In review: featured books

Our featured book, 'A Different Perspective After Brain Injury: A tilted point of view' is written entirely by the survivor, providing an unusually introspective and critical personal account of life following a serious blow to the head. Read on ...

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A Different Perspective After Brain Injury: A tilted point of view Christopher Yeoh Routledge ISBN: 9781138055650

This is not a diary of brain injury. It is a book about grief, hope and the human spirit. The author is a young man who suffers a severe brain injury and narrates his own journey to his amazing recovery.
 
This book is ‘Oliver Sacksian’ in that it is similar to Dr Sacks’s 1984 book ‘A Leg to Stand On’.  It is written in the first-person perspective and in a similar style of prose to Dr Sacks. The book is both a disarming, yet profound, insight to brain injury.
 
The author is a young, high- achieving solicitor who, when cycling in France, has an accident leading to his brain injury. With tongue in cheek, he describes this as the ‘most exciting day of his life’.  A day he cannot remember.
 
Yeoh then goes on to describe in, analytical detail, his recovery and healing – physically, mentally and emotionally. One big loss was memory, which he relates to having dementia. Another is the power of language, which he wielded skilfully before his accident. Yeoh also has a sense of bitterness from being incapacitated and dependent on others.
 
There are a number of key turning points in his journey. A shift from self-pity following repeated failures to a cold determination, to regain self-respect. The thread of acceptance is strongly woven into the book’s fabric, as it is this that is by far the most resistant, yet least tangible, of adversaries. Yet it is only when acceptance is integrated into his new self that recovery blossoms.
 
This book has a quick pace, with 29 chapters spread over 130 pages, and is published as part of the ‘After Brain Injury: Survivor stories’ series that was established in 2014.  While the topic of the book is brain injury, I believe it would be appreciated by a wide audience of physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals who have an interest in hope, inspiration and the enduring resolve of one human being to overcome the odds.  
 
  • Neil Clark, physiotherapy team lead, Fife Integrated Pain Management Service,Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, Fife 

Yoga for Dementia: A guide for people with dementia, their families and caregivers Tania Plahay Jessica Kingsley Publishers ISBN: 9781785921599

With yoga sequences, breathing exercises and meditations, this book shows care home staff and family carers how to use yoga to help people with dementia reduce its negative effects. 
 

Physical Health and Schizophrenia David J Castle, Peter F Buckley, Fiona P Gaughran Oxford University Press ISBN: 9780198811688

In comparison to the general population, people with schizophrenia and related disorders have poorer physical health and increased mortality. It is often mistakenly assumed that suicide is the main cause of this disparity. 
 

Navigating Life with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Mark B Bromberg and Diane Banks Bromberg Oxford University Press ISBN: 9780190241629

This book is said to offer a unique perspective: one author is a neurologist with 30 years’ experience in treating patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, while the other has provided care for a parent with the condition.
 

Cognitive therapy for Chronic Pain: A step-by-step guide (2nd ed) Beverly E Thorn Guilford Press ISBN: 9781462531691

The volume shows how to implement 10 treatment modules that draw on proven cognitive behavioural therapy strategies. It includes 58 reproducible client handouts and assessment tools to photocopy or download.
 

Critical Thinking: Your guide to effective argument, successful analysis and independent study Tom Chatfield Sage Publishing ISBN: 9781473947146

What does it mean to ‘think well’, and how do you learn to do it? The book promises to help you understand why reasoning matters, ‘sniff out errors’ and evaluate evidence.
 
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