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November 2, 2009 5:21 PM

Recuperating from a head injury. How can I entertain myself with brain damage as a motif?

Lots of stress going on right now in life, and to make matters worse I hit my head last night pretty bad. Right now I'm in the hospital under observation, and I have internet access to keep me entertained. When I get home for a day or two of bed rest, I will have no direct Internet access. I will have access to a PS3 with the Playstation Store.

Can you suggest interesting and not-stressful things to watch, read or listen to that

a. don't cost money
b. don't involve direct PC-type computer use
c. involve head or brain injuries in some way?

I have been promised a trip to the local public library, so books, audio or otherwise, are good ideas. You can check out my personal library from the LibraryThing link in my profile if you want to be a hella good AskMe citizen. Blindsight would be a great answer because the protagonist had part of his brain taken out in childhood (and because it's a kickass novel). This essay would be a bad answer because it would totally stress me out even more.

posted by infinitewindow to media & arts (12 comments total)

One of the interesting parts of Oliver Sack's books are the drawings that his patients make during different points of their afflictions. Maybe you could practice drawing the same thing every few hours without looking at the previous drawings. It might be revealing to see how they change over time.
posted by Alison at 5:59 PM on November 2

Zombie movies. The recent Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead come to mind as films that involve a lot of traumatic head injury (albeit, to zombies).
posted by axiom at 6:36 PM on November 2

Memento and for comic relief The Man With Two Brains.
posted by Allee Katze at 7:13 PM on November 2

South Park for comic relief. Everyone loves South Park! Seriously, it's the best thing to watch when you're sick. And there's tons of head injury, particularly to poor Kenny!
posted by radioamy at 7:31 PM on November 2

V.S. Ramachandran is a doctor who's written a few really solid popular-but-smart books in the Oliver Sacks vein, talking about how neurological symptoms give us clues to how the brain works. Phantoms In the Brain, his first, is as good a place as any to start.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:12 PM on November 2

Iain Banks - The Bridge
posted by 256 at 8:40 PM on November 2

As for a book, you may be interested in The Man Who Forgot to Read or the crime novel that was written while the same author was suffering from alexia, Memory.

On a related note, you may want to turn your experience into your own game like game designer Jane McGonigal did when she suffered a severe concussion.

Hope you feel better soon.
posted by copystar at 8:53 AM on November 3

About a year ago, my partner was walking home in the rain and fell. She fell hard enough to cut open her forehead, and I was concerned she might have a concussion. So we stayed up and watched a movie - Altered States - which turned out to be pretty awesome when thinking about brains and brain injury. you might be able to use the internet to request an interlibrary loan of the film, if netflix is not an option.
posted by dubold at 9:16 AM on November 3

Hey folks. Got a clean bill of health from the doctors, and am now resting comfortably at home.

I've seen and/or read a lot of the suggestions already, and I actually helped distribute The Man With Two Brains. The two Engel books will be coming via interlibrary loan. So far in my pile I have Scalzi's Ghost Brigades, The Bridge, and lots of pens and paper. Will I draw? Will I write? (It is NaNoWriMo.) Time will tell.

Thanks for the suggestions!
posted by infinitewindow at 4:35 PM on November 3

copystar, Jane's story, the SuperBetter game and the concepts behind it are awesome and definitely deserve an FPP.
posted by infinitewindow at 4:42 PM on November 3

How did it go? I hope you are feeling as good as new!
posted by Alison at 8:32 PM on November 13

Yes, good as new, thank so much!
posted by infinitewindow at 8:37 AM on November 15