I was in the mood for another engaging audiobook experience like Gory Details by Erika Engelhaupt recently, when I picked up Bizarre - The Most Peculiar Cases of Human Behavior and What They Tell Us about How the Brain Works by Marc Dingman.
The best chapter of the book by far was the chapter on Obsessions and the prevalence of pica, an eating disorder that makes patients eat things that most people would find unpalatable. Dingman includes cases where patients have eaten cigarette ashes, raw potatoes, burnt matchsticks, toothpaste and hair. It reminds me of the TV show Strange Addiction I once watched where an American woman was eating 'cushion' (foam from the inside of cushions and mattresses) and another was eating cigarette ashes.
Chapter 10 Out of Time included an interesting case of time agnosia, and Chapter 10 No Imagination reminded me of a case in my own family of a person unable to visualise in their mind's eye. The inability to produce mental imagery is known as aphantasia and it's estimated only 1-3% of the population have it.
Many different forms of agnosia and neurological disorders were covered, but none seemed bizarre or peculiar at all. Perhaps the title was too sensational, or I've been desensitised over the years having already learned about these conditions elsewhere and they're no longer strange and engrossing to learn about.
An annoying overuse of the word 'thus' at the start of sentences and 'such as' throughout the audiobook were draining and I felt for the narrator, who must have been hanging for the author to change up their opening lines.
Bizarre - The Most Peculiar Cases of Human Behavior and What They Tell Us about How the Brain Works by Marc Dingman was an informative listen and is recommended for those with an interest in neuroscience and/or brain science.
