Recent Read: Brain on Fire

My most recent read was a book that was highly recommended to me by a friend, so, naturally, I chose it for my newspaper’s book club.

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan documents Cahalan’s descent into “madness” and her ultimate diagnosis with a rare auto-immune disorder.

From Goodreads page

Cahalan was a reporter (not much younger than I am now) at the New York Post when she started acting differently. She ultimately began having seizures and what appeared to be psychological breaks.

As I was reading about her symptoms, it sounded like some weird love child of schizophrenia, epilepsy and bipolar disorder. It wasn’t pretty.

Cahalan doesn’t have much memory of the month she spent in the hospital before finally being diagnosed (essentially on a fluke) with the auto-immune disease.

One million dollars (PLUS) later and with a treatment plan in place, Cahalan began the road to recovery.

The book documents Cahalan’s hospital stay through her own medical records, interviews with her parents and boyfriend (all of whom spent a ridiculous amount of time by her side and supporting her), and interviews with her physicians and experts to get the full story.

Essentially, Cahalan’s brain was attacking her body. It could happen again. Doctors have yet to figure out why it happened the first time.

As amazing as it is that Cahalan is now fully recovered (still working at the Post) and an author, with another book due out next year, Brain on Fire is also terrifying.

This could essentially happen to anyone, for no reason. She was considered by some of her doctors to be mentally ill and they wrote her off. Without some of the doctors on the case at one of the best hospitals in the country, and without insurance paying for much of her medical care, Cahalan could have been sent to a mental institution. For no reason.

That very issue is something Cahalan addresses toward the end of the book. How many people have been diagnosed with mental health issues that may actually have some sort of auto-immune disease? It’s a question we may never totally have the answer to.

In the meantime, you should read Brain on Fire. It’s a relatively quick read and incredibly engaging and educational.

Monday Must (not)-Read: Silent Spring

Usually, I use these Monday posts to send interesting book recommendations to you, readers.

However, this week, I’m using this space to tell you about a book you should avoid at all costs: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

From Goodreads page

When I was a junior in high school, my teacher thought this book would be a good work of non-fiction for my class to read. Initially, I was OK with this because the book is considered a classic.

Nine weeks later, when we were still reading this book, I realize I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Carson’s work extols the perils that come with using DDT, a pesticide that was banned in the 1960s, in part because of the book. The title came about because if we use DDT, the birds will die and it will be a… wait for it… Silent Spring.

But it’s not just the birds that will die. It’s the plants. The trees. The fish. The bugs. The insects. The small animals that feed on those plants. The scavengers that eat the animals that died from DDT.

This book is more than 370 pages that I could sum up in one sentence. DDT is bad and everything will die if we use it.

Spending nine weeks reading this book was absolutely ludicrous. I honestly believe my teacher was feeling lazy and decided to not put a ton of energy into the non-fiction section of our curriculum because it wouldn’t be on the AP test anyway.

I was so glad to be rid of this book and ever since, I’ve warned people against reading it. Seriously, if this book makes it way to you, get away. Donate it, resell it, burn it even. It’s not worth your time.