brainline compiled this list of brain injury books to help newly diagnosed people, their loved ones, and others who want to learn more about tbi. most are memoirs, some are nonfiction, and some offer tips and strategies for living with brain injury. our list is just a small sampling of the books out there, but they are the ones that our editorial team has reviewed and that our generous online community has endorsed or mentioned as their favourites.
We hope you enjoy the list, sorted alphabetically by author.
You are reading: Books about traumatic brain injury
Please share any other suggestions you may have in the comments section below.
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Falling Away From You: A Family’s Journey Through Traumatic Brain Injuryby nicole vinson bingaman
falling away from you tells the story of taylor bingaman and her journey through the world of traumatic brain injury. Taylor’s mother, Nicole, recalls the events that occurred as a result of a devastating fall down the stairs at her family’s home on Thanksgiving eve in 2012. Nicole openly explores her own emotions about what happened, at the same while educating readers on practical issues related to brain injury within a family. She shares Taylor’s recovery process in a personal and candid way. nicole expresses the idea that a town is needed to overcome these types of events and accept the changes that are taking place. Nicole deals with her own loss and shares her most heartbreaking moments as a mother. Each of Taylor’s younger siblings contributed a chapter, providing a unique perspective from siblings of those affected by brain injury.
Falling Away From You is about hope in the midst of tragedy, triumph over what seemed like invincible odds, and the story of how a family came together to help the son and brother they loved dearly. is a realistic perspective on the courage, determination and struggle and drive of a young man to overcome adversity, one step at a time. also available on amazon.com.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Memories of Life in Deathby Jean-Baptiste Bauby
In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young children, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, style and passionate approach to life. at the end of the year he too was the victim of a rare type of brainstem stroke. after 20 days in a coma, bauby woke up with a body that had almost ceased to function: only his left eye was functioning, allowing him to see and, by blinking, to make it clear that his mind was intact. almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating one word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was slowly recited to him, over and over again. in the same way, he was eventually able to compose this extraordinary book. also available on amazon.com.
Where’s the Mango Princess: A Journey Back from Brain Injuryby Cathy Crimmins
When her husband, Alan, is injured in a speedboat accident, Cathy Crimmins reluctantly assumes the role of caretaker and learns to cope with the person she has become. No longer the man who loved dark Japanese cinema and wry humor, Cathy’s husband has emerged from the accident as a childish, unpredictable replica of his former self with a short attention span and a penchant for goofy cartoons. where is princess mango? she explores the very nature of personality and the complexities of the heart. also available on amazon.com.
Amanda’s Fall: A Children’s Story of Traumatic Brain Injury (tbi)by kelly bouldin darmofal
Amanda’s fall represents a common event in schools today. Young Amanda suffers a concussion after falling and hitting her head during recess. Although she can hear people talking, she cannot respond. Amanda is taken to a doctor for evaluation. Wisely, her parents ask for a prognosis, which in Amanda’s case, is a good one. Author Kelly Darmofal brings readers her third book on TBI (traumatic brain injury), encouraging parents and caregivers to alert schools and, hopefully, doctors when a child suffers a concussion. side effects can be improved. also available on amazon.com.
lost in my mindby kelly bouldin darmofal
Lost in My Mind describes darmofal kelly bouldin’s journey from teenage girl to special education teacher, wife, and mother, despite a severe traumatic brain injury (tbi). Spanning three decades, Kelly’s journey is unique in its focus on TBI education in America (or lack thereof). Kelly also abridges her mother’s diaries to describe forgotten experiences. she continues the narrative in her own humorous and poetic voice, describing one victim’s relentless pursuit of success, love, and acceptance, as she battles bureaucracy, aphasia, bilateral hand disability, and memory loss.
the brain that changes itselfby norman doidge, md
An amazing new science called “neuroplasticity” is overturning the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. In this groundbreaking look at the brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, MD, offers an introduction to both the brilliant scientists who champion neuroplasticity and the people whose lives it has transformed. From stroke patients learning to speak again to the remarkable case of a woman born with half a brain rewired to function as a whole, the changing brain will permanently alter the way we see our brains, the human nature and human potential. also available on amazon.com.
The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recalls from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticityby Norman Doidge, MD
the brain’s way of healing describes natural, non-invasive pathways to the brain provided by the energy around us (in the form of light, sound, vibration, and movement) that can awaken the brain’s own healing abilities without producing side effects. unpleasant secondary. norman doidge, md explores cases in which patients relieved chronic pain; recovered from debilitating strokes, brain injuries, and learning disabilities; overcame attention deficit and learning disorders; and found relief from symptoms of autism, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and cerebral palsy. and we learn how to greatly reduce the risk of dementia, with simple approaches that anyone can use. also available on amazon.com.
