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A review by ken_bookhermit
The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars: A Neuropsychologist's Odyssey Through Consciousness by Paul Broks
4.0
I took copious notes from this beautiful book, mostly of the literary references to Greek myth, but also of neuro/psychology terms and theories because it excites me, thinking of talking about these things to my psych nerd of a partner. The question, What is the point of living? followed by, How best to live? will haunt me for the rest. Also, there's a push to make me read Camus, and I'm just hoping it won't make me spiral.
Without this text, I don't know how I would have encountered things like, Capgras Delusion Syndrome, Cotard's Syndrome, and a variety of neuropsychological concerns. I didn't even know I'm all that into neuropsychology, at least, not until this book explores the connection of the mind and the self. I'm sure there's a lot of books expounding on that; it just doesn't express it under the framework of grief.
All I can really say is that, when I first started reading this in a bubble tea shop while waiting for my brother to finish getting a massage, I got too choked up after reading the prologue and the first few pages of chapter one. Why? I don't know. But it might have to do with the realization over the fact that my grief over my father's death has to do with my mother losing her husband as opposed to me losing my father. Weird, right?
Without this text, I don't know how I would have encountered things like, Capgras Delusion Syndrome, Cotard's Syndrome, and a variety of neuropsychological concerns. I didn't even know I'm all that into neuropsychology, at least, not until this book explores the connection of the mind and the self. I'm sure there's a lot of books expounding on that; it just doesn't express it under the framework of grief.
All I can really say is that, when I first started reading this in a bubble tea shop while waiting for my brother to finish getting a massage, I got too choked up after reading the prologue and the first few pages of chapter one. Why? I don't know. But it might have to do with the realization over the fact that my grief over my father's death has to do with my mother losing her husband as opposed to me losing my father. Weird, right?