Dr. Allan H. Ropper and Brian David Burrell

discuss

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole:
A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease

This event includes a book signing

Date

Dec
1
Monday
December 1, 2014
8:00 PM ET

Location

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets

This event is free; no tickets are required.

Harvard Book Store welcomes renowned neurologist DR. ALLAN H. ROPPER and author BRIAN DAVID BURRELL for a discussion of their book Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease.

"Tell the doctor where it hurts." It sounds simple enough, unless the problem affects the very organ that produces awareness and generates speech. What is it like to try to heal the body when the mind is under attack? In this book, Dr. Allan Ropper and Brian Burrell take the reader behind the scenes at Harvard Medical School’s neurology unit to show how a seasoned diagnostician faces down bizarre, life-altering afflictions. Like Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Ropper inhabits a world where absurdities abound:

  • A figure skater whose body has become a ticking time-bomb
  • A salesman who drives around and around a traffic rotary, unable to get off
  • A college quarterback who can’t stop calling the same play
  • A child molester who, after falling on the ice, is left with a brain that is very much dead inside a body that is very much alive
  • A mother of two young girls, diagnosed with ALS, who has to decide whether a life locked inside her own head is worth living

How does one begin to treat such cases, to counsel people whose lives may be changed forever? How does one train the next generation of clinicians to deal with the moral and medical aspects of brain disease? Dr. Ropper and his colleague answer these questions by taking the reader into a rarified world where lives and minds hang in the balance.

Dr. Allan H. Ropper and Brian David Burrell
Dr. Allan H. Ropper and Brian David Burrell

Dr. Allan H. Ropper and Brian David Burrell

Dr. Allan H. Ropper has been a practicing and academic neurologist for 35 years and is currently Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and the Raymond D. Adams Distinguished Clinician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is credited with being one of the founders of the field of neurological intensive care and is author of the most widely used textbook of neurology in the world, Principles of Neurology, now in its tenth edition, in addition to numerous books and over 150 scholarly articles. His research interests are in the intensive care of head trauma, stroke, Guillain-Barré syndrome and in experimental gene therapy for neuropathy. Ropper is publicly known as the physician who has treated Michael J. Fox, Ozzy Osbourne and other personalities. He has advised the US Department of Defense Health Board and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican. Ropper currently serves as an Associate Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. He has been elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London), the American Academy of Neurology, and the American College of Physicians.

Brian Burrell is a senior lecturer in mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has taught for the last 25 years. Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole is his first co-authored work. His other books include Postcards from the Brain Museum, The Words We Live By, and Merriam-Webster’s Guide to Everyday Math. He has appeared on the Today Showwith Katie Couric, Booknotes with Brian Lamb, and NPR’s Morning Edition with Steve Inskeep. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. 

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 2 minutes

As you exit the station, reverse your direction and walk east along Mass. Ave. in front of the Cambridge Savings Bank. Cross Dunster St. and proceed along Mass. Ave for three more blocks. You will pass Au Bon Pain, JP Licks, and TD Bank. Harvard Book Store is located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Plympton St.

Unable to attend a Harvard Book Store author event? You can still pre-order a signed book by one of our visiting authors.

While we can't guarantee fulfillment of a signed book pre-order, our authors are almost always able to sign extra books to fulfill such orders.

Ordering a signed book on harvard.com:

  • Add the book to your shopping cart and then click Checkout.
  • Specify in Order Comments that you want a signed copy of the book.
  • Please note: online orders for signed copies must be placed at least one business day before the event. If you are ordering the day of, please call us instead.

Ordering a signed book by phone:

  • Call us at (617) 661-1515 and one of our booksellers will take your order. Specify you'd like a signed copy.
  • If you are requesting a personalized inscription and/or requesting your book be shipped, we'll need to take down credit card information. If you are planning to pick up the signed book in the store, you can pay on pick-up.

FAQ:

Can I request a personalized inscription?
Unless otherwise noted, we are happy to take requests for the author to sign your book to a specific person, but we can't guarantee it. If you do get a personalized inscription, the book will be non-returnable. We will require credit card information when you place the order.

Do signed books cost more?
There is no extra fee for a signed book!

Do I have to pick it up in the store, or can you deliver my signed book?
As with all web or phone orders, we can hold your book for in-store pickup, or ship it anywhere in the country.

I am planning to attend an author event. Do I need to pre-order a book?
No need. We'll be selling books at the event, and nearly all of our events include a signing at the end of the talk.

More questions? Give us a call!

Purchase the Book
Featured event books will be for sale at the event for 20% off. Thank you for supporting this author series with your purchases.
General Info
(617) 661-1515
info@harvard.com

Media Inquiries
mediainquiries@harvard.com

Accessibility Inquiries
access@harvard.com

Classic Totes

Tote bags and pouches
in a variety of styles,
sizes, and designs
, plus mugs, bookmarks, and more!

Learn More »

Shipping & Pickup

We ship anywhere in the U.S. and orders of $75+ ship free via media mail!

Learn More »

Noteworthy Signed Books: Join the Club!

Join our Signed First Edition Club (or give a gift subscription) for a signed book of great literary merit, delivered to you monthly.

Learn More »