The League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the Battle for Truthby Mark Fainaru-Wada, Steve Fainaru, and others.
“professional soccer players do not suffer from frequent repetitive blows to the brain on a regular basis”. So concluded the National Soccer League in a December 2005 scientific paper on concussions in America’s most popular sport. That judgment, implausible even to a casual fan, also contradicted the opinion of a growing cadre of neuroscientists who labored in vain to convince the NFL that it was facing a deadly new scourge: a chronic brain disease that was fueling an alarming number. of players: including some of the all-time greats, to the point of madness. In The League of Denial, ESPN’s award-winning investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru tell the story of a public health crisis that emerged from the playing fields of our 21st-century pastime. everyone knows that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know, and what the league sought to protect from them, is that no amount of protection could shield the human brain from the force generated by modern football. that the very essence of the game could be exposing these players to brain damage. also available on amazon.com.
A Difficult Opportunity: Navigating to Love’s Heartby Tom Gallanttom and Melissa Gallant were sitting in their car at an intersection one early summer afternoon. after a decade of romance and adventure, they were at a crossroads in their lives. Melissa wanted to settle down and start a business. Tom wanted to sail his schooner around the world. They decided to go their separate ways. then his car was hit by a bus. this is the story of what happens next. is the story of a love story full of adventures on the high seas and romance, of a life far from the conventions of good society. and it is also the story of the redemption conferred by accepting the hardest things in life with an open heart.
abandonedby lisa genova
From neuroscientist and bestselling author Lisa Genova comes a story of resilience in the face of a devastating diagnosis. After a car accident leaves a vibrant thirty-something mother with a traumatic brain disorder called “neglect left,” she learns what really matters most in life.
Sarah Nickerson, like any other working mom, is busy trying to have it all. one morning, while she’s running to work and distracted by her cell phone, she takes her eyes off the road for a second too long. in that blink of an eye, all the fast-moving parts of her overburdened life come to a halt. After a brain injury robs her of awareness of everything on her left side, Sarah must retrain her mind to perceive the world as a whole. In doing so, she also learns to pay attention to the people and parts of her life that matter most to her. also available on amazon.com.
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No Stone Unturned: A Father’s Memoir of His Son’s Encounter With Traumatic Brain Injuryby joel goldstein
Bart Goldstein was 16 years old when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in 2001. Told from his father’s point of view, the book chronicles the family’s ordeal and flashbacks fill Bart’s life ever since. He arrived from Korea at the age of five months. Considering all the possibilities in their search for remedies for Bart’s catastrophic injuries, the Goldsteins explored several promising alternatives. Bart’s remarkable recovery was the result of a combination of conventional medicine and alternative and emerging therapies.
life out of orderby sally laux
life off duty is sally laux’s reflection on her life in relation to her three brothers and what happened to them. it is a story of clinging to oneself in the midst of six brothers and rediscovering oneself while losing them one after another. is a story of a brother’s life and the loss of a brother. Sally Laux lost two brothers to death and then became a guardian to her third brother after a car accident left him severely disabled with a traumatic brain injury.
rise and shineby simon lewis
Simon Lewis was a film producer whose life was turned upside down when his car was hit and crashed into a tree. the accident killed his new wife instantly and left him severely injured. He slipped into a coma that he was not expected to come out of, but he did, and for the next twelve years he refuted medical professionals and textbooks with a full recovery as he navigated the labyrinthine insurance industry and managed to find his faith. . rise and shine is the story of what it means to come back to life after a near death experience.
he never liked janna leyde’s cake
When Janna Leyde was a teenager, her father suffered a serious brain injury in a car accident. Since that day, Janna’s life has been a navigation through the inescapable struggles of her father’s brain injury, a study of her mother’s resilience and unconditional love, and a challenge to find her own. identity and acceptance of her as an adult. “Growing up with a parent with tbi is complicated, endless grief with no closure,” she writes. “It is the opposite of resolution. someone who is still alive and with you is sorely missed.” also available on amazon.com.
the night the lights went outby drew magary
Drew Magary, fan-favorite dropout and former Deadspin columnist, is known for his scathing takes and surprisingly nuanced chronicle of his own life. but in the night the lights went out, he is far from the depths of it. On the night of the 2018 deadspin awards, he suffered a mysterious fall that caused him to hit his head so hard on a cement floor that he cracked his skull in three places and suffered a catastrophic brain hemorrhage. for two weeks he remained in a coma. the world had gone to him, and he to him.
In his long recovery from his injury, including understanding what his family and friends went through as he lay dying, coming to terms with his now-permanent disabilities, and trying to find some lesson in this cosmic accident, he leaned on one sure thing that he knows and that did not abandon him: his writing. also available on amazon.com.
Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injuries and Their Sequelaeby michael paul mason
head cases takes us to the dark side of the brain in an amazing sequence of stories, both true and strange, from the world of brain damage. michael paul mason is one of an elite group of experts coordinating care in the complicated aftermath of tragic injuries that can last a lifetime. Along the way with Michael, readers encounter brain-injured people as they struggle to map and make sense of the new worlds they inhabit.
I’m trisha meili’s central park runner
shortly after 9 p.m. m. On April 19, 1989, a young woman jogs alone near 102nd Street in New York City’s Central Park. she is attacked, raped, savagely beaten and left for dead. hours later she arrives at the emergency room, in a coma, with a fractured skull, a body temperature of 85 degrees and has lost so much blood that her doctors believe it is a miracle that she is still alive. she meets trisha meili, the runner from central park. also available on amazon.com.
boy with the broken arrow by adam moore
When adam moore was 8 years old, a chance accident caused an arrow to pierce his brain. the accident brought him into a world of hospitals, operations and physical therapy. just a year later, adam was inspired to use his experiences to create a book, the boy with the broken arrow. talks about his remarkable recovery from a brain injury. he entered his book in the 1989 national write & amp; illustrated by… contest, open to students aged 6 to 19. adam won the gold award.
The Stranger in Our Marriage, A Couples Guide to Coping with Traumatic Brain InjuryColleen Morgan, Psychiatrist
tbi disrupts lives and impacts our society in countless ways, but the partners of survivors bear the brunt. They are often unprepared for the consequences of tbi, including personality, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes in their loved one. they are the hidden victim of brain injury, as their plight has long gone unnoticed. the stranger in our marriage seeks to remedy the situation, offering information, understanding, and hope to the survivor’s partner. The experiences of a TBI survivor’s wife are woven throughout this informative book, bringing to life the facts and details of brain injury and its aftermath. Written by a psychologist, it includes specific suggestions for couples on how to navigate the aftermath of brain injury and how to come to terms with their altered relationships and lives. also available on amazon.com.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery: 101 Stories of Hope, Healing, and Hard Workby amy newmark and dr. Carolyn Roy Bornstein
This collection of 101 stories provides support, advice, and inspiration to help you and your loved ones on your journey to recovery from TBI. These are inspiring and uplifting stories of hope, healing, and hard work for patients and their loved ones recovering from TBI. also available on amazon.com.
mind games: the concussion crisis in football from the nfl to the youth leaguesby christopher nowinski
America’s favorite sport has a serious problem. Many of the NFL’s top players, including Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Merril Hoge, Ted Johnson, Al Toon and Wayne Chrebet, have had their careers ended by head injuries. But few realize that most NFL players suffer multiple concussions during their careers, and shocking new studies reveal that these players suffer higher rates of depression, cognitive disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Over My Head: A Doctor’s Own Story of Head Injury From the Inside Looking Outby claudia osborn
locked inside a brain-injured head looking at a challenging world is the premise of claudia osborn’s memoir. Over My Head is the story of how a woman comes to terms with her loss of identity and her brave steps, and sometimes hilarious missteps, that she takes as she learns to rebuild her life. The author, a 45-year-old doctor and clinical professor of medicine, describes the aftermath of a brain injury that robbed her of her beloved profession.
Successfully Surviving Brain Injury: A Family Guide, From the Emergency Room to Selecting a Rehab Facilityby garry prowe
In 1997, Garry Prowe’s wife, Jessica, suffered a serious brain injury in a car accident. ever since, she has been studying how people recover from serious brain injuries and live lives of purpose. This book is the result not only of her research and personal experiences as Jessica’s caregiver, but also of the shared experience of a panel of more than 300 brain-injured people, caregivers, family members, and medical professionals. her book, she says, is a labor of love. All proceeds are donated to brain injury organizations in the US. uu. and canada. also available on amazon.com.
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learning by accidentby rosemary rawlins
On a sunny spring day, in an ordinary kitchen, rosemary rawlins, wife and mother of teenage twins, answers an unexpected phone call. her husband hugh was hit by a car while he was on her exercise bike. learning by accident celebrates how letting go of fear and starting anew can lead to peace, and in that place of peace, possibilities appear and lives flourish.
Shock: A mother, a son, and the journey from pain to gratitudeby carolyn roy-bornstein
after 25 years of caring for children, first as a nurse and then as a pediatrician, carolyn roy-bornstein finds herself on the other side of the gurney when her 17-year-old son, neil, is struck by a teenage drunk driver while walking with his girlfriend, trista, home from a study date. Trista did not survive her injuries. Neil carries his with him to this day. also available on amazon.com.
the giver of water: the story of a mother, a son and their second chanceby joan ryan
Both a medical drama and a meditation on motherhood, The Giver of Water is Joan Ryan’s honest account of her doubts and mistakes raising a child with a learning disability and the story of how her near-fatal accident gave a second chance as a parent.also available on amazon.com.
loving what is: a marriage transformedby alix kates shulman
One day it happens: the dreaded event that will change your life forever. For Alix Kates Shulman, it happened in a remote seaside cabin on an offshore Maine island, where the same isolation that makes an artist’s retreat perfect can also put lives at risk. Alix woke up to discover that her loving husband had fallen nine feet from her sleeping loft and was lying deathly still on the floor below. Though Scott would survive, she sustained an injury that left him severely brain disabled. it was the same, but not the same. also available on amazon.com.
