The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons

Outline

The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons (2014) tells the history of brain science through the remarkable stories of people whose injuries and illnesses revealed how the brain works. Sam Kean begins with a famous jousting accident in sixteenth-century France that brought two rival surgeons to the king’s bedside, and moves through cases of lost memory, changed personality, and strange perceptions. The book makes neuroscience vivid and easy to follow.

• Much of what we know about the brain came from people whose injuries or illnesses showed what each part does.
• The book opens with a sixteenth-century jousting accident in France that brought two rival surgeons to the king's bedside.
• Cases of lost memory, changed personality and strange perceptions reveal how the brain is structured and how it works.
• Telling the history of brain science through individual human stories makes neuroscience vivid and easy to follow.

Sam Kean is an American science writer known for telling the history of science through surprising human stories. His books have become bestsellers and include The Disappearing Spoon, about the periodic table, The Violinist’s Thumb, about genetics, and The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons, about the brain. He also hosts a popular science history podcast.