Concussion (Movie Tie-in Edition), by Jeanne Marie Laskas
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Concussion (Movie Tie-in Edition), by Jeanne Marie Laskas
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture starring Will Smith, Concussion is the riveting, unlikely story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the pathologist who made one of the most significant medical discoveries of the twenty-first century, a discovery that challenges the existence of America’s favorite sport and puts Omalu in the crosshairs of football’s most powerful corporation: the NFL. Jeanne Marie Laskas first met the young forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2009, while reporting a story for GQ that would go on to inspire the movie Concussion. Omalu told her about a day in September 2002, when, in a dingy morgue in downtown Pittsburgh, he picked up a scalpel and made a discovery that would rattle America in ways he’d never intended. Omalu was new to America, chasing the dream, a deeply spiritual man escaping the wounds of civil war in Nigeria. The body on the slab in front of him belonged to a fifty-year-old named Mike Webster, aka “Iron Mike,” a Hall of Fame center for the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the greatest ever to play the game. After retiring in 1990, Webster had suffered a dizzyingly steep decline. Toward the end of his life, he was living out of his van, tasering himself to relieve his chronic pain, and fixing his rotting teeth with Super Glue. How did this happen?, Omalu asked himself. How did a young man like Mike Webster end up like this? The search for answers would change Omalu’s life forever and put him in the crosshairs of one of the most powerful corporations in America: the National Football League. What Omalu discovered in Webster’s brain—proof that Iron Mike’s mental deterioration was no accident but a disease caused by blows to the head that could affect everyone playing the game—was the one truth the NFL wanted to ignore. Taut, gripping, and gorgeously told, Concussion is the stirring story of one unlikely man’s decision to stand up to a multibillion-dollar colossus, and to tell the world the truth. Advance praise for Concussion “A gripping medical mystery and a dazzling portrait of the young scientist no one wanted to listen to . . . a fabulous, essential read.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks“The story of Dr. Bennet Omalu’s battle against the NFL is classic David and Goliath stuff, and Jeanne Marie Laskas—one of my favorite writers on earth—makes it as exciting as any great courtroom or gridiron drama. A riveting, powerful human tale—and a master class on how to tell a story.”—Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit “Bennet Omalu forced football to reckon with head trauma. The NFL doesn’t want you to hear his story, but Jeanne Marie Laskas makes it unforgettable. This book is gripping, eye-opening, and full of heart.”—Emily Bazelon, author of Sticks and Stones
Concussion (Movie Tie-in Edition), by Jeanne Marie Laskas - Amazon Sales Rank: #1739089 in Books
- Published on: 2015-11-24
- Released on: 2015-11-24
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .70" w x 5.20" l, .81 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
Concussion (Movie Tie-in Edition), by Jeanne Marie Laskas Review Advance praise for Concussion “A gripping medical mystery and a dazzling portrait of the young scientist no one wanted to listen to . . . a fabulous, essential read.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks“The story of Dr. Bennet Omalu’s battle against the NFL is classic David and Goliath stuff, and Jeanne Marie Laskas—one of my favorite writers on earth—makes it as exciting as any great courtroom or gridiron drama. A riveting, powerful human tale—and a master class on how to tell a story.”—Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit “Bennet Omalu forced football to reckon with head trauma. The NFL doesn’t want you to hear his story, but Jeanne Marie Laskas makes it unforgettable. This book is gripping, eye-opening, and full of heart.”—Emily Bazelon, author of Sticks and Stones
