Projections describes [Deisseroth's] experience as a clinician and researcher, offering up case studies from his practice and exploring the biological underpinnings of his patients’ conditions ... While the prose may overreach on occasion, more often it conveys insight ... Because of his experiences as a physician and researcher, Dr. Deisseroth recognizes the limitations of science and medicine and the transcendent value of elemental human connection.
Stories—sprinkled with clinical and scientific observations, personal and philosophical musings—about challenging and peculiar patients are the core of this book ... Deisseroth overly emphasizes optogenetics, neuroscience research utilizing light to influence genetically changed neurons, but his pondering of any possible evolutionary role for mental illness is compelling, as is his elucidation of the emotional burden for healers who take on devastating psychiatric situations.
Deisseroth, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, melds the personal with the clinical in his masterful debut on how the human mind works and what can be learned when it goes awry ... Writing with abundant empathy, Deisseroth brings his patients’ struggles to life as he educates about both neuroscience and humanity. This is a must-read.
