Book Recommendation: The Day My Brain Exploded

When you are the parent of young children, you protect your sleep like a mama bear her cub -- fiercely.  Yet this past week I routinely found myself reading far too late into the night.  Why?  In my hands was a memoir by Ashok Rajamani.  With the title The Day My Brain Exploded I should have known that he would grab my attention from the start, and he did.

Quite the storyteller, the book is not a chronological account of an AVM (brain bleed) and the resulting consequences.  Instead it is the memoir of a young man, who at age 25 comes ever so close to death.  Chapters jump from after the AVM, to the day it occurred, to his youth in Illinois, back to present time, back to his birth in New Jersey.  It may appear chaotic, but the story unfolds like a flower blooming.  Powerful, hardcore honesty, and humor all make this a book I would recommend to anyone.

Life has a way of happening.  The unexpected arrives.  Course changes direction, headed down a path we'd rather avoid. But, in his case, life continued.  He was fortunate.  And his story reminds me, and I'm certain others, that we are all fortunate as well.  Knowing life is short, I won't recommend books that I find a waste of time.  I will recommend this one, and even for those who run a little short on sleep due to work, family, or all of the above.

And thanks to Ashok for opening up and sharing so honestly.  Shocking, amazing, powerful -- it makes for a superb book.