My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is an American neuroscientist and stroke survivor. Born in 1959, Taylor grew up fascinated by brain and personality differences due to her childhood experiences with her brother, who was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Accomplished in her field, Taylor was the youngest scholar to serve on the board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and also worked for the National Laboratory for Structural Neuroscience.

When she was 37 years old, Taylor’s academic career and personal life were interrupted by a massive hemorrhagic stroke, which occurred when an undiagnosed AVM in the brain burst, causing major damage to her brain’s left hemisphere. A Stroke of Insight not only gives the reader a personal perspective on Taylor’s process of suffering a stroke and recovering her body’s basic functions, but it also offers valuable education on the causes and consequences of strokes thanks to Taylor’s background as a scientist.

G.G., Dr. Taylor’s mother, has a central role in the book as Taylor’s main source of care, comfort, and rehabilitative training after her stroke. After Taylor’s debilitating stroke, she felt she was born to her mother a second time since she was as helpless as an infant.