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The Lobotomist

A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness

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About this listen

The Lobotomist explores one of the darkest chapters of American medicine: the desperate attempt to treat the hundreds of thousands of psychiatric patients in need of help during the middle decades of the 20th century. Into this crisis stepped Walter Freeman, MD, who saw a solution in lobotomy, a brain operation intended to reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms. Drawing on Freeman's documents and interviews with Freeman's family, Jack El-Hai takes a penetrating look at the life and work of this complex scientific genius.

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It is an interesting book, however the narrator has a massively annoying voice. The book flits about through one decade then back to another. Although the topic of lobotomy is fascinating, the book could have been half the size. Too much moving around through the years and differing jobs etc. would have been much better if it had been presented in chronological order.

Far too long

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An interesting and absorbing account of the life of Freeman and his controversial procedure. A long and in depth book that gave a great insight into where psychiatry and neurology were at in his lifetime, as well as a glimpse into the wider cultural setting that allowed the widespread practice of such drastic interventions to take place.

I did struggle with the narrator who has a very nasal, robotic US accented voice and a tendency to pronounce some words in a very strange (incorrect to my ear) way. The content was compelling enough for me to do my best to ignore this unfavourable aspect and listen to the whole book rather than abandon it part way through.

Fascinating and disturbing

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