Unabridged CDs • 5 CDs, 5 1?2 hours A brain scientist’s personal experience with a stroke and her journey to a full recovery.

#My Stroke of Insight - adds insight into stroke patients minds. (2008-11-22) Reading My Stroke of Insight gave me incredible insight into what it must be like to be in the mind of a stroke patient. I wish I would have known about this book while my dad was still alive. He suffered through several strokes and died in July. It gave one a new perspective on what a stroke patient is going through, which would help a love one and caregiver provide empathy for the patient. The end of the book makes you realize that we humans spend way too much time on things that do not matter and w...

#My Stoke of Insight (2008-11-20) It is a very good book related to the stoke caregivers. It has a lot of information related to recovery and get help.

#Sometimes repetative, but worthwhile.... (2008-11-19) My husband is at risk for a stroke sometime within his life time (already had a very minor one), and so I read this book seeking the detailed information promised by a scientist. The best information was to be patient, look the patient in the eyes, speak quietly and slowly over and over if necessary, stay positive and detail oriented, and develop daily plans. Good information, but sometimes too much repeat information. I also wished that the author had used less contrast description when talking about her first day and week af...

#A Must Read (2008-11-16) A very valuable book, not only for those who have suffered a stroke, but for those whose loved ones have. My husband suffered a massive stroke in 2002, several TAI s, and 2006 diagnosed with Alzheimer s. The book shows how small steps are the so important and not overwhelming for the person. Above all treating the patient and loved one with DIGNITY! Take charge of and be involved every step of the way.

#Personal Account and Great Advice (2008-11-11) This book does provide a fascinating personal account of Ms. Bolte Taylor s stroke, but it also gives inspiring advice. She had the great opportuniuty of being forced to re-program how she sees and interacts with the world and challenges the reader to do just that.

By the author of the acclaimed bestseller Benjamin Franklin, this is the first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available.How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson s biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom.Based on newly released personal letters of Einstein, this book explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk -- a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn t get a teaching job or a doctorate -- became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos, the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a morality and politics based on respect for free minds, free spirits, and free individuals. These traits are just as vital for thi...

#Einstein, Walter Isaacson s masterly biography. (2008-11-10) A page turner. Full of the life of Einstein and his fellow scientists in his day. Interesting insights into the person and his work. Easy to understand explanations of the science and theories. A tireless work of research and building up in a logical order of a life filled with the excitement of discovery, the pressure to be first in formulating ideas, to maintain friendships and remain true to basic human dignity in the face of an emerging ruthless political system. The sadness of drifting off on the seemingly dead end ...

#Good, but not to the level of Isaacson s Franklin (2008-11-04) It is interesting to see that 4 years after Isaacson s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life he chose to write about another rebel scientist in Albert Einstein. While the two men make a great compare/contrast it doesn t make it any easier for the author writing the books (NOTE: At no point during Einstein does Isaacson try to compare/contrast the two). While writing on Franklin most readers can grasp the scientific and political thoughts that are being discussed. This is not necessarily true of the readers of Einstein. ...

#Einstein s Life (2008-10-20) This is an outstanding life of Einstein, it portrays his genius at every stage of life, and leads to understanding his positions on issues both scientific and political.

#Great peek into the brain and being of the man (2008-10-15) Watch Video Here: http://www. amazon. com/review/R97YEZJZMMBZG My personal opinion and impression of this complicated life story

#A must-read if you are interested in the history of science (2008-09-09) Walter Isaacson has done a masterful job of retracing Albert Einstein s life, including his earliest childhood, his miracle year of 1905, the development of general relativity and his political activism. This book is an erudite yet thoroughly readable and entertaining look at the man. His genius was in being able to see physical meaning to equations, to him an equation was a representation of physical reality. His weakness was in not accepting quantum mechanics, to which can be attributed his famous quote about...

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson shows how the most fascinating of America s founders helped define our national character.In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the spunky runaway apprentice who became, during his 84-year life, America s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation s alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.Above all, Isaacson shows how Franklin s unwavering faith in the wisdom of the common citizen and his in...

#Highly readable, non-academic treatment (2008-11-01) Walter Isaacson s resume reads much like that of his subject, businessman, publisher, head of a non-profit society and author. One wonders where he has found the time to produce this book and the biographies of Henry Kissinger and most recently that of Albert Einstein. He is definitely not an Academic and has produced a highly readable book that is aimed at the general reader, not the academic historian. As a general reader I appreciated this very much. Isaacson includes many of the little touches that an academic historian ...

#An insight into one of the greatest lives (2008-10-31) As a kid, growing up in India, Benjamin Franklin was known more for his contributions to the field of science. Little did I know that he was one of the founding fathers of the USA. And so when Walter Isaacson (a former editor at TIME magazine) wrote this book, I bought this book. Back then, the main reason underlying the buy was the fact that I felt (and I still feel) that TIME was very unbiased and expected the book to paint Benjamin Franklin as the man he was, and not a whitewash job of painting the greatness of the man. Isaac...

#Insightful, yes...entertaining, no. (2008-10-14) If you want to learn about Ben Franklin this is a fine read. If you want to be entertained try something else. Isaacson s style is ponderorus and lacks energy and flow. Who would have thought that Franklin s wonderful life could be recounted in such boring detail.

#A Thorough Biography (2008-10-02) Benjamin Franklin s long and productive life has a special appeal to many people. As Isaacson suggests, perhaps he is the founder who appeals to so many people because he seems more accessible. There are several things I learned in this book that I had not really considered before, mainly his relationship with his family and the opinions others had of him in succeeding generations. As the author remarks, we picture him (somewhat inaccurately) as a spectacled, elderly man engaging in his kite experiment or we see him dispensing maxims about industry ...

