Do we all see the world quite differently?
UNTHINKABLE: AN EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY THROUGH THE WORLD’S STRANGEST BRAINS by Helen Thomson
(John Murray, £20) genre since 1985, when the British neurologist Oliver Sacks published The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Thomson makes more than a passing nod to her illustrious predecessor. Yet she also brings a refreshingly personal touch to her vignettes, recounting her conversations with each of her subjects in humane and often humorous prose.
Some of the people have seen the world in unusual ways since birth. Since they assume that everyone sees the world like them, when it does eventually dawn on them that they may be weird, they may try to hide their idiosyncrasies out of shame or guilt. When they do let others into their secrets, they are often met with disbelief. Others are aware of how unusual their perceptions are because they haven’t always seen the world that way.
“My brain is like bees in a hive,” Thomson hears from Tommy, who underwent a radical personality change after a blood vessel burst in his brain. “In the middle, all you see are honeycomb cells covered in cling film. When you stroke those little honeycomb cells, lots of other cells break out from it, like a lightning flash touching a brain cell. And from that cell comes a volcano, emitting Fairy Liquid bubbles with billions and billions of images.”
These reports from the distant horizons of human experience prompt Thomson to wonder about the less dramatic differences that make each of one us unique. You may not see auras or feel as if you are turning into a tiger, but there are other ways in which your experiences differ from mine.
Thomson’s book suggests that we should not be so quick to blame others when they make what seem like obvious mistakes. The partner who is always losing his keys may simply be careless, but it’s also possible he is living in a very different world.
In one or way or another, perhaps we are all neurologically impaired.