If you found her talk fascinating (as did I), definitely check out her book (http://drjilltaylor.com/book.html), which covers the entire process in great detail. At times its a bit slow, but it successfully elucidates the challenges she faced, and the eight years of recovery which followed the stroke.
I think the spiritual aspect of the story shouldn't be ignored: our perception of reality is also 'plastic', and we can, to a large extent, retrain ourselves to respond differently to sensory input.
Amazon'd. I've actually meant to research her recovery. Can't wait.
I agree that the spiritual half of the story is crucial as well. Actually, this reply got too long and spawned a short blog post, check it out if you are interested. ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=442574 )
I was merely reaching across the aisle, lending her some tech credence despite the fact that she sounds like "one of those spiritual types" at times.
Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite TED talk?
by bprater on Tuesday January 20, 2009 @04:20PM
(#442316)
Agreed, both the TED video and her book were amazing. If you are the kind of person that wants your reality expanded, take a look at what she is up to.
On the morning of my stroke I woke up to a pounding pain behind my left eye. I'm asking myself what's wrong with me, what's wrong? Then I realised oh my gosh I'm having a stroke, and the next thing my brain says to me is wow this is so cool: How many brain scientists have the iopportunity to study their own brain from the inside out. But then it crosses my mind: I'm a very busy women, I don't have time for a stroke.
Talk about dedication to your studies...
Her talk illustrates the different processing styles of our right and left hemispheres. This is a fascinating subject, that often gets trivialized because of all the New Age BS revolving around it.
Her experience is remarkable, and very powerfully delivered. Don't be fooled by her "spiritual" overtones, the science she references is very real and convincing, and the way she ties it to her own experience is fascinating.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_power...