A Cursing Brain?: The Histories of Tourette Syndrome

by Howard I. Kushner

Book Overview

Over a century and a half ago, a French physician reported the bizarre behavior of a young aristocratic woman who would suddenly, without warning, erupt in a startling fit of obscene shouts and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674180224
• ISBN13: 9780674180222
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 303 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The Cursing Brain

This is an excellent and comprehensive review of how Tourette Syndrome has treated -- and mistreated -- through history. It reveals how much the viewpoint of the reseacher (doctor, psychologist, etc.) determines the course of a study or how a patient is seen. Anyone interested specifically in TS will find it fascinating, but I think it is most relevant as a reminder that the scientist is a participant in a relationship with a patient. Medical students, medical researchers, physicians... should all read it.

Fascinating but a bit thick

This is a fascinating and well-researched book, both in terms of TS itself and the history of medicine and psychology in Europe and the US. Some of the stories are just heart rending. The writing is sometimes a bit overly academic, however, and readers without graduate degrees or lots of other practice reading turgid prose may get a bit worn out while plowing through some of the paragraphs.