So some people posit that people aren't afraid of dying, just dying before they have the chance to leave some imprint or mark upon the existing world that will remain in their absence as a reminder, or as evidence to show, that they ever existed themselves. I got to write some book reviews for Waterstones so I guess if that theory holds true I can die happy now.
An Anthropologist On Mars- Oliver Sacks
A surgeon with Tourettes' that gives him uncontrollable tics that magically cease during surgery; the amnesiac who can't recall anything since the 60's; a painter whose colour-blindness doesn't stop him from painting (pictures included); a blind man who regains his sight after 51 years, with frightening consequences; among other abnormalities of the human condition, Sacks writes the stories of his patients and their amazing idiosyncratic experiences.
Virgin Suicides- Jeffrey Eugenides
A breathtakingly beautiful confusing and one-of-a-kind novel, absolutely incredibly unmissable
While the story keeps you riveted, the language will inspire.
Proust Was A Neuroscientist- Jonah Lerner
Long before the 20 and 21st century advances in neuroscience and neuroimaging technology the pathways to what we now take as scientific truths about how the brain experiences the world were already being paved y Proust, George Eliot, Cezanne, and Woolf, among others.
Brimming with knowledge tracing concepts of female mental illness back through melancholy, hysteria, mania, nerves, desire, contrariness and 'Freudian problems'- contains case studies detailing the afflictions of women from 1800 to today and the rapidly changing understanding that accompanied elapsing time.