Tell Me the Planets: Stories of Brain Injury and What It Means to Survive

(Paperback)

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Description

Fascinating stories from the front-line of brain injury, as well as an account of an extraordinary friendship In Tell Me the Planets, Ben Platts-Mills shares stories about his remarkable work with survivors of brain injury, offering a rare glimpse into the world as seen through their eyes. We meet charismatic Danny, whose criminal past has left him paralysed down one side, but who now helps others worse off than himself; Sid, whose memory for the present lasts only moments; and Liah, who is caught in a battle with the care system threatening to make her homeless. But above all this is the story of the extraordinary friendship between Ben and Matthew, who suffered neurological damage during an operation to remove a cerebral cyst. It is a journey that takes them to the frontiers of science and to the limits of human resilience- when they discover that the cyst is growing again, Matthew is left with an impossible decision to make.

Reviews

Platts-Mills writes with truth and eloquence about his relationships with brain injury survivors, and gives us insight into what it is that makes us human, and how those relationships can help us heal * Julia Samuel *
Meticulous, thoughtful ... lyrical phrases are striking in their precision * TLS *
At turns heartbreaking and uplifting, this is not just a brilliant book about the survivors of brain injury, but also a vivid and unforgettable portrait of modern Britain by an extraordinarily-gifted story-teller. Ben Platts-Mills tells the stories of child-refugee Liah, ex-gangster Danny and computer geek Matthew - in hourly peril of having their sense of self annulled - with great vividness and imagination * Robert Newman, author of Neuropolis *
An absorbing and moving account of what it is like to live with brain injury. Ben Platts-Mills writes vividly * Penelope Lively *
Remarkable. Heartbreaking and uplifting * Foyles Newsletter *
In Ben Platts-Mills's extraordinary book, the characters of people damaged by violence, stroke or accident of birth outshine the medical details. He tells [their stories] wonderfully * nature.com *

Author Bio

Ben Platts-Mills lives in Hackney and has spent the last 14 years working for Headway East London, the charity that supports survivors of brain injury. In 2013 he led on the development of the life writing project, Who Are You Now which publishes survivors' stories (www.whoareyounow.org).