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A review by bookph1le
Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas
5.0
Sometimes you read a book and it completely changes your mind about something. Concussion is one such book. I've never been into the NFL, but having gone to a university with a very big sports presence, I did get absorbed into the college football scene. Game days were great social events, a time when alumni and students would gather by the thousands to celebrate a game that seems so quintessentially American, to cheer on the "gladiators" tasked with bringing our alma mater glory. After reading this book, it makes my stomach curdle to think I was a participant.
The bottom line is this: the NFL knew for years that football caused massive, irreversible brain damage to its players. By its own admission--which can hardly be trusted, given that it denied time and again that there was a link between football and CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy--basically, having your brain repeatedly jarred around in your skull)--it anticipates that at least a third of all players will eventually suffer from the condition. One third. Let that number sink in for a while. One third of all NFL players risk becoming violent, risk losing their memories, risk sinking into a dementia from which they would never return, all as a result of playing a game. This isn't a condition that affects them only in old age, either. Some of the now deceased players whose brain analyses proved they had CTE were only in their 40s. Owen Thomas, a defensive end playing for the University of Pennsylvania, hanged himself at 21, and became the youngest person diagnosed with CTE. These are real people suffering from the all-too-real, devastating consequences of playing a game for the entertainment of Americans and the pocket-lining of the multi-billion dollar juggernaut that is the NFL.
I'm not going to forget about this book. I know it's going to be there in my mind, that it's going to leap to the fore whenever I even hear football mentioned. Some people may say, "Well, these guys know going into it that it's dangerous, that they risk injury every time they step on the field." Yes, but what about the spectators' role? What about asking people to subject themselves to upwards of 20 gs of force from the blows they suffer (the linemen on every single play), all so we can sit on our couches--or in the stands--and be entertained? From this point forward, that thought and football are going to be forever inextricable in my mind.
And all of this is the result of one man's scientific curiosity. A man who for many years didn't get the credit he was due, and who even found himself on the verge of being ruined because he dared threaten the security of one of the most lucrative industries in the U.S. If anything is a textbook example of why independent science is of dire importance, it's Bennet Omalu's story.
Concussion is about many things, not least of which is a profile of Omalu's life and what drove him to become the scientist he is. All of this serves as a reminder that those who find things that challenge deeply held notions are at the very least underappreciated and at the very worst discredited. Bennet Omalu is a man, and the book doesn't shy from showing his flaws and missteps, but his mind is a marvel. Thanks to his discovery and tenacity, millions of people now know about the real risks of playing football. Thanks to his continuing commitment to studying brain injury--despite all he suffered because he dared to question the NFL--he continues to shed light on the effects of brain injury while doggedly pursuing effective treatments and, hopefully, a cure.
This book is so many things that I find it difficult to sum it up. One thing I'm not sure it's meant to be is a warning, but it should be taken as such. The current social and political climate in the U.S. exemplifies an alarming lack of awareness when it comes to science, even to the point of a backlash against scientific knowledge and research. I think the question that all Americans need to ask is why? I think in asking that question, we are likely to arrive at an answer that held true of the NFL's coverup of the effects of CTE, of the tobacco industry's vehement denials that smoking causes cancer, and of countless other examples of solid science being suppressed: because it threatens a sacred cash cow, a sacred cash cow that is often considered more important than human lives.
The bottom line is this: the NFL knew for years that football caused massive, irreversible brain damage to its players. By its own admission--which can hardly be trusted, given that it denied time and again that there was a link between football and CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy--basically, having your brain repeatedly jarred around in your skull)--it anticipates that at least a third of all players will eventually suffer from the condition. One third. Let that number sink in for a while. One third of all NFL players risk becoming violent, risk losing their memories, risk sinking into a dementia from which they would never return, all as a result of playing a game. This isn't a condition that affects them only in old age, either. Some of the now deceased players whose brain analyses proved they had CTE were only in their 40s. Owen Thomas, a defensive end playing for the University of Pennsylvania, hanged himself at 21, and became the youngest person diagnosed with CTE. These are real people suffering from the all-too-real, devastating consequences of playing a game for the entertainment of Americans and the pocket-lining of the multi-billion dollar juggernaut that is the NFL.
I'm not going to forget about this book. I know it's going to be there in my mind, that it's going to leap to the fore whenever I even hear football mentioned. Some people may say, "Well, these guys know going into it that it's dangerous, that they risk injury every time they step on the field." Yes, but what about the spectators' role? What about asking people to subject themselves to upwards of 20 gs of force from the blows they suffer (the linemen on every single play), all so we can sit on our couches--or in the stands--and be entertained? From this point forward, that thought and football are going to be forever inextricable in my mind.
And all of this is the result of one man's scientific curiosity. A man who for many years didn't get the credit he was due, and who even found himself on the verge of being ruined because he dared threaten the security of one of the most lucrative industries in the U.S. If anything is a textbook example of why independent science is of dire importance, it's Bennet Omalu's story.
Concussion is about many things, not least of which is a profile of Omalu's life and what drove him to become the scientist he is. All of this serves as a reminder that those who find things that challenge deeply held notions are at the very least underappreciated and at the very worst discredited. Bennet Omalu is a man, and the book doesn't shy from showing his flaws and missteps, but his mind is a marvel. Thanks to his discovery and tenacity, millions of people now know about the real risks of playing football. Thanks to his continuing commitment to studying brain injury--despite all he suffered because he dared to question the NFL--he continues to shed light on the effects of brain injury while doggedly pursuing effective treatments and, hopefully, a cure.
This book is so many things that I find it difficult to sum it up. One thing I'm not sure it's meant to be is a warning, but it should be taken as such. The current social and political climate in the U.S. exemplifies an alarming lack of awareness when it comes to science, even to the point of a backlash against scientific knowledge and research. I think the question that all Americans need to ask is why? I think in asking that question, we are likely to arrive at an answer that held true of the NFL's coverup of the effects of CTE, of the tobacco industry's vehement denials that smoking causes cancer, and of countless other examples of solid science being suppressed: because it threatens a sacred cash cow, a sacred cash cow that is often considered more important than human lives.