The Man with a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound

ISBN: 0674546253

Author: Aleksandr R. Luria

Condition: Used

Russian psychologist A. R. Luria presents a compelling portrait of a mans heroic struggle to regain his mental faculties. A soldier named Zasetsky, wounded in the head at the battle of Smolensk in 1943, suddenly found himself in a frightening world: he could recall his childhood but not his recent past; half his field of vision had been destroyed; he had great difficulty speaking, reading, and writing.Much of the book consists of excerpts from Zasetskys own diaries. Laboriously, he records his memories in order to reestablish his past and to affirm his existence as an intelligent being. Lurias comments and interpolations provide a valuable distillation of the theory and techniques that guided all of his research. His digressions are excellent brief introductions to the topic of brain structure and its relation to higher mental functions.