Title/Author:
“Concussion” by Jeanne
Marie Laskas
Tags:
Football (American),
biography, medical, death, Steelers
Publish date:
November 24, 2015
Length:
297 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)
Review:
The issue of concussions in football has made
many headlines the last few years, enough so that even people who are not fans
of the game know about the dangers. Some
of these players, after taking many blows to the head for many years, have been
diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
The discovery of this disease and the
connection to football player is credited to Dr. Bennett Omalu, a forensic
pathologist in Pittsburgh. After Dr. Omalu performed an autopsy on former
Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, he became both alarmed and fascinated
with this discovery. Dr. Omalu’s story
is told in this book by Jeanne Marie Laskas.
Her work, including the first story on this issue, has been featured in
GQ and this books shows how good a story teller she can be.
At its heart, this book is really a biography
of Dr. Omalu, from his humble beginnings and education in Nigeria to his
journey to America where he is thrilled to be working for Dr. Cyril Wecht in
Pittsburgh to his battles to protect his name when the NFL is discrediting his
work. Bennett, as is he is called throughout the book, is portrayed as a humble
and simple man. He seems perplexed throughout the book when he is outside of
his comfort zone of the examining room. He cannot understand why the NFL is so
intent on discrediting his work and uses physicians for its own studies. When a
former football player and professional wrestler wants to be Bennett’s partner
to bring awareness to the dangers football players face with concussions, the
story makes it appear that this man simply used Bennett’s work for his own
gain.
None of the material is fictional or false, but
because of the presentation of only the viewpoint of Bennett in all of these
issues, some may feel that this is a one-sided book. While if one is reading it for fact-finding
this is accurate, I felt that reading this book as a biography or even a
medical or sports thriller is the better approach as the story makes for
compelling reading, especially once the NFL gets involved and uses its vast
resources and influence to disprove the dangers of the game and insist that the
players are safe.
This story will make the reader think about
just how dangerous the game of professional football can be to the players and
will also make some readers angry at the smugness of the NFL. But no matter how one feels about the game or
league, anyone who reads this book will feel like he or she knows Bennett and
the story of his discovery that has caused waves in a multi-billion-dollar
industry.
I wish to thank Random
House Publishing for providing a copy of the book via Net Galley in exchange
for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying links:
Sounds like an interesting read. I listened to a great audiobook play - Headstrong by Patrick Link - about the brain damage caused to American Football players by repeated headbutting. So bizarre that the NFL would not put the safety of its sportsmen first?
ReplyDeleteStephanie Jane
Some believe, including myself, that the NFL doesn't want to do anything that might make the game less violent as the violence sells. The book touches on that. Thanks for leaving a comment!
DeleteI think that concussion continues to be an issue in many sports, and it's scary that with everything we know about CTE, there continues to be so much risk taken with the health of players. I'm surprised that the players' unions aren't more vocal on this issue, especially with the publicity that the movie is generating.
ReplyDeleteThe NFL players union is by far the weakest of the four major sports so they won't have much of an impact. Thanks for leaving a comment...an on a non-hockey book as well!
DeleteJust picked one up on Howard Baldwin who used to own the Hartford Whalers. Looks like a fun read.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete