Dr Frukacz, editor of the RANZCP NSW newsletter wrote in the June-July edition:
EXCERPT: So, this is a book that is both informative, and enjoyable and easy to read. It is a book that can be recommended to family and carers of patients with organic brain disease to help them understand better and thereby cope better with what must at first sight seem strange and bizarre behaviour. Yet its capacity to make a topic that is usually dry and heavy very readable means that it can be recommended to health professionals interested in patients with these conditions too.
And dare I say that even psychiatrists like me would find the humane and common sense “musings” of Dr Williams a pleasant contrast to the often cold encylopaedic approach to this topic taken by textbooks. For me the difference is the difference between sitting in a library reading about these conditions and being invited to a ward round by Dr Williams with real patients.
FULL REVIEW: In reviewing Sid Williams’ book “Your Brain In Sickness And In Health – The experience of dementia and other brain disorders”, published by Lulu Publishing Services I couldn’t give a more succinct summary than the author himself gives on the very first page when he writes, “this book describes and attempts to explore some of the behaviours and experiences associated with abnormal brain function.”
When I was first asked to review this book, I thought oh dear this is going to be a dry and heavy tome dealing as it does with brain diseases. However, I was pleasantly surprised – this is an eminently readable book. This is largely due to the conversational style that the author uses.
After an introduction about dementia, the other chapters focus on the different symptom profiles or clinical presentations. The chapters are titled using ordinary rather than technical terms. Thus, there are chapters on for example, “Becoming flustered: the catastrophic reaction”, “Problems with emotional and social common sense” and the rather delightful, “The faulty starter motor: apathy or abulia”
Each chapter is introduced with a notated summary. This is then followed by a description of the phenomena being discussed including plain language explanations relating to causation. Abundant and colourful clinical examples bring the experiences described to life for the reader.
An interesting feature of this book and which I believe contributes to its readability is that the main text takes up roughly two thirds of the book with the remain third being taken up by notes which provide more detail about the topics being discussed as well as what the author describes as, “my discursive ramblings about matters raised”.
I’ve never met Dr Williams but from the style and tone of his writing I certainly get the impression that he brings a humane and caring attitude to his dealings with his patients. This is highlighted right at the beginning of the book when Dr Williams tells us of his issue regarding what work to use to refer to the, “folk beset with the behaviours and experiences described in this book” before settling for the term “patient”.
So, this is not the usual textbook of organic psychiatry. What Dr Williams does is bring a psychiatrist’s touch to the organic problems faced by patients who suffer with dementia and similar· conditions. In other words, this book is not just a catalogue of signs and symptoms of organic brain disease – rather the author incorporates these with the emotional responses both in the patients and in their carers.
So, this is a book that is both informative, and enjoyable and easy to read. It is a book that can be recommended to family and carers of patients with organic brain disease to help them understand better and thereby cope better with what must at first sight seem strange and bizarre behaviour. Yet its capacity to make a topic that is usually dry and heavy very readable means that it can be recommended to health professionals interested in patients with these conditions too.
And dare I say that even psychiatrists like me would find the humane and common sense “musings” of Dr Williams a pleasant contrast to the often cold encylopaedic approach to this topic taken by textbooks. For me the difference is the difference between sitting in a library reading about these conditions and being invited to a ward round by Dr Williams with real patients.
Editor