Into the Gray Zone
A Neuroscientist Explores the Border Between Life and Death
2 of 2 copies available
"Vivid, emotional, and thought-provoking" (Publishers Weekly), Into the Gray Zone takes readers to the edge of a dazzling, humbling frontier in our understanding of the brain: the so-called "gray zone" between full consciousness and brain death. People in this middle place have sustained traumatic brain injuries or are the victims of stroke or degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Many are oblivious to the outside world, and their doctors believe they are incapable of thought. But a sizeable number—as many as twenty percent—are experiencing something different: intact minds adrift deep within damaged brains and bodies. An expert in the field, Adrian Owen led a team that, in 2006, discovered this lost population and made medical history. Scientists, physicians, and philosophers have only just begun to grapple with the implications.
Following Owen's journey of exciting medical discovery, Into the Gray Zone asks some tough and terrifying questions, such as: What is life like for these patients? What can their families and friends do to help them? What are the ethical implications for religious organizations, politicians, the Right to Die movement, and even insurers? And perhaps most intriguing of all: in defining what a life worth living is, are we too concerned with the physical and not giving enough emphasis to the power of thought? What, truly, defines a satisfying life?
"Strangely uplifting...the testimonies of people who have returned from the gray zone evoke the mysteries of consciousness and identity with tremendous power" (The New Yorker). This book is about the difference between a brain and a mind, a body and a person. Into the Gray Zone is "a fascinating memoir...reads like a thriller" (Mail on Sunday).
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 20, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781508239154
- File size: 244989 KB
- Duration: 08:30:23
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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April 3, 2017
In this vivid, emotional, and thought-provoking account, Owen, research chair in cognitive neuroscience and imaging at the University of Western Ontario’s Brain and Mind Institute, surveys his research on the human brain in a non-responsive state. Case by case, Owen probes the limits of human consciousness while taking readers bedside to observe trauma victims, many who have been in coma-like states for years, but whose severely damaged brains show clear signs of responding to his bizarre tests. As technology advances from PET scans to fMRIs, Owen and his colleagues devise more complicated means of communicating with “gray zone” patients. International headlines are made and ethical questions are raised. One patient, who regains her ability to speak and walk, shares what it was like to be treated as vegetative despite her awareness of everything going on around her. Using an experiment involving a Hitchcock film, Owen finds that several subjects believed to be vegetative are fully aware. “It was a haunting reminder of the resiliency of consciousness,” Owen writes, reflecting on “the meaning of what it means to be alive and whether anyone can be said to be irretrievably lost.” Occasional platitudes aside, Owen’s story of horror and hope will long haunt readers. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Literary.
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