#Ben Franklin, the good and the bad (2008-08-20) I am a fan of narrative nonfiction history, so I was a bit offset when I started reading Benjamin Franklin. It s not really a narrative biography, but by the end of the first page, I didn t care. The book is well written by Walter Isaacson and it is about a fascinating man. I knew very little about Benjamin Franklin when I began this book. Not so now. Isaacson looks at the many facets of the man s life--printer, author, politician, diplomat, revolutionary, inventor, scientist. Franklin was a man who defined his time and defined Ameri...

In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman (Elegant and scrupulous—New York Times Book Review) and Krakatoa (A mesmerizing page-turner—Time) brings to life the extraordinary story of Joseph Needham, the brilliant Cambridge scientist who unlocked the most closely held secrets of China, long the world s most technologically advanced country. No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair. He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire. He searched everywhere ...

#Wonderfully enlightening. (2008-11-23) what a great person to learn about and be remembers for his vision, commitment, and integrity. we need more like him today

#In a nutshell.... (2008-11-22) There is little point in being redundant by parroting all of the complimentary remarks regarding this well-written book. It suffices to say, it is a must read work by those interested in China, especially those who are drawn to the history of science. There is only one additional point regarding the sixteenth century watershed that needs to be given some consideration: Agricultural advancements in the introduction of then-new foodstuffs (such as yams) into the diets of peoples throughout the world that better enabled them to survive and, in turn, develo...

#Biography of a flawed intellectual, with little about China (2008-10-31) I bought this book hoping to find out something about China, especially Chinese history. But the book contained very little about China, instead, I found the biography of an egomaniac whose scholarly work belies his inability to have any common sense in his daily life. We hear of his journeys through China to seek for their historical knowledge, but we never see China itself. We are told of all the times his car broke down, but except for Needham s annoyance, we don t learn anything else. (Was the terrain fl...

#A colorful life (2008-10-24) The book is quite thorough in going through the highlights of Needham s interesting career and personality. There is too much attention paid to his randiness and not enough to his process of editing the vast amount of material he collected. I doubt he will be remembered for how many women he slept with. We are told that he assembled a vast library of unique and obscure sources that laid out the scope of early Chinese technology and innovation. How he waded through it seems to be either unimportant or unknown to the author. Even one specific and detai...

#a formula book (2008-10-01) The problem with this book is that Simon Winchester is grinding them out of the mill now. When an author produces books beyond a certain rate, they tend to become formulaic and by-the-numbers. Everything that was fresh in the professor and the madman has become a stale formula in this book. Its all assembly-line craft and no passion. If you have never read one of his books, I would recommend it. Its not his best, but its respectable. But otherwise. . . . . We don t need any more formula books about european eccentrics who made some great contribution...

The long-running New York Times bestseller that has become a cultural phenomenon, Bringing Down the House is an action-filled caper carried out by the unlikeliest of cons -- supersmart geeks. Gambling pervaded the M.I.T. campus, and genius kids with money and glittering futures were just as likely to be found in a Paradise Island casino as in the school library. A highly elite group of mathletes was recruited to join The Club, a small, secret blackjack organization dedicated to counting cards and beating the major casinos across the nation at their own game. As a successful ring of card savants, backed by a mysterious ringleader and shadowy investors, they infiltrated Vegas and won millions. The Boston Herald acclaimed it as a suspenseful tale that portrays the players as Davids going up against Goliaths. And Bill Simmons of ESPN magazine exclaimed, This book made me want to gamble! Vegas! Vegas! Filled with tense action, high stakes, and incredibly close calls, Bringing Down the Hou...

#Great book (2008-11-22) Pros: Great book about MIT students who use their brains for more than science, but to take advantage of inefficient markets. Well written, fast paced and exciting. Cons: NoneSummary: Fast read about a real story that s exciting and fun. Overall: 9/10

#Interesting and Amazing (2008-11-12) In Bringing Down The House, Ben Mezrich tells the true story of a group of MIT students who count cards in blackjack. The story focuses on Kevin Lewis, and how he came to be an expert card counter. At no time is this story dull or boring. It will keep you into it until the very end. The story itself is unbelievable, which makes the book even more amazing. Mezrich does a great job of describing the thoughts and actions that each student took during the book. He also does a good job on showing each character s growth and development during the b...

#Tired of being lied to (2008-11-11) Looks like Ben Mezrich can join the ranks of James Frey, Dave Pelzer and Kathy O Beirne, who write fiction but call it non-fiction. After reading this book I decided to do some online research. Didn t take long to find this comment in Wikipedia In 2008, Boston magazine and The Boston Globe investigated the accuracy of Mezrich s non-fiction, identifying occasions in his blackjack books where scenes were invented out of whole cloth. Very disappointing to discover another best seller that is so fabricated yet purports to be telling the truth.

#I enjoyed reading it until I did some background research (2008-11-09) Not sure what to say. There might be a kernel of truth to what happened, but it certainly didn t happen as described in this tripe. Anyone who falls for this sure is naive.

#Liked the book, but not the crude language. (2008-10-31) I didn t understand why the book said the F word so many times. I know that it is based in Vegas, but I just don t think that it was necessary and got very annoying towards the end. It also makes me hesitate to recommend this book because I don t want to offend anyone and them thinking that I didn t mind the crude language. After I read the book I looked up the story on the Internet about what happened with these MIT guys and I was annoyed to find that most of the stuff that was in the novel was untrue or exageratted. I just...