In How to Use a Fork, the beautiful science of brain plasticity meets remarkable human stories of survival and recovery – the woman who thought her arm was a baby, the man who saw mannequins peering at him through the dark, the patient who found his way back to human interaction through music.

As a medical student, Orlando Swayne was taught that a broken brain doesn’t mend. But as a junior doctor, he began to meet patients for whom this was clearly not the case. Intrigued by what he saw, he delved deep into the emerging neuroscience of brain reorganisation, and discovered that over time brain tissue creates new networks and regenerates.

Developments in neurology continue to reveal new capabilities that allow functions we thought to be lost to be restored. The key to recovery, a return to some semblance of our previous selves after brain injury, lies in neurorehabilitation: painstaking work that rebuilds shattered lives.

Irresistible to anyone who is curious about the mysteries of the brain, How to Use a Fork is a fascinating journey into the outer reaches of human experience.

‘An incredible voyage of discovery . . . intensely moving and awe-inspiring’ 

Marina Hyde, author of What Just Happened?

‘Sensational. A moving, thoughtful and truly fascinating read . . . It’s like walking hand in hand with Dr Swayne and his patients, which made me ache with hope that even in the darkest places you can find your way back’

Abi Morgan, author of This is Not a Pity Memoir

‘Enjoyable, instructive and humane. It is a welcome addition to the noble tradition of Oliver Sacks . . . Neuroscience, medicine and vulnerable humanity woven together in intricate and compelling tales from the front line.’

Professor Ian Robertson, author of How Confidence Works

‘How to Use a Fork is master-class in clinical observation, witty, modest and enthralling. In these dispatches from the front-line of neuro-rehabilitation, Orlando Swayne offers love, joy, and humanity with the eye of a reporter and the soul of a poet. In the strange, sad world of broken brains, this will become a shaft of light and hope.’

Robert  McCrum, author of My Year Off, Rediscovering Life After a Stroke