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    The Man with the Electrified Brain
    The Man with the Electrified Brain
    The Man with the Electrified Brain
    Audiobook1 hour

    The Man with the Electrified Brain

    Written by Simon Winchester

    Narrated by Simon Winchester

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    About this audiobook

    “The mind can be a fragile gift. Sometimes it fails us, and often when we need it most. Happily, mine appears to be working reliably now, and so I am perhaps as able as most to confront and cope with the madness of the moment. But during a lengthy period some fifty years ago, my mind unexpectedly broke down.”

    These words, from the new introduction to Scribd’s reissue of Simon Winchester’s The Man with the Electrified Brain, are all the more insightful and resonant now as a historic pandemic tests the mental and physical health of people on every continent. The bestselling author understands this better than most, having nearly lost the battle for his own sanity as a young man. How he triumphed, and by what unexpected means—told in this rare and riveting piece of memoir from Winchester—should be a light in the dark for us all, a reminder that from crises can come rebirth.

    Winchester has never shied away from big, even enormous, topics: the Atlantic Ocean, the Krakatoa volcanic eruption, early exploration of the wilderness that would become the United States. His beloved bestseller The Professor and the Madman, about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, explored the workings of a brilliant yet troubled mind. In The Man with the Electrified Brain, Winchester takes on arguably his most daunting subject yet: one of nature’s greatest and most enduring mysteries, the human brain.

    As a geology student in his second year at Oxford, Winchester was known as a young man of even temper and keen intellect, until one June morning when he woke to find himself “changed with dreadful suddenness into another being altogether.” For a period of nine days, he lived in immobilizing fear. Everyday items—familiar paintings, a pile of books, his own robe hanging from a hook—became objects of horror; the world lost color, purpose, all sense and safety. An attempt to drive ended in a crash, and he abandoned the vehicle. When the episode finally passed, he returned to his former self, presuming that what had happened to him was a fluke. It wasn’t. The episode repeated itself at unpredictable and dangerous intervals for four years and very nearly caused the author’s death while he was on an expedition in the Arctic.

    What was wrong with him? Where could he find help? Would he spend the rest of his life anticipating the return of these mental blackouts? With the urgency of a whodunit, Winchester describes the coming and going of these terrifying dissociative states and the chance encounter that led to a controversial treatment—electroconvulsive therapy—that may or may not have cured him once and for all.

    Written by a master storyteller, The Man with the Electrified Brain locates that finest of lines between sanity and insanity and is Winchester’s most consequential and deeply personal work yet.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScribd Editions
    Release dateMay 7, 2020
    ISBN9781094408163
    Author

    Simon Winchester

    Simon Winchester is the bestselling author of Atlantic, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, Krakatoa, The Map That Changed the World, The Surgeon of Crowthorne (The Professor and the Madman), The Fracture Zone, Outposts and Korea, among many other titles. In 2006 he was awarded the OBE. He lives in western Massachusetts and New York City.

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    Reviews for The Man with the Electrified Brain

    4/5

    246 ratings19 reviews

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    • 3/5
      it´s very interesting to know stories about the mind, something we must take good care of it on our lives.
    • 5/5
      The description of his depression are so real. I have had the convulsive treatment myself and the description is so accurate.
    • 3/5
      I thought it was okay, lovely words used but was boring at times and hard to get through. The ending was good
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written and very interesting - highly recommended. A very intelligent writer.
    • 5/5
      It's a nice book /audiobook. Initially I thought it would be boring. I'm glad I stayed. The author's case is quite interesting! But perhaps there's really no way of knowing what really happened to him. The brain is perhaps one of the most amazing and the most complex organ in the body. It's similar to our universe - that is it remains a mystery!
    • 5/5
      A fascinating story, well wrote, and delightfully narrated.
      I am no doctor, but I would venture a guess that this man did not have a congenital mental disorder, but rather a case of encephalitis, perhaps brought about by an amoebic infection of the brain. Consider he was a rower, in college, his first bout coincided with a fever, the symptoms, then finally being cured from an electrocution which would likely kill any foreign organism using the brain as a host.
    • 4/5
      Interesting short story of man who had successfull electric shock treatment
    • 5/5
      Great appreciation for sharing with us his story and the traumatic process he went through more than 50 years ago. Very well written, and the author does a superb job of reading his own work.
    • 4/5
      VERY nicely done. I'm an 8nternist with several years psychiatric training. I ask suffer from chronic PTSD andvdepression, at hands of rabidly cruel evangelical pastors parents. I experienced similar but NONE of the COMPASSION and understanding, I'm glad this author had better experience. I still experience nightmares relating to my father's rejoicing at the judgements of God. My father would have LOVED the COVID-19 deaths. PSYCHIATRY is still pretty primitive. I welcome the findings of Nobel Prize winning scientist, Eric Kandel, who books continue to be of comfort to me, even after several readings. America don't like depressed people
    • 5/5
      I have enjoyed many books by Winchester and it was so interesting to learn a bit about him. I admire him all the more knowing the struggles he has overcome and the courage it took to tell this story
    • 5/5
      What a beautiful book. The grace and language within are a balm, a hope. Best wishes Sir.
    • 5/5
      This short book gives ECT a new lease on life as the cliche goes while citing some prominent examples of its opponent's views. As always the writing is impeccable and the author's voice brings the book to life as no other reader could.
    • 2/5
      The narrator's voice is irritating. Otherwise the story is fine.
    • 4/5
      I have become a fan of Simon Winchester’s writing and narration. The personal anecdotes sprinkled through some of his books have given me a feeling of knowing this writer as a charming and interesting acquaintance. This is the story of his mysterious illness and, to me, surprising cure.

    • 5/5
      Refreshingly relevant, A book to be enjoyed by every man.
    • 3/5
      Eye opening experience about electric shock therapy, I never thought about it before and I certainly didn’t know that someone had gain any benefit from it. Interesting.
    • 5/5
      Very interesting and well presented, I was fascinated by the description of mental
      illness,

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The raw emotion is fantastic. Highly recommend!! Must read. Narrated

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I suffered from this for over 6 years and I couldn't get a doctor to even believe me that something was physically wrong and not mental and once I did they were able to fix it but I don't talk about it much and I sure can't explain it to people I have in my life and this book explains it in a way that I won't need to explain it I will just tell them to read it and to the author I appreciate your help with this in a way that I can't do anything but cry because I have been searching for I don't know how long for some answers