I wanted to be a neurologist ever since my first day on neurology rotation at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA. I was fascinated with the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, and inspired to care and find treatments for people with neurologic disorders. In studying the aberrations in the nervous system, I began to understand its complex and wondrous functions.

That complexity underlies Wonders of the Brain, a department that describes some of the oddities and marvels of neurology. Our column is an homage to the neurologist and acclaimed writer Oliver Sacks, who explored the brain's intricate pathways through case histories in his many books, including An Anthropologist on Mars.

In this month's column, we describe prosopagnosia, or face blindness, a quirk of the brain that makes it hard for people to recognize faces. The title of Dr. Sacks' book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat refers to the case of Dr. P, who had prosopagnosia but was entirely unaware of it. An eminent musician, Dr. P unwittingly demonstrated the problem when he misidentified the head of his wife as his hat at the end of an interview with Dr. Sacks. The condition can be congenital and may run in families, or it may be acquired due to a stroke, neurodegenerative disease, or brain trauma.

Trauma can also affect the spinal cord, which can result in diminished strength and sensation and loss of other functions below the site of injury. Although we are called Brain & Life, we recognize that neurology deals with both the central and peripheral nervous systems and we try to give those equal attention. Indeed, this issue's cover features Gloria Estefan, who injured her spine when an 18-wheel tractor trailer hit her tour bus and sent it into another tractor trailer in 1990. After a year of strenuous rehabilitation, she released her first new single, "Coming Out of the Dark," about seeing the light at the end of that long tunnel.

As Gloria Estefan exemplifies, how we respond to a neurologic crisis can make a critical difference in recovery. We share these lessons in our feature on stroke, in which five survivors describe what may have put them at risk and what contributed to their recuperation. Their stories remind us to not ignore the first signs of stroke, to get treatment fast, and to invest in our brain health afterward to avoid further attacks.

In this issue, as in every issue, we shine a light on symptoms common to many neurologic conditions and offer the latest information on how to manage them. This time we look at fatigue, a symptom that everybody can relate to, but that hits those with neurologic disorders especially hard. In our feature "Ease Exhaustion," we describe the various mechanisms of fatigue and provide advice on how to cope with it. We also have stories on cluster headache and Meniere's disease, two conditions whose attacks can be debilitating.

On a lighter note, we have a story on the potential brain health benefits of chocolate, with five recipes online that I can't wait to try at home.

As always, I want to thank our readers for your contributions. We had a flood of letters in response to last issue's feature on grief, and we really appreciate your openness in sharing your stories. 

Finally, I want to say how wonderful it was for me and so many of our editorial staff and neurologist editorial board members to meet some of you in Philadelphia at the American Academy of Neurology's Brain Health Fair last month. We hope to see you at the next one in Toronto in April 2020.

Until then, please continue to share your stories, letters, blogs, and essays.

Orly Avitzur, MD, MBA, FAAN, Editor-in-Chief