“The case of Phineas Gage suggests that we are human because our frontal lobes are set up so we can get along with other humans. We are ‘hard-wired’ to be sociable. When we lose that ability, we end up like Phineas. His closest companion was an iron rod.” p. 70
Reader’s Annotation
On the afternoon of September 13, 1848, a thirteen-pound iron rod accidentally shoots through Phineas Gage’s head, ramming right through his brain. Amazingly he survives, but his life and personality are changed completely…
About the Author
John Fleischman lives in Ohio and writes for the American Society for Cell Biology and magazines such as Discover and Air and Space Smithsonian. When he attended a festival commemorating the 150th anniversary of Phineas’s accident, he saw that many children couldn’t get enough of Phineas’s skull, and decided that he wanted to write a book about him.
Genre
Nonfiction (science)
Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 10-12 overall. Contrary to what some suggest, I think this text's a tad advanced for nine-year-olds. But the book would actually even be helpful at the junior-high level and beyond to reinforce key brain science concepts.
Content Summary
In this work, Fleischman weaves together the details of the effects of Phineas Gage’s accident on his personality with discussion of both historical and modern brain science. In 1848, while working as railroad construction foreman in Vermont, Phineas’s tamping iron slips too soon into the granite that the crew is blasting. The iron rod is thus sent shooting up, entering Phineas under his left cheekbone and exiting the middle of his forehead, traveling through the frontal cortex of his brain. After a ten-week recovery, it becomes clear that Phineas has changed from a formerly agreeable and organized man to one who can be insulting and changes his mind frequently. Unable to keep his foreman position, he travels New England and works at a stable (also exhibiting himself briefly at P.T. Barnum’s American Museum), and eventually travels to Chile to work as a stagecoach driver. When he later returns to the U.S., he begins experiencing repeated seizures and ultimately dies in his sister’s home. Throughout his historical narrative, Fleischman describes the corresponding brain science issues. He discusses the competing mid-19th century brain theories of “whole intelligence” and phrenology, and current 21st century research which indicates that different areas of the brain, working both alone and in tandem, control specific human behaviors. Fleischman focuses on current scientific findings that the frontal cortex controls our abilities to predict, make decisions, and interact socially. He highlights the fact that 21st-century patients who have undergone frontal cortex tumor surgery can experience the same personality changes that Phineas did. He discusses modern brain scan techniques, and a fascinating retroactive brain scan of Phineas himself. The possible consequences of brain concussion and the damage that bacteria such as staphylococci and streptococci can do to the brain are also discussed.
Critical Evaluation
Although its title’s wonderfully creepy Janson font and use of the word “gruesome” both bode well, I approached this text with some trepidation, having taken a difficult brain anatomy course myself in my undergraduate years. I was thus shocked (pleasantly so) when I realized that I had flown through the text in no time, and had not only understood, but also thoroughly enjoyed it. Fleischman has written an excellent book for all ages with his interweaving of science and history, each subject counterbalancing and making the other more digestible, depending on the reader’s particular bent. Fleischman’s explanations are very clear, and key points are reiterated with labeled photos and drawings. Chapters are a nice manageable length, giving us non-science people the feeling that we are making progress and should continue. And there are lots of interesting tidbits mentioned (e.g., the fact that 19th-century doctors often waited until after surgery to wash their hands). The glossary and list of resources are very helpful, although the latter could be expanded somewhat. But one of the most outstanding aspects of this text, and one that I wish he’d explored in more depth (but then again, this text is science/history, and not philosophy), is Fleischman’s request that the reader consider whether Phineas was lucky or unlucky, having survived an awful accident, but then having to live a changed man. This is an issue we can all ponder and relate to our own personal experience, considering how to make the best of sudden life change.
Booktalking Ideas
• Show a model of a skull with a rod through it, drawing in readers with the sheer drama of this true account.
• Talk about Phineas’s marked personality changes.
• Show and compare a 19th-century phrenology chart with its various brain "organs" (organ of friendship, organ of hope, etc.) with a modern full color brain scan.
Curriculum Ideas: Text → Classroom
• Brain anatomy → science: students conduct some of the experiments on Dr. Eric Chudler’s Neuroscience for Kids site (on Fleischman’s resource list)
• Gaps in knowledge of Phineas’s post-accident life → history: students research great-grandparents’ lives, giving them first-hand experience of the challenges historians face
• Phrenology → history, fun: students play the 19th-century parlor game of “reading” each others’ personalities by comparing the bumps on their heads to a phrenological chart
Challenge Issues
If this book were to be challenged on the grounds that the description of Phineas’s accident may frighten younger readers, one could defend it by highlighting the book's value in its engaging discussion of what is often a difficult topic, brain anatomy. Adults could mitigate younger children’s fears by stressing that what happened to Phineas was a freak accident.
Why I Chose This Book
I read about this book on Richie Partington’s blog.
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