Brain on Fire comes from a place of intense pain and unthinkable isolation, but finds redemption in Cahalan’s unflagging, defiant toughness. It’s an unexpected gift of a book from one of America’s most courageous young journalists.
“Engrossing… Unquestionably, an important book on both a human and a medical level. Cahalan’s elegantly-written memoir of her dramatic descent into madness opens up discussion of the cutting-edge neuroscience behind a disease that may affect thousands of people around the world, and it offers powerful insight into the subjective workings of our minds.”
Copyright
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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New York, NY 10020
Copyright © 2012 by Susannah Cahalan
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Free Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
A note to readers: Names and identifying details of some of the people portrayed in this book have been changed.
First Free Press hardcover edition November 2012
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cahalan, Susannah.
Brain on fire: my month of madness / Susannah Cahalan.
p. cm.
1. Cahalan, Susannah—Health. 2. Cahalan, Susannah—Mental health. 3. Encephalitis—Patients—United States—Biography. 4. Autoimmune diseases—Patients—United States—Biography. 5. Frontal lobes—Diseases—Patients—United States—Biography. 6. Limbic system—Diseases—Patients—United States—Biography. 7. Diagnostic errors—United States—Case studies. I. Title.
RC390.C24 2012
616.8’320092—dc23 2012012670
ISBN 978-1-4516-2137-2
ISBN 978-1-4516-2139-6 (ebook)