Book Review: So Much More Than a Headache
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For a headache subspecialist, reading about headache for pleasure is something of an oxymoron…similar to a forensic pathologist being forced to watch multiple episodes of CSI. There are exceptions. If neurology is “the art of observation”, then no neurologist has employed that art and written of his observations more effectively than Oliver Sacks; even 50 years after its publication, his first book, Migraine, remains authoritative and highly readable, a compelling blend of science and vivid creative writing. In The White Album, Joan Didion described migraine in lyrical prose as evocative as William Styron’s timeless portrayal of depression, Darkness Visible.
Sacks, Didion and many others are represented in this anthology that describes beautifully the experience of migraine, described by authors personally intimate with that experience. Editor Kathleen O’Shea has included a wide selection of excerpts, chapters, poetry, and even a short play. O’Shea, a professor of literature and a migraine sufferer herself, offers her own perspective in an original essay of on the topic.
This is great writing and pleasurable reading. Even for a headache subspecialist.
Available through Amazon.
