The Man with the Bionic Brain

Overview

True stories of trauma, strokes, disability, and cutting-edge rehabilitation

A behind-the-scenes view of cutting-edge medical research and discoveries that are helping people with disabilities regain control, this book is an insightful look into the possibilities of technology and the associated ethical, political, social, and financial controversies. After he was stabbed and paralyzed from the neck down, Matthew Nagle, a former high school football star, made scientific history when neurosurgeons implanted microelectrodes in his brain that recognized his thought patterns, allowing him to control a computer cursor. With the BrainGate system he was able to use e-mail, manipulate a prosthetic hand, adjust TV settings, and play video games—all just by thinking. Dr. Jon Mukand, his research physician and a rehabilitation specialist, weaves together Matt’s story with firsthand accounts of other courageous survivors of stroke, spinal injuries, and brain trauma and the amazing technology that improves their lives. Not only a discussion of scientific advances in the battle against paralysis, The Man with the Bionic Brain is an inspirational book about how biomedicine gives hope to people with disabilities and enables them to take control of their lives.

Reviews

"This is an epic tale, a cliff-hanger, about a young athlete turned quadraplegic who is determined to walk again.  As he retreats into solitude and anger and re-emerges into a love for his friends and family and a trust in his doctor, we follow all his powerful emotions.  Along the way we are told stories of other remarkable recoveries, aided by modern devices.  Whoever has known a stroke victim or someone who's suffered from a spinal injury should read this book for its inspiring but realistic accounts of struggle and triumph."  —Edmund White, author of A Boy’s Own Story and the National Book Critics Circle Award–winning Genet: A Biography

Author Biography