A voyage into Parkinson’s disease, led by patient and journalist
Jon Palfreman draws on own diagnosis, research studies, history to illuminate disorder
Brain Storms
Jon Palfreman
Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26
In 2011, science journalist Jon Palfreman saw a doctor about a tremor in his left hand. The doctor diagnosed Palfreman, then 60, with Parkinson’s disease. The disorder, which is newly diagnosed in 60,000 Americans each year, promised a crippling future of tremors, loss of mobility, dementia and more. Palfreman decided to use his reporting expertise to investigate how Parkinson’s disease affects the body and learn about efforts to find a cure.