About the Author Jeanne Marie Laskas is the author of seven books, including Concussion, Hidden America, and The Exact Same Moon. Her writing has appeared in GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, and many other publications. Laskas serves as director of The Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches creative writing, and she lives on a horse farm in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful. Sparkling Biography with Urgent Message By SeattleBookMama You don’t have to enjoy football to appreciate Concussion, the riveting new biography of Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian neurological pathologist that discovered CTE, a type of permanent brain damage caused by repetitive concussions, such as that experienced by football players. Not only the content, but the engaging voice with which it is told, make it worth everyone’s while. I was fortunate enough to read it free, courtesy of Net Galley and Random House, but when it comes out Tuesday, November 24, I recommend you get a copy for yourself. It’s information everyone really ought to have, especially those that play American football, or have family members that do.As for me, several years ago the middle school where I taught was rocked by the news that a young man we had taught had been killed on the football field while playing for the high school next door to us. DeShawn had died in a way the Seattle Times assured its readers was unheard of, a terrible tragedy with little explanation other than that of the coroner, who said he died of a traumatic brain injury. Our in-house football coach, whose frustrated students were stuck playing the “dumb”, safe version known as flag football, opined that maybe DeShawn hadn’t burped his helmet. One of DeShawn’s team members, a friend of my son’s and a frequent guest at our home, considered that DeShawn hadn’t “kept his head down like Coach said”. But the fact is, he was gone, and he wasn’t coming back. Dead at 16.So I was interested indeed to read about the discovery made by Omalu, the pathologist that by coincidence was in charge of the autopsy of Iron Mike Webster, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But I was equally interested in Omalu’s own story, a man of great enthusiasm and character, a faithful Catholic who used “Gee!” and “Gosh!” with youthful vigor as he uncovered one discovery after another, certain, so very certain that the NFL would want his discovery announced right away so that they could modify the game and make it safer. That poor man.Omalu left Nigeria, which some Boomers will remember as having once been Biafra, home of genocide and terrible corruption, and he could not wait to live the American dream. The USA was free and open; there were no checkpoints at any of the highways; it was the home of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Oh yes, he could shake the dust of Africa off the soles of his shoes and never look back. He had a full scholarship to the University of Washington, so although he had no idea where Seattle was, he had a ticket through the gates, and he would never live anywhere else.Laskas uses Omalu’s own narrative in places, a wonderful thing given his buoyancy and eloquence:Having seen this game [football] played on satellite TV on a few occasions in Africa, all I knew was the players ran into one another a whole lot and banged their heads repeatedly like guinea pigs running around…What an odd and inelegant game…If it hurts so much that you have to bubble-wrap your body, maybe you should play something different.”But until he examined the brain of Iron Mike, the local hero who had lost his sanity following retirement, tasering himself in the hope he would be able to sleep, trying to fix his rotting teeth back into his own mouth with crazy glue, this was a side issue. His interest was in pathology, in the stories the dead had to tell.But to Bennet, it seemed obvious enough, when the topic arose, because“Anybody who knew anything about the anatomy of the head knew…It was a simple matter of physics. The brain floats, is suspended in a kind of thick jelly inside the skull. If you hit the head hard enough, that brain is going to move, no matter what kind of protection you put around the skull. A helmet protects the skull. A helmet can’t keep the brain from sloshing around in that skull. If you hit your head hard enough, the brain goes bashing against the walls of the skull.”The helmet, it turns out, is more a weapon than protection for the brain.Huh. No wonder Europe didn’t rush to join us in playing this sport.Omalu’s story, from beginning to old age, is vividly told, and he is such a fascinating individual that you won’t want to put this story down once you’re into it. I could tell you more, but why ruin it? You really just have to read it. Order it now; you won’t be sorry!
