A Man With a Hole in His Head

The title of the extraordinary book I am reviewing is called “Phineas Gage A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science”. The book was written by John Fleischman, and it was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2004. The first impression of the book comes from the cover picture, which was very appeasing. It showed a skull with a hole on the top. This made me, as a reader, think that a man had a hole driven through his head. This was exactly what the book was about, only it was displayed in a manner beyond my expectations.
The book was about a man named Phineas Gage, who had a 13 pound iron rod, grinded through his skull. Gage was working on the railway tracks when all of a sudden a blast occurred, which shot a 13 pound iron rod from his skull, through his brain, and out his cheek. This incident should have killed him. Yet, he was able to talk, walk, see, eat, and do everything a normal man could, for eleven more years. The author tells us of the advances medical science had during Gage`s time, and why it could not help him. After Gage survived his accident, he did recover. But he was not the same person any more. A quote from his doctor was Gage “was no longer Gage,” His friends recall that after he recovered, he was aggressive and he couldn't keep a social life with anyone, any longer. Once a happy and soft man, now turned into a ruthless and completely dislikable homosapien. Today doctors assume that the part of the brain the rod demolished was the part that controls your ability to form/maintain friendships. This book itself does an amazing job tracking Gage`s life. A rumor in the book claimed that Gage let people see the inside of his skull (his brain and different fibers), for a small fee. These and many other incidents of Gage`s very interesting life were displayed through book in the utmost manner.

The author does a great job, being an author. His style through the book was very pleasing. The author prevents any misunderstanding, and he explains everything clearly. The author did an amazing job giving background information on neurology. A person with no experience in brain science at all, can read this book, and understand everything concerning Gage`s case. The author did a really good job, maybe a too good of a job, as I felt he eventually got too caught up in explaining neurology concepts. He started talking of scientific advancements made today, whether they applied to Gage`s case or not. That made made a specific part of this amazing book really boring. Another minor criticism I had, was the picture on page seventy one, which made me as a ninth grader disturbed. The picture on page seventy one gave a computerized depiction of a rod slicing through a juicy brain. Some people won't be disturbed, but I personally am disturbed seeing things in pain or cruel destruction.

Thus, I will give this book a rate of nine out of ten. I felt that the author tried to explain too much of the background information in neurology and brain science, which slowed down the rest of the, very much, intriguing book. I will recommend this book to fifth graders and above because of the somewhat disturbing picture (showing a rod stabbed through a brain) on page seventy one. Despite these two minor concerns I felt this was an amazingly, amazing book. Thus I would like to thank the author himself, for writing this book in such a manner, that anyone can read this, understand this, and still be highly interested in Gage`s story.