Asleep by Molly Caldwell Crosby

Asleep by Molly Caldwell Crosby discusses in depth the disease encephalitis lethargica that affected and killed millions in the early 20th century. This is the same disease that Oliver Sachs wrote about in his book Awakenings, later made into a movie starring Robin Williams. I saw the movie as an adolescent and was both fascinated and horrified by this disease. At this point in my life, I experienced more fascination than horror as I learned more about this mysterious disease that still appears from time to time and is still not well understood.

I did find this book interesting, but the background on the events of the day and the personal lives of the doctors involved, was a little bit too heavy for me, and found myself skimming much of it, and reading in detail the case histories and information about the disease itself.