My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor - Essay Example

"My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor" is a great example of a paper on neurology. Jill Bolte who is an American Author is well known for her book “My stroke insight” published in 2008. It is not a fictional book. In this book, she tells the readers how she had a stroke in her brain’s left hemisphere. In the opening paragraph, she tells about how she developed an interest in the human brain. She had a career of her own until in late 1966 she discovered that she was suffering from a brain disorder and ultimately developed stroke.

She states that “Within four brief hours, I watched my mind completely deteriorate in its ability to process all stimulation coming in through my senses.” (Taylor, 11)

This incident motivated her to write something about the condition that might be useful for other people; the anatomy of the brain is defined in her work using very simple language, including the peripheral nervous system. The Author has also included diagrams to make it easy to understand and has used a very user-friendly language; which is the one major reason for the success of this book.

In chapter three the author has elaborated on how the right and left cerebral hemispheres work and how our senses are formed. Later in the reading, she tells the reasons for hemorrhagic stroke.

“The hemorrhagic stroke occurs when blood escapes from the arteries and floods into the brain. Seventeen percent of all strokes are hemorrhagic” (Taylor, 23).

She emphasizes how important it is to know the signs of the stroke; the author has used the simplest possible terms for this. In chapter seven Taylor explains in detail the feelings she had at the time of stroke, and the way she was feeling irritated by the questions asked at the emergency.

“Answer this, squeeze that, sign here!” they demanded of my semi-consciousness, and I thought, How absurd! Can’t you see I’ve got a problem here? What’s the matter with you people? Slow down! I can’t understand you! Be patient! Hold still! That hurts! What is this chaos?” (Taylor, 74)

Later in the same chapter, she tells how clueless and hopeless she was until she realized that instead of crying she had to fight. The doctors at the emergency helped her a lot in the recovery process. The writer showed great gratitude and thankfulness.

By the end of the second day, Taylor was able to sit and stand but with someone’s support. She also shared her experience with her mother’s love and affection. She was not ready for the surgery but her mother convinced her that it is necessary if she wants to have a normal life.

Her mother G.G helped her in doing the daily tasks before the surgery as it was really difficult for the author to remember even the simplest task she used to perform before the stroke, like recognizing colors and smells.

On December 27th the author finally had a successful surgery, Later on, she tells about the recovery process and how she needed people around to help her and started her life again.

The book has given me a vast knowledge about the anatomy of the brain, the functions of the left and right brains and how to help someone with such disorders. Taylor has written her experience in a very beautiful manner; it is very easy to understand. This book has encouraged me to learn about the problems and face them boldly instead of hiding from them. Read More