 19, 2020
Insightful, honest reflection…
I’ve enjoyed this author’s non-fiction books for years and was astonished by what I read here. I wasn’t surprised at the writing – it was engaging as always - but hearing his fears and revelations about his past experience with mental illness was an eye-opener. His frank retelling of a troubled time in his life and how it was handled, how it affected (even now), managed to be told in even these few pages. His shame in admitting to anyone he had a problem, the horror that his father may know and ridicule him, was painful in the simplicity of the telling. His struggle to describe what happened wasn’t in a lack of vocabulary (he has no trouble there for sure) but in finding the right words.
A very short, relatable, personal glimpse into this well-known author's life...
*I happily reviewed this book
**Thank you to NetGalley
I’ve enjoyed this author’s non-fiction books for years and was astonished by what I read here. I wasn’t surprised at the writing – it was engaging as always - but hearing his fears and revelations about his past experience with mental illness was an eye-opener. His frank retelling of a troubled time in his life and how it was handled, how it affected (even now), managed to be told in even these few pages. His shame in admitting to anyone he had a problem, the horror that his father may know and ridicule him, was painful in the simplicity of the telling. His struggle to describe what happened wasn’t in a lack of vocabulary (he has no trouble there for sure) but in finding the right words.
A very short, relatable, personal glimpse into this well-known author's life...
*I happily reviewed this book
**Thank you to NetGalley
September 23, 2013
Winchester's short memoir/essay (memsay? essoir?) on his brush with madness and electroshock therapy was interesting in its simplicity. Treatment for mental health issues 50 years ago has certainly changed over time. Why electroshock can work is something that should be examined and explained, but it seems like a crude instrument in light of the advances that have been made in neuroscience.
The most enlightening part of this little essay is that Winchester had to wait until his parents had passed away before he felt comfortable enough to put his experiences with mental illness in print. The stigma we place on mental health issues, although improving, remains the largest impediment to proper medical and societal treatment of the illnesses.
The most enlightening part of this little essay is that Winchester had to wait until his parents had passed away before he felt comfortable enough to put his experiences with mental illness in print. The stigma we place on mental health issues, although improving, remains the largest impediment to proper medical and societal treatment of the illnesses.
November 19, 2013
This was a thoroughly enjoyable biographical memoir of a strange episode of mental illness the author suffered half a century ago. A sudden descent into melancholy, with disturbing visual and physical manifestations that incapacitated this award winning author in his youth. It is a quick read, but will leave you thinking about how we diagnose and treat maladies of mood and madness. I enjoy his writing style, and have read his previous works including the excellent Isaac's Storm. If you are intrigued by mental illness, and who wouldn't be given the extent to which it appears in our lives, you will enjoy this brief descent into an unhealthy mind, and the surprising, if controversial, treatment which delivered him back to sanity!
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