After suffering a concussion in an auto accident in 1999, Elliott, then a promising professor of artificial intelligence, was never quite the same. After thirteen years, however, he was close. His memoir of a medical odyssey starts with the chronic symptoms—nausea, pain, trouble walking, remembering, and making decisions—that abated only after he sought help from a pair of Chicago specialists in cognitive restructuring and neuro-optometric therapy. With mental exercises and special glasses, Elliott learned to tap into the brain’s plasticity. His story holds hope for those with similar brain injuries.