I’ll carry kara swanson’s fork
“The funny thing about the car accident that ended my life was that I survived it. On January 31, 1996, Death slipped through a red light disguised as a minivan going 50 miles per hour. Of course, nobody told me that when they finished getting me out of my car, they were putting me directly on the bus…. that’s what i call the process of recovering from a traumatic brain injury: ‘getting on the bus,’” writes kara swanson in her wickedly funny and honest memoir on living with brain injury.
to root & getting up: embracing brain injury by carole j. star, miss
an interactive and inspiring book and workbook to help brain injury survivors and caregivers navigate grief and loss, find their strengths, and move on with a changed life. As a brain injury survivor, author Carole Starr knows the depth of grief and loss. of self that come with brain injury, the challenge of coping with symptoms that many misunderstand, and the peace that comes from embracing a new life and a new self. Carole describes the journey in a way that survivors, caregivers, and professionals can relate to and learn from. also available on amazon.com.
a life of three dogsby abigail thomas
When abigail thomas’s husband, rico, was hit by a car, his brain was shattered. Subject to rages, terrors and hallucinations, he must live out the rest of his life in an institution. he doesn’t remember what he did the hour, the day, the year before. This tragedy is the ground on which Abigail had to build a new life. how he built that life is a story of great courage and great change, of moving to a small country town, of a new family of three dogs, of knitting and friendship, of facing guilt and discovering gratitude. It’s also about his relationship with Rich, a man living in the eternal present, and the eerie poetry of his often mysterious insights. also available on amazon.com.
susan vaught’s trigger
jersey hatch can’t remember if he crashed the car into his parents’ house. he can’t remember why his best friend won’t talk to him. can’t remember the right words to have a real conversation. and he doesn’t remember why he tried to shoot himself in the head.
With her mind and body broken, Jersey must rebuild her life, one painful step at a time. he must relearn how to tie his shoelaces. somehow he must pass algebra and graduate from high school. and he must try to mend old friendships as broken as the connection between his brain and his once-athletic body. With a compelling and unique literary voice, Susan Vaught thrusts readers right into Jersey Hatch’s bitterly amused head as she navigates her own damaged existence and tries to answer the question of not only why she wanted to end her very good life, but whether he can avoid trying to finish it again.
in a flash: a family’s journey of love and healingby lee and bob woodruff
In January 2006, Lee and Bob Woodruff seemed to have it all: a happy marriage, four beautiful children, and wonderful careers. Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight, but then, while he was embedded with the Army in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. he and his cameraman, doug vogt, were hit, and bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him. in an instant is an extraordinary drama about marriage, family, war and nation. also available on amazon.com.
before everby jacqueline woodson
National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson’s poignant novel in verse explores how a family moves on when their glory days are past and the toll of professional sports on black bodies.
for as long as zj can remember, his father has been everyone’s hero. As a charming and talented professional soccer star, he is as loved by the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is by his millions of sports fans. but lately life at zj’s house is anything but charming. his dad has trouble remembering things and he seems to be angry all the time. zj’s mother explains that she is due to all the head injuries his father suffered during his career. zj can understand that, but it doesn’t make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on to family traditions and memories of the glory days, all the while wondering what his past amounts to if his father can’t remember him. and more importantly, can those happy feelings be regained when they’re so busy pining for the past? also available on amazon.com.
Living With Traumatic Brain Injury: Finding Your Way Back To Normalby amy zellmer
in february 2014, amy zellmer slipped on a piece of ice and fell, landing forcefully on the back of her skull. her impact knocked her unconscious briefly, and when she started to get up, she immediately knew something was seriously wrong. ella amy had suffered a traumatic brain injury (tbi) and was about to begin a journey unlike anything she had ever experienced before. her life had literally changed in the blink of an eye. This book is a collection of her short articles, most of which were originally published in the Huffington Post. she learns what it means to have a tbi as she reads about her struggles and frustrations, like the days she can’t remember how to turn on the microwave or how she gets lost driving to familiar places. understand what it’s like to suffer from fatigue and exhaustion after doing a simple task that most take for granted. This book is perfect for TBI survivors, caregivers, friends, and loved ones. It is a great book for survivors to give to their supporters so they too can understand what people with tbi deal with on a daily basis. also available on amazon.com.
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