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Author: John Fleischman
Title: Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science
Publication: Paperback, 202.
Pages: 75 pages
Genre: nonfiction, medicine
Acquisition: Purchased for classroom use
Date Completed: September 2, 2010
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Phineas Gage: A popular science book that doesn't underestimate children, and presents a fascinating medical oddity for their enrichment and entertainment.

In Phineas Gage John Fleischman chronicles the adult life of a man who has the extreme misfortune to experience an iron rod fly through his head and out the top of his skull ... and live to tell the tale. Literally, in fact, as he sat chatting with his landlord about the accident while he waited the half hour for the nearest doctor to arrive. Despite the extreme improbability given the state of medical treatment in 1848, Phineas recovers from the incident and goes on to live an additional eleven years. However, the true subject of Fleischman's narrative is not really Phineas Gage as an individual, but rather how he helped inspire the medical community. In life, aspiring surgeons look at Gage's recovery as proof of a number of neurological theories. After his death his doctor finally reveals that his patient's recovery was not as "complete" as first suggested, and Phineas' medical history and remains go on to inspire and enlighten medical minds for decades to come.

Phineas Gage is remarkable all on his own, and Fleischman makes his story available to young readers. I personally intend to use the volume to teach elements of nonfiction in a fifth-grade English class at a math and science academy, and I am looking forward to the feedback my students provide.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is Phineas with the tamping iron that caused the damage - and remained at his side even in death - as well as an illustration of the iron as it passed through his skull: