Billy's Halo

by RuthMckernan (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.25

  Science is just one way of looking at life. As a neuroscientist working at the forefront of medical research it is Ruth McKernan's way. When her father, Billy, succumbed to a mystery illness and slipped from consciousness into coma, Ruth watched his life ebb away with a mixture of love and terror. She struggled for control by using her scientific knowledge to analyse his medical condition. In this moving account of her father's last year, love, grief and hope are intertwined with a crystal-clear scientific explanation of the way our brains and bodies work. The result is an inspired blend where the contrasting view of scientist and daughter ultimately unite.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $3.25

  Science is just one way of looking at life. As a neuroscientist working at the forefront of medical research, it is Ruth McKernan's way. For a while, it was her father Billy's too; science was a language they shared. When Billy succumbed to a mystery illness and slipped from consciousness into coma, Ruth watched his life ebb away with a mixture of love and terror. She struggled for control by using her scientific knowledge to analyse and understand his medical condition. Billy had been a demanding father, the postman's son who became a self-made success - but it took his collapse for Ruth to realize just how intense her feelings were for him. Now, she tells the story of her father's last year as a collection of cutting-edge scientific themes - memory, consciousness, microbes, stem cells - like pearls strung together on the thread of her father's life. The result is an inspired blending of personal emotion, love and grief, with a crystal-clear scientific explanation of the way our brains and bodies work in sickness and in health.