A Molecule away from Madness

November 29, 2021
Neurologist Peskin debuts with an impressive account of the search for cures for a number of neurologic diseases including dementia and psychosis. In vivid prose, Peskin brings to life the scientists who have contributed to the current “molecular” understanding of such conditions as memory loss and sudden personality shifts. There’s Friedrich Miescher, who isolated DNA in the mid–19th century, and Nancy Wexler, who located the gene that causes Huntington’s disease in 1979. Elaborating on recent medical advances, Peskin explains how genetic mutations, autoimmune responses, and vitamin deficiencies have been linked to brain maladies, and describes the intense emotional and physical sufferings of patients and their families: one mother “kept watch over her daughter, hoping one of the always answerless doctors would burst into the room and announce the reason for Lauren’s illness.” Anecdotes run the gamut from depressing to enlightening, the latter exemplified by the story of how Abraham Lincoln’s mood swings were linked to mercury poisoning. The case studies can be heavy, but Peskin finds cause for optimism in modern medicine: “People who would previously have been untreatable—and even undiagnosable—have now become curable. Their minds and lives are saved.” There’s much to savor in this powerful survey.