The One You Get

August 1, 2017
Tougaw's great-grandfather is famous in his family for once having attempted to direct traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge while naked. This leads the author to muse that there is a problem with his family's blood, which affects their brains, a thought that fires his fascination with neuroscience and physiology, an academic interest that informs his memoir. Indeed, the interest sometimes threatens to subsume his personal story, distancing readers from complete involvement. Nevertheless, there is more than enough human interest here to command attention. Consider that Tougaw's grandfather was a famous jockey; his parents were hippies involved with drugs (heroin took his father's life); his cousin is schizophrenic while Tougaw himself is a self-confessed dyslexic and hypochondriac. But his memoir is less confession than clear-eyed examination of the people who impacted his childhood and adolescence and how, despite their eccentricities, he grew up to be so, well, normal. The story he tells is extremely well written anddespite the many detours into clinical examinations of neurosciencewill hold its readers' interest to its affecting end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)