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A MOLECULE AWAY FROM MADNESS
A New York Times Editor’s Choice - Longlisted for the Pen/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award - A JLG Book Club Selection - A Choice Outstanding Academic Title Selection
“Peskin writes...with a grace and humanity that recall Oliver Sacks. [She is] a dazzling stylist and a compassionate observer.”
- Annie Murphy Paul, New York Times Book Review (also a New York Times “Editor’s Pick”)
“…an acute and evocative demonstration of the fragility and interchangeability of mental, emotional and behavioral states.”
- Adrian Woolfson, Wall Street Journal
“…absolutely terrifying and wonderfully optimistic.”
- Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind
“I recommend Sara Manning Peskin’s book for anyone whose life has been touched by mental illness - and that means all of us.”
- Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket)
“Like Oliver Sacks before her, she is sure to inspire a generation of future neurologists, neuroscientists, and students of the brain.”
- Orly Avitzur, MD, MBA, president of the American Academy of Neurology
“Peskin’s powerful study — immersed in her patients’ stories — analyses neurology’s attempt to reach oncology’s molecular understanding.”
- Nature
“Gripping accounts…scaffolded in clear explanations of their causes, and neuroscientific opportunities towards possible cures.”
- Harvard Magazine
“Peskin delivers sensitive and detailed profiles of patients, doctors who aren’t taken seriously by their peers, and collaborations of researchers who defy skepticism to come up with much-needed answers.”
“A captivating and convincing study...an exemplary work.”
- Library Journal (starred review)
“Fascinating popular science.”
- Kirkus Reviews
“In vivid prose, Peskin brings to life the scientists who have contributed to the current “molecular” understanding.”
- Publisher’s Weekly
A college student cannot remember if she has eaten breakfast. By dinner, she is strapped to a hospital bed, convinced she is battling zombies. A man planning to propose marriage instead becomes violently enraged, gripped by body spasms so severe that he nearly bites off his own tongue. One after another, poor farmers in South Carolina drop dead from a mysterious epidemic of dementia.
With an intoxicating blend of history and intrigue, Sara Manning Peskin invites readers to play medical detective, tracing each diagnosis from the patient to an ailing nervous system. Along the way, Peskin entertains with tales of the sometimes outlandish, often criticized, and forever devoted scientists who discovered it all. A Molecule Away from Madness is an unputdownable journey into the deepest mysteries of our brains.