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Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story about Brain Science

The author
This book report is based on the book, Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science. The book is Written by john Fleischman and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2004. Other than this book, Mr. John Fleischman has written many scientific articles for the Harvard medical school as well as contributing to the Air and Space Smithsonian, Harvard health newsletter and discover among others. Other than writing, he also works as a science broadcaster at WGBH in Boston and works as the top editor at Yankee and Ohio magazines.
Summary of the book
Just as the title suggests, the book is a step by step account of an incident in which an iron bar short through the head of Phineas Gage. Mr. Gage worked as a foreman for a railway construction company and was working at the Burlington and Rutland roadbed during the accident. The area where they were working was rocky and together with other employees, they wanted to blast the rocks to make way for the construction (John Fleischman, 2004). M. John’s responsibility was to put in detonation powder, sand and fuse using an iron bar to the holes that had been drilled in the rocks. In this fateful day, it’s believed that the crew forgot to aID sand and as Mr. Gage was compressing the charge into the space created with an iron rod, the blasting powder exploded send the iron rod through his head. The iron entered the head through the left jaw and exited the scalp through the left eye.
Under normal circumstances, Phineas Gage would have been dead but he surprised everyone when the recovered from the accident. His recovery was considered miraculous by many considering its extent, infections and long spells of convalescences that would sometimes go for months. Despite his miraculous recovery, the incident changed him forever. Before the accident, Phineas Gage was considered the most active, trustworthy, humble, reliable and capable foreman by his employers (John Fleischman, 2004). The change in his personality and behavior was first noted by Dr. Harlow who raised his doubts on Mr. Phineas mental state. After the recovering from the accident, Phineas was given his old job back and everyone there was baffled by his change of personality. The new John was mean, abusive, unreliable and nasty to his old friends. His employers could not keep up with his behaviors and they relived him off his duties.
From the beginning to the end, I found the book interesting and never felt like putting it down. The author narrates the events before and after the accident candidly while at the same time avoiding sensationalizing the issues involved. An example is the vivid description of Mr. Gage talking after the accident which comes out as horrifying and surprising (John Fleischman, 2004). In analyzing the case, the author gives scientific background in a conversational way which makes it easy for common people with no scientific background to understand. To make his case, the author incorporates other scientific topics like microbiology, phrenology and medical practices of the nineteenth century. Although the reader is first saIDened by the unfortunate incident involving Mr. Gage, the author is able to relax the atmosphere by showing how the incident helped scientists in understanding the functionality of human brain. The author also uses illustrations like historical photographs to great effect. A good example is the photo of Mr. Gage with the metallic rod in his head. Overall, the book is very fascinating and informative and I would recommend every one to read it.

Reference
John Fleischman (2004). Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story about Brain Science. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN0618494782, 9780618494781