I enjoyed reading both My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor and Brain on Fire My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan. Both books recount their authors' lived experiences with quite severe and acute neurological conditions. Taylor had a haemorrhagic stroke and Cahalan had anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis.

I picked up Taylor's book while supporting a family member in hospital. I must say I really enjoyed reading her account of what happened on the day of the stroke and how she managed to get help. The book focuses on her recovery, which took 8 years. I found her concept of tending to the garden of one's mind and her list of things she needed most during her recovery very informative.

Cahalan's book was a much more exciting read. Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is a rare condition that presents with a range of severe psychiatric and neurological symptoms. Reading about how it manifests and how the diagnosis was made was very exciting.

This post is part of a challenge to write 150 blog posts of 150 words each this year. This is post 18 out of 150.