The Man with the Bionic Brain: And Other Victories over Paralysis

2014 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing Shortlist Winner

After he was stabbed and became paralyzed from the neck down, Matthew Nagle, a former high school football star, made scientific history when neurosurgeons implanted microelectrodes in his brain that recognized his thought patterns, allowing him to control a computer cursor. With the BrainGate system, Matt was able to use e-mail, manipulate a prosthetic hand, adjust TV settings, and play video games—all just by thinking about performing these tasks.

In The Man with the Bionic Brain and Other Victories over Paralysis, Dr. Jon Mukand, Matt’s research physician and a rehabilitation specialist, weaves together his story with firsthand accounts of other courageous survivors of stroke, spinal injuries, and brain trauma and the amazing technology that has improved their lives.

A behind-the-scenes view of cutting-edge medical research and discoveries, The Man with the Bionic Brain and Other Victories over Paralysis is an insightful and inspirational book about how biomedicine gives hope to people with disabilities and enables them to take control of their futures.

Jon Mukand, MD, PhD, is a rehabilitation medicine specialist and the medical director of the Southern New England Rehabilitation Center. He serves on the clinical faculty of Brown University and Tufts University. Mukand earned his MD from the Medical College of Wisconsin, his MA in English and creative writing from Stanford University, and his PhD in English literature from Brown. He is the editor of Vital Lines: Contemporary Fiction about Medicine, Articulations: The Body and Illness in Poetry, and Rehabilitation for Patients with HIV Disease.