Seized: Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Medicine, History, and Art
A narrative portrait of a common form of epilepsy that can alter personality: temporal lobe epilepsy, or TLE, which crosses the traditional boundaries between neurology and psychology, brain and mind. Seized profiles brain experts and TLE patients both ordinary and famous, including van Gogh, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, and Lewis Carroll, who turned some of his seizure states into Alice’s “adventures” in Wonderland.
ORDER NOW at: Amazon
Winner of the American Society of Journalists and Authors Solimene Award of Excellence for Writing about Medicine for a General Audience.
Featured on NPR’s Morning Edition with Neal Conan and in The New York Times and Newsweek.
“A major study ... The implications for psychiatry are staggering.”
— Publishers Weekly
“In this fascinating account of medical research, LaPlante shows how a brain scar may cause bizarre aggressive or sexual behavior — and works of profound creative imagination.”
— Howard Gardner
“Thoughtful ... Highly recommended.”
— Library Journal, starred review
“Four stars.”
— Los Angeles Times
“LaPlante’s descriptions of the human brain are wonderfully concrete, her historical research is well presented, and her empathy for TLE’s victims is clear.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Controversial.”
— Newsweek
“Compelling, engrossing, and intriguing.”
— Neurology Bulletin
A narrative portrait of a common form of epilepsy that can alter personality: temporal lobe epilepsy, or TLE, which crosses the traditional boundaries between neurology and psychology, brain and mind. Seized profiles brain experts and TLE patients both ordinary and famous, including van Gogh, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, and Lewis Carroll, who turned some of his seizure states into Alice’s “adventures” in Wonderland.
ORDER NOW at: Amazon
Winner of the American Society of Journalists and Authors Solimene Award of Excellence for Writing about Medicine for a General Audience.
Featured on NPR’s Morning Edition with Neal Conan and in The New York Times and Newsweek.
“A major study ... The implications for psychiatry are staggering.”
— Publishers Weekly
“In this fascinating account of medical research, LaPlante shows how a brain scar may cause bizarre aggressive or sexual behavior — and works of profound creative imagination.”
— Howard Gardner
“Thoughtful ... Highly recommended.”
— Library Journal, starred review
“Four stars.”
— Los Angeles Times
“LaPlante’s descriptions of the human brain are wonderfully concrete, her historical research is well presented, and her empathy for TLE’s victims is clear.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Controversial.”
— Newsweek
“Compelling, engrossing, and intriguing.”
— Neurology Bulletin