Reading Phineas Gage at first looking at the cover I told myself that this book wasn't going to be interesting but no wonder they say don't judge a book by its cover. After reading the first page I was pulled in! What the book explained was about Phineas' severe brain accident. What interest me was how the book informs you about the century and his dangerous but serious job of working on the railroad activating "explosives." Phineas somewhat got distracted and got struck by his tamping iron through his head, that was built with a point on one end. Phineas being able to talk and walk right after the accident is what amazed me the most. Never in my life have heard a true story of someone acting like nothing happened after experiencing a serious accident. Phineas became famous quickly and nobody couldn't believe he was still alive, able to walk, and do things a regular person could do.
What i admired about this book is the transition of Phineas' story to the intersting information of the brain and the names of each different part and how they work such as the "broca area", a part in your brain that if damaged, affects your speech. It also explains that the brain splits in two halves "right and left hemisphere." All this information of the basic parts of how the brain works was very easily explained while telling Phineas' accident. How the doctors tried to figure out what happened to Phineas divided them into two groups to see who would be able to find out why Phineas was alive and what changed his personality.
This astonished me, knowing the way each doctor looked and the equipment they used in their time because they had very little tools and education. I like science and how it works to be broken down in a way that I understand. This is what the book did and that's why I loved it! It had visual pictures for those who understand things visually. What I found interesting to me as well was the pictures of the locations where he once was. The skull/case in memory of Phineas and the information of what happened to him and what caused his death was bizarre to me because he repeatedly had seizures and acted like nothing was wrong. My family members who are just about my age, some a little older watched me read this book abd said exactly what I thought when I first looked at the cover. After I explained to them a brief summary, they had a craving to read the book as well. I would recommend this to a friend because it's very informative and easily to understand. Plain and simple the book keeps it's interest.
