For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. The difference in American healthcare (as opposed to the British) was very obvious here. It still astounds me that healthcare is considered a privilege in the states. The discussion about medical ethics and neuropsychiatry are two of my favourite aspects of the book. As with all books of this genre, there are some tongue in cheek moments and some which some readers may raise an eyebrow at. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2020-08-23 09:04:25 Associated-names Burrell, Brian, 1955- author Boxid IA1911413 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier CT imaging scans are everywhere, as illegible to the general viewer as a Rorschach test, but deemed the (often bogus) sine qua non of scientific credibility for all matters psychological. I've rounded up the book from a very precise 2.75 to a 3 because it wasn't a bad read, just not a very good one.

Nevertheless, there are some wonderful accounts of rare cases, such as the young Asian Korean woman who was fuming like she has rabies. That definitely requires an experienced eye to make an accurate and prompt diagnosis, and to prevent further damage to the patient's physical functioning and quality of life. Even at the point where my physical symptoms were completely blatant, when you could do a physical exam and precisely locate the source of the pain, my GP was reluctant to send me for an ultrasound because, in his opinion, I was probably just stressed about my master's degree. He repeatedly asked if I was happy, if I was sure I was doing the right thing in my career, while I was trying to ask for pain relief. When eventually I pushed hard enough, he sent me for an ultrasound, warning me that I was wasting everyone's time. Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole does not particularly try to be funny, yet its commentary on how events happen to arrange themselves has a comic sensibility. Ropper's mirthless exchange of one-liner jokes with a hospital visitor who turns out to be a former comedy writer establishes a fellowship between the men and helps us understand the origins of this show business take on clinical neurology.Apropos of nothing really, but this reminds me of British game shows. It is very alien to the British to applaud oneself or one's accomplishments, whereas Americans jump up and down and shout out how proud they are of themselves, this makes British people cringe. However, it makes much more exciting television, so the producers now have got the British to run around arms in the air shouting out and generally looking awkard and embarrassed. Everyone feels the same inside, it's just a difference in expression and probably the one people prefer is the one of the culture they were brought up in. Book Genre: Autobiography, Biology, Health, Medical, Medicine, Memoir, Mental Health, Neuroscience, Nonfiction, Psychology, Science There were some technical details here, I didn't get it all of course, I have no history in medicine but I understood enough for the stories to make sense even without that knowledge. I wasn’t keen on the way it jumps around and between cases of similar illnesses but I get why he did it, it just didn’t work for me. I liked Dr Ropper, he came across nicely and informally, but his ego can get a bit wearisome after a while. I am trying not to hold the whole ego thing against him, after all he is a neurologist and fair enough he does an amazing job that very few people can or would choose to do.

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole is a really fascinating book. It's a little fictionalised, so we get dialogues and little portraits of character, enough that we can care about the cases discussed. Dr Ropper is pretty much everything an ideal doctor should be: knowledgeable, capable of acting fast, capable of explaining complex processes clearly, intuitive, willing to listen, willing to admit he's wrong... At every stage, he emphasises to the reader and to the residents he's teaching that each case is individual, that the right answer for one person isn't the right one for the next, and so on. An in-the-trenches exploration of the challenging world of the clinical neurologist. From the quotidian to the exotic, from the heart-breaking to the humorous, the authors present an honest and compelling look at one of medicine's most fascinating specialties. * Dr Michael Collins, author of Hot Lights, Cold Steel * Reading this is like being a fly on the wall in a neurology ward. There are some real characters, and some real highs and lows. It’s in part an eye opening education and part like watching a car crash. This isn’t a beginners guide to neurology and psychiatry, but it is well explained and rationale is given for decisions made by the author and his team for the care of his patients. A child molester who, after falling on the ice, is left with a brain that is very much dead inside a body that is very much aliveAll up, if you’re interested in the brain in all its mysterious glory you should probably keep this book on your radar. My takeaways from the book. 1) Neurological illness is highly specific to the person who has it, and requires long inquiry into the patient's self-reported symptoms. It is easy to miss the correct diagnosis, because presenting symptoms vary from purely physical to psychiatric. It takes years of careful listening to effectively diagnose each case. Neurologists aren't very nice to each other and to other doctors consulting on a case. There is a lot of ego jousting. The author of this book tries hard to be humble, but it's evident that he has high regard for himself and his abilities and unique diagnoses.

This book is about neurology, but the lessons apply to all medical specialties. It teaches all physicians to recognise the importance of the basics of clinical assessment, and to recognise the limitations of technology in making diagnoses. It is very enlightening and I recommend it to all doctors. Book Details Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment. urn:lcp:reachingdownrabb0000ropp_l7b0:epub:92c2fff5-a301-4e3e-849e-845a7902dcb9 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier reachingdownrabb0000ropp_l7b0 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t31350j3g Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781782395478 Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole tells it like it is on the front line of clinical neurology. Engagingly written, informative, often funny, it also manages to be moving without slipping into the sentimentality that too often infests medical writing... If ever anything goes wrong with my brain, I'd like a doctor like Ropper to help sort me out. -- Paul Broks * Daily Telegraph * I’m not sure that those statistics are entirely up to date, but in any case this is not a book for hypochondriacs or anyone who worries that their difficulty in remembering film stars’ names might stem from something more troubling than unmemorable film stars. Because the fear it plays on, consciously or not, is the sudden and cruel inversion of normality.

Change Website Language

Allan Ropper's new memoir, Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole, has the hard-boiled style of a Raymond Chandler novel. Like a real-life Dr House, Ropper follows hunches and has sudden startling insights. * The Times *

Told in a breezy style through a series of real-life case studies, Ropper's book offers a fascinating glimpse of the ways in which our brain can go wrong. * Financial Times * While Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is the source of the title, the theme of implausible reality in neurologic practice comes from the White Queen of Through the Looking-Glass. Neurology is queen of the medical specialties, says Ropper. Like Wells, a queen among Gothic cathedrals, she is neither the biggest nor necessarily the best but few exceed her for finesse and elegance. Full Book Name: Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease

When all his colleagues think a patient is suffering from a brain tumour or a stroke, Ropper knows that it’s herpes encephalitis. He doesn’t need to look at scans. He can tell from a bedside exam. In a sense, the book is long argument for the primacy of old-fashioned observation over newfangled technology. The central paradox with which it grapples is that in neurology the very means a patient uses to explain himself – ie his brain – is often impaired, and so unreliable. What Burrell and Ropper produce is a portrait of an immensely talented neurologist and teacher who is always the smartest man in the room. Almost every anecdote ends with Ropper emerging the hero of the moment. It’s too carefully written to be crassly boastful, but it’s not exactly an essay in professional humility. This book never engaged me entirely. It was supposed to be anecdotal--stories about neurology. I found the stories too brief, but that was largely because the author never had a chance to follow up on long-term outcomes. Once he had solved the problem, the patient either died or went home. Filled with patient histories and puzzling symptoms waiting to be understood, Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole is a detective novel, and despite his flapping white coat and squeaking Crocs, Ropper is Humphrey Bogart, cerebral yet tough and blessed with a terse wit. -- Christian Donlan * New Statesman *