Phantoms in the Brain summary

John was an aspiring athlete until he lost one of his arms in a car accident. But, though his arm was gone, John continued to feel as though it were still there, even years later. He could wave it around, scrunch his fist in frustration, and even grab objects in the world around him. Once, the author picked up a coffee cup that John was holding in his phantom hand, and John yelped in pain: “Oww! Hey, don’t do that, that hurts!”

John has what’s called a phantom limb. Phantom limbs are like the ghostly memory of an appendage that continues to endure, sometimes for decades, after the physical limb was lost. Most reported cases of phantom-limb syndrome involve an arm or leg, although other phantom appendages – including phantom breasts and phantom erections – have also been reported.

When Ellen returned home from the hospital, her family immediately noticed that something was wrong. The hair on one side of her head was combed; on the other, it was knotted into clumps. Her shawl hung only over one shoulder; the rest trailed on the floor. And, most disconcerting of all, she was wearing lipstick and mascara on just one side of her face.

Ellen was exhibiting a syndrome called hemi-neglect, which can be characterized as a profound indifference to the left side of the world. It’s not that she was blind, technically. It’s that she was utterly indifferent to anything that happened on the left side of her visual field. It was as if, for her, “leftness” just didn’t exist.

When Arthur was a student, he received a severe blow to the head in a near-fatal car accident. For weeks, he lay in a coma. After he awoke, he embarked on the usual grueling path toward rehabilitation – gradually relearning to walk, talk, and recall the past. Miraculously, he was able to make a full recovery, although there was one small problem: he declared his parents had been replaced by imposters, and no amount of evidence or persuasion could convince him otherwise. 

Arthur had acquired Capgras syndrome – a delusion wherein the sufferer believes their loved ones have been replaced by duplicates. Arthur admitted that these duplicates looked just like his parents, but he insisted they really weren’t.

Mrs. Dodd had grown impatient with her doctors. Why were they insisting that her left arm was paralyzed when she knew she could move it just fine?

In fact, she could not move her arm. Mrs. Dodd was completely paralyzed on the left side of her body after a stroke to the right hemisphere of her brain. However, it didn’t seem to bother her much; despite having spent the last two weeks in a wheelchair, she seemed blissfully unaware of her predicament and denied it vehemently. 

Not all neurological disorders have a negative impact on a person’s life. In fact, every now and then, you meet a person whose so-called “disorder” has profoundly transformed their life for the better.

Enter Paul. Paul was an assistant manager at his local Goodwill store. But in his spare time, he liked to read, write, and have conversations with God.

Willy loved his mother deeply, and he grieved heavily when he heard the news of her passing.

When the day of her funeral came around, he performed every solemnity that you would expect. He donned a crisp black suit, spoke lovingly at the funeral service, and mourned with his family at the open grave where his mother was to be buried. It wasn’t until his mother’s casket was being lowered into the earth that Willy began to laugh.

The year was 1932, and Mary Knight was nine months pregnant. She had felt the baby kicking for a while now, and she knew it was nearly due. But, as money was tight, Mary had put off seeing a doctor. She only made a visit to Dr. Monroe when she felt she was close to delivering. 

During the check-up, everything looked as it should. Mary’s abdomen was enlarged, her breasts were swollen, and her nipples were mottled. But something wasn’t right. Her navel wasn’t pushed out. When the doctor put his stethoscope to her belly, he couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat. Had she miscarried? No, she hadn’t. As it turned out, there had never been a fetus at all.