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MIRROR TOUCH Paperback – March 7, 2018
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In this “rich, fascinating portrait of extraordinary sensory awareness” (Kirkus), acclaimed neurologist Joel Salinas, M.D., tells his amazing true story of living and practicing medicine with mirror-touch synesthesia, a rare neurological trait that allows him to literally feel the emotional and physical experiences of other people. From the corridors of Massachusetts General to his personal life, Salinas offers readers remarkable insights about his trait, its gifts, and its often unforgiving complications, and teaches us how our brain, in all its wonder, continues to offer limitless possibilities for compassion and human potential.
Beautifully written and wholly original, Mirror Touch is a moving account of an exceptional mind that challenges our understanding of what it means to be human—everything it means to think, to feel, and to be.
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMarch 7, 2018
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.8 x 8 inches
- ISBN-109780062458612
- ISBN-13978-0062458612
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“Joel Salinas takes his reader into the harrowing, tender, and sometimes brutal realities of living with mirror-touch synesthesia. But the book’s reach is wider and deeper than the condition. It is nothing less than a reflection on human empathy itself, a book for everyone.” — Siri Hustvedt, author of What I Loved
“Vicarious and enthralling…. A rich, fascinating portrait of extraordinary sensory awareness.” — Kirkus Reviews
“He writes with depth and candor and immediacy, as well as a great deal of compassion in the Oliver Sacks tradition. I laughed, I cried… I found myself nodding in recognition. I predict this book will be a classic not only in the synesthesia literature, but in all of neuroscience.” — Psychology Today
“A brilliant book that elegantly combines personal narrative with insights into the underlying science.” — V.S. Ramachandran, author of The Tell-Tale Brain and Phantoms in the Brain
From the Back Cover
Challenging our understanding of what it means to be human, Joel Salinas, a Harvard-trained researcher and neurologist at Massachusetts General, shares his experiences with mirror-touch synesthesia, a rare and only recently identified neurological trait that causes him to feel the emotional and physical experiences of other people. Performing a spinal tap, he feels the needle slowly enter his lower back. If a disoriented patient flies into a confused rage, Salinas slips into a similarly agitated physical state, and when a patient dies, he experiences an involuntary ruin—his body starts to feel vacant and lifeless, like a limp balloon.
Susceptible to the pain and discomfort of his patients, most of whom suffer from a host of disorders and extreme injuries, Salinas uses his trait to treat their symptoms, almost as if they were his own. At the same time, in his personal life, his mirror touch blurs the boundaries between himself and those close to him until he ends up inextricably entangled, no longer able to differentiate where he ends and someone else begins.
Salinas refers to his condition as a kind of compulsory mindfulness, a heightened empathic ability that offers him invaluable clues about how to see and live the world through other people’s perspectives. This heightened sense of awareness is at the center of Mirror Touch. Through his experiences, both in his neurological practice and his personal life, Salinas offers readers insights about mirror-touch synesthesia and how the brain, in its endless wonder, can sometimes perform in a nearly superhuman, extrasensory way. In the process, Salinas reveals the full power and potential of his trait, as well as its thorny complications and often debilitating limitations.
Beautifully written with intelligence and compassion and anchored by the latest developments in neurology, psychology, and psychiatry, Mirror Touch is an enthralling and wholly original investigation into the unexplored corners of the brain, where the foundation of human experience and relationships take root—everything it means to think, to feel, and to be.
About the Author
JOEL SALINAS is a Harvard-trained clinical researcher and neurologist at Massachusetts General, where he specializes in brain health, social epidemiology, neuropsychiatry, and cognitive behavioral neurology. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Product details
- ASIN : 0062458612
- Publisher : SanFran; Reprint edition (March 7, 2018)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780062458612
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062458612
- Item Weight : 9.5 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.8 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,355,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,274 in Memory Improvement Self-Help
- #2,954 in Medical Professional Biographies
- #39,219 in Memoirs (Books)
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About the author
Joel Salinas was born in Miami, Florida, in 1983. After studying the intersection of biology and sociology at Cornell University, he completed his medical degree at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine followed by neurology residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He subsequently completed a combined research and clinical fellowship in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Salinas lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is an Instructor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He chronicles his experiences as a doctor living with synesthesia in his new book, "Mirror Touch: Notes from a Doctor Who Can Feel Your Pain" (coming April 18th from HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins).
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Some of my favorite lines from the book:
"Running my hands across the ridges of his palms conjured the image of dry river rocks under a soothing summer sun."
"Seeing the dirt-caked eyes of a small emaciated child in a tiny hut next to an unpaved road, my eyes felt the rolling of pebbles and dust behind my eyelids, scraping along with every blink."
"His baritone voice had the flavor and consistency of smooth, room-temperature Nutella."
"It was a soft yellow sound, small and fragile. It may as well have dropped out of his mouth like a dead canary."
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if you want to get an idea about synesthesia or mirror touch, or how a person is living with it, look somewhere else.