Tell Me the Planets cover art

Tell Me the Planets

Stories of Brain Injury and What It Means to Survive

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Tell Me the Planets

By: Ben Platts-Mills
Narrated by: Sam Woolf
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Tell Me the Planets by Ben Platts-Mills, read by Sam Woolf.

Matthew has a meticulously logical mind. He is intelligent, compassionate and fiercely loyal. He also has a brain injury.

When Matthew underwent surgery to remove a life-threatening cyst in the middle of his brain, he was left with extreme fatigue, a difficulty forming new memories and with a tendency to confabulate - to 'remember', with absolute conviction, events that have not occurred.

In Tell Me the Planets, Ben Platts-Mills tells stories about his work with survivors of brain injury, offering a rare glimpse into the world as seen through their eyes: charismatic Danny, whose criminal past has left him paralysed down one side, but who now helps others worse off than himself; Sid, whose memory for the present lasts only moments; and Liah, who is caught in a battle with the care system threatening to make her homeless.

But above all this is the story of the extraordinary friendship between Ben and Matthew, following their attempts to discover what has happened to Matthew's brain and how he might begin to rebuild his life. It is a journey that takes them to the frontiers of science and to the limits of human resilience: when they discover that the cyst is growing again, Matthew is left with an impossible decision to make.

'Platts-Mills writes with truth and eloquence about his relationships with brain injury survivors' Julia Samuel

'At turns heartbreaking and uplifting, this is not just a brilliant book about the survivors of brain injury, but also a vivid and unforgettable portrait of modern Britain by an extraordinarily-gifted story-teller. Ben Platts-Mills tells the stories of child-refugee Liah, ex-gangster Danny and computer geek Matthew - in hourly peril of having their sense of self annulled - with great vividness and imagination' Robert Newman, author of Neuropolis

©2018 Ben Platts-Mills (P)2018 Penguin Audio
Brain & Nervous System Medical Medicine & Health Care Industry Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Physical Illness & Disease Professionals & Academics Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Science & Technology Surgery Human Brain Medicine Mental Health Health Injury

Listeners also enjoyed...

My Mysterious Son cover art
Beyond the High Blue Air cover art
Get Well Soon cover art
A Life Less Lonely cover art
Unspeakable cover art
Me, Myself and Eye cover art
Surviving Lasts a Lifetime cover art
The Examined Life cover art
The Human Kind cover art
Ask Me About My Uterus cover art
My Journey cover art
The Little Big Things cover art
My Year Off cover art
Rise cover art
In Gratitude cover art
The Stranger on the Bridge cover art
No reviews yet