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful. A fascinating, but one-sided, biography of the man who challenged the NFL By Jojoleb Although Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) may not be a household term, most of us are familiar with the now very stringent, NFL regulations regarding the treatment of players thought to have experienced head injuries during play. Bennet Omalu is also not well known, although he is the pathologist who discovered CTE and took the NFL to task for ignoring the devastating effects of CTE on their players.Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas, is the fascinating story of Bennet Omalu and his struggle to get the NFL own up to the existence of CTE, compensate players with the disease, and--finally--change the rules of football to reduce the chances for head injuries. Although this is definitely a book about Omalu's discovery of CTE and his fight to get the NFL to address this disease, it is mostly a biography Omalu. If you are more interested in the story of science vs. the NFL, you may wish to look elsewhere.The book is an expansion of Laskas' article, Game Brain, that she wrote for GQ in 2009. The book is engaging from start to finish, a David and Goliath story about a humble man from a small village in Africa who not only became a brilliant pathologist but also had the gumption to go one-on-one with the NFL and won. This is clearly the stuff that movies are made of, and it is no surprise that the movie based on this book, starring Will Smith as Omalu, is scheduled for release on December 25th, 2015.The fact is Omalu did start from very simple beginnings. His father was a prominent engineer and later became Oba, or chief of the Igbo village of Enugwu-Ukwu in southeastern Nigeria. Omalu's father was determined that his children would reach great heights, that they would expand well beyond a small African village. Oba made sure that each of them would receive higher education. Bennet, somewhat unwillingly, was told that he was to become a doctor.The book begins by quickly tracing Bennet's career from medical school in Africa through residency in Harlem Hospital. He ends up in Pittsburgh working as a forensic pathologist in the Allegheny County Coroner's office under the famed Cyril Wecht. During his time there, Omalu took a special interest neuropathology. As a matter of course, Omalu ended up doing an autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steeler's center Mike Webster. As Webster had a history of erratic behavior prior to his death and Omalu had a specific interest in neuropathology, Omalu decided to examine Websetr's brain in more depth.Looking at Webster's brain tissue under the microscope, Omalu discovered that Webster actually suffered from what appeared to be dementia pugilistica, also known as 'punch drunk syndrome' seen in boxers. The finding was groundbreaking, as most people felt that the advanced protective headgear in football would prevent traumatic brain injuries.Contrary to what he thought would happen, Omalu's discovery was not welcomed but, rather, was challenged. He was shunned by 'real' neuropathologists who did not believe these new findings, and the NFL categorically rejected Omalu's findings, starting an all-out mission to discredit and silence him. The book covers Omalu's roller coaster ride trying to find partners to help him fight a multi-million dollar corporation that wanted to bury him, grappling with turncoat allies that undermined him because they were more interested in personal gain than helping sick athletes, and trying to hold on to his reputation when it was being tarnished by NFL money and other scientists who wanted to take credit for his discoveries. As to Wecht--at some point he wasn't in any position to be helpful, as he had his own legal battle regarding use of the coroner's office resources for his own personal use. (Omalu was forced to testify as a witness for the prosecution. Although Omalu did not give evidence against Wecht, Wecht would not speak to Omalu again for many years.)In spite of adversity, Omalu persisted in his fight to protect NFL players from injury and, in spite of threats and smear campaigns, he continued to lobby in favor of more stringent rules to prevent head injuries and better benefits to retired NFL players who developed CTE. It is remarkable that Omalu made his discovery in 2002, and that the NFL didn't start to change their tune until 2010.Although CTE is a pivotal issue in this book, readers need to realize that this is mostly a biography of Omalu. I was amazed at how Omalu could rise up from such humble beginnings to become such a pivotal figure in U.S. sport history, so I enjoyed reading about his back story. Realize, however, that if you are specifically interested in the history of CTE and the NFL, Omalu's personal history will seem like so much padding. If you want a book that is more focused on CTE, you will need to look elsewhere.Sadly, the main problem with the book is that it favors story and narrative over balance. I absolutely believe that this is Omalu's story--but the author tells Omalu's side only. As such, the book reads more like an autobiography than a biography. Having lived in Pittsburgh during the time where many of the pivotal events about CTE developed, I am certain that Omalu is the real deal. However, all stories have at least two sides, and Laksas opts to tell only one.It's pretty easy to determine the motivations