46 pages • 1 hour read
Jill Bolte TaylorMy Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is an American neuroscientist and stroke survivor. Born in 1959, Taylor grew up fascinated by brain and personality differences due to her childhood experiences with her brother, who was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Accomplished in her field, Taylor was the youngest scholar to serve on the board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and also worked for the National Laboratory for Structural Neuroscience.
When she was 37 years old, Taylor’s academic career and personal life were interrupted by a massive hemorrhagic stroke, which occurred when an undiagnosed AVM in the brain burst, causing major damage to her brain’s left hemisphere. A Stroke of Insight not only gives the reader a personal perspective on Taylor’s process of suffering a stroke and recovering her body’s basic functions, but it also offers valuable education on the causes and consequences of strokes thanks to Taylor’s background as a scientist.
G.G.
G.G., Dr. Taylor’s mother, has a central role in the book as Taylor’s main source of care, comfort, and rehabilitative training after her stroke. After Taylor’s debilitating stroke, she felt she was born to her mother a second time since she was as helpless as an infant. Taylor credits her mother’s intuition, optimism, and determination with helping her to recover all of the skills and abilities she lost as a result of her brain injury. Taylor’s descriptions of G.G. and her approach to mothering demonstrate the importance of familial bonds and social support in stroke survivors’ recovery. G.G.’s positive caregiving model provides a counterpoint to the often brusque and uncaring approach of the medical staff involved with Taylor’s diagnosis and recovery. G.G.'s behavior serves as a model, not only for a mother’s love, but also for compassionate caregiving that can be applied in a hospital setting.
Steve
Steve is Dr. Taylor’s colleague, whom she calls while experiencing her stroke. A neuroscientist himself, Steve offers valuable support to Taylor by accompanying her to the hospital and encouraging her during her recovery. The fact that Taylor could remember that her colleagues would help her and, in her stroke-addled state, chose to call them instead of 911 shows the close relationship she enjoyed with her colleagues.
Dr. Anne Young
Dr. Anne Young is one of Dr. Taylor’s physicians during her post-stroke recovery. Taylor praises Young’s approach with stroke patients, which she described as gentle, compassionate and inclusive. Taylor explains that much of her hospital experience was overwhelming, irritating, and negatively impacted her ability to recover. Dr. Young represents the part of her medical care that had a positive effect on her state of mind. Because Dr. Young’s bedside manner was slow, respectful and intentional, Taylor felt reassured and did not dread or reject Dr. Young’s care.
