Into the Gray Zone: A Neuroscientist Explores the Border Between Life and Death

In this vivid, emotional, and thought-provoking account, Owen, research chair in cognitive neuroscience and imaging at the University of Western Ontario’s Brain and Mind Institute, surveys his research on the human brain in a non-responsive state. Case by case, Owen probes the limits of human consciousness while taking readers bedside to observe trauma victims, many who have been in coma-like states for years, but whose severely damaged brains show clear signs of responding to his bizarre tests. As technology advances from PET scans to fMRIs, Owen and his colleagues devise more complicated means of communicating with “gray zone” patients. International headlines are made and ethical questions are raised. One patient, who regains her ability to speak and walk, shares what it was like to be treated as vegetative despite her awareness of everything going on around her. Using an experiment involving a Hitchcock film, Owen finds that several subjects believed to be vegetative are fully aware. “It was a haunting reminder of the resiliency of consciousness,” Owen writes, reflecting on “the meaning of what it means to be alive and whether anyone can be said to be irretrievably lost.” Occasional platitudes aside, Owen’s story of horror and hope will long haunt readers. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Literary. (June)