The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains
Pria Anand

I really enjoy reading books about neurology and Oliver Sacks is one of my favorite writers on the subject (in my opinion, probably the best neurologist author, with Harold Klawans being the next best). I could easily see myself reading more books by Pria Anand.

Author Pria Anand takes us through her journey to becoming a neurologist, deftly interlacing telling us about her medical education as a South Asian woman and relevant medical history. Most of the medical history was familiar, especially her discussion of Dr. William Stewart Halsted, who is a giant in American medical history.

As a side note, I see that Dr. Halsted is now revered rather than reviled, as he had been during the 20th Century because of his, then, lifesaving radical mastectomy. Halsted’s Operation II was a radical mastectomy for breast cancer. While it saved lives, was very disfiguring for women. It wasn’t until the later part of the 20th Century that women demanded a less mutilating operations for breast cancer.

I very much liked reading about her becoming a neurologist, especially how she talked about her South Asian ancestry and how it made her the doctor she is now. It’s important, especially in medicine, to have different voices and viewpoints, because we are such complex creatures with differing backgrounds and experiences. The more diverse the physician population is, the more likely patients will seek care.

Every author who writes about neurology is compared with Dr. Oliver Sacks. I wish publishers and other reviewers would cease the comparisons because it is a disservice to the authors they are touting and reviewing. There is only one Oliver Sacks just like there is only one Pria Anand.

If I have any quibbles about the book, it is that some of the language used caused me to use the Kindle dictionary to look up the definitions. (I consider myself fairly well-read and intelligent, yet she managed to use words with which I simply wasn’t familiar). Her writing might not be as accessible as other writers, but still, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in neurology as well as the experiences of a south Asian woman who becomes a neurologist.

4/5 stars

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion, which I have given here.]