of the NFL regarding their smear tactics, but there is no interview or even an attempt to interview some of the people that were involved in the NFL scheme to ignore CTE: say, an interview with Joseph Maroon, the Pittsburgh Steeler's neurosurgeon and a consultant on the NFL's trumped up Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) committee that tried to refute Omalu's claims. (Some of Maroon's television interviews denying severe head trauma in the NFL are downright embarrassing in retrospect.) After the chips have fallen, the truth has come out, and the NFL has changed its tune, it would have been interesting to see how Maroon's attitude towards CTE has changed.Christopher Nowinski, a former WWE wrestler and CTE sufferer, was an early ally of Omalu, helping to promote the cause. They eventually parted ways and Nowinski partnered with Boston scientist, Ann McKee, to promote the study of CTE. Nowinski is now part of the Boston University CTE Center; he is listed as a co-founder and executive director of the Sports Legacy Institute. The book accuses Nowinski of undermining Omalu and accuses McKee of trying to take credit for the discovery of CTE. It also accuses the Boston center of using its academic and financial clout to prevent Omalu from obtaining further pathological specimens from athletes brains, essentially preventing him from doing further research in this area. It may well be that Nowinski and the Boston scientists refused to be interviewed for the book, but this is not clear.However, Nowinski and McKee almost certainly have their own story to tell. Although they may not have discovered CTE, they definitely went to great lengths to educate the public and expose the NFL. Nowinski and McKee held a very public press conference at Superbowl 2009 that was embarrassing to the NFL. This led to an NFL invitation for McKee to speak in front of the NFL MTBI committee to present her results and the bad publicity probably directly led to a congressional hearing about CTE in October of 2009. This is likely the reason why Omalu was not 'invited' to testify at the congressional hearing. Omalu may not have been specifically shunned. He was simply less vocal, less willing to use the negative publicity as a weapon, and less willing to grandstand to get CTE on the front page. Nowinski and McKee were invited to speak at the congressional hearing because they were the ones that most effectively brought the issue to the fore. Of course, they could be faulted for excluding Omalu (perhaps they did want the glory and to ensure that the resulting million dollar grant from the NFL would flow only their way) but they could argue that not inviting Omalu was more a matter of oversight than a deliberate attempt to marginalize him.This leaves us with a manuscript that is worthy of being the basis of a blockbuster movie--think Patch Adams or Good Morning, Vietnam--where there is certainly a kernel of truth, but the story that is presented loses some credibility because there is never an attempt to see the world except from the protagonist's point of view. Omalu may be the straight-shooting, beatific person that is described in this book, but I suspect that there were personal rivalries that may not have been fully explored and a depth to the story that remains unplumbed. I expect this kind of hagiography in a Hollywood biopic, where the major purpose is entertainment and there is little time for ambiguity in the space of a two-hour run time. But in a non-fiction book where there is ample time for exposition, especially one written by a journalist, this is disturbing.If I were to simply rate this book for readability, I would give it 5 stars. But I have to cut this back to 4 stars, given the lack of balance, in an otherwise expertly written book. Still, the strength of the story, the courage of the protagonist in the face of adversity, and the fact that Omalu's personal history up to this point is not well known make this well worth the read. Recommended.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. As an admirer of the NFL, this story shames me. By Matt Gersper I went on a business trip this week and accidentally left my Kindle at home. I am so glad I did because I bought Jeanne’s book at the airport and read it straight though.Wow. What a powerful story.She writes with a colorful mastery of language. It reads like a novel. She presents complex medical science in an easy to understand manner. And most importantly, she presents the courage of one man to stand firmly for the truth and proudly represent his family name, Omalu, which translates to “if you know, come forth and speak”.Dr. Bennet Omalu certainly did come forth and speak.As a player for 10 years (high school, college, and three professional tryouts over two years time), this book frightens me. It was my dream to play for the NFL. I dedicated most of my youth to that single goal. Now I count my blessings that I came up short.As an admirer of the NFL for most of my life, this story shames me. It’s disgraceful that an institution that grew rich and powerful on the backs of its athletes has gone to such lengths so dishonor them. To walk away from them after they have been ravaged by the game.As a man who truly loved playing the game of football, I now worry that its days are numbered.Professor Laskas and Dr. Omalu, thank you for your important book!Matt GersperFounder, Happy Living[...]
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