The Beautiful Brain Audiobook By Hana Walker-Brown cover art

The Beautiful Brain

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The Beautiful Brain

By: Hana Walker-Brown
Narrated by: Hana Walker-Brown
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About this listen

Winner of the Silver Sports Podcast award at the 2020 British Podcast Awards

This is a story about football - or soccer as it’s known in the US. The highs, the lows, historic match days, and foul play. It’s a celebration of a beloved player, a history maker, and his tragic ending at the final whistle. It’s a story about science and discovery, about the people on the frontline of life-changing research. But above all, it’s a story about family, and about consequence.

All of this is wrapped up in three little letters: C.T.E. A four-part investigative documentary from multi award-winning producer Hana Walker-Brown, The Beautiful Brain looks at the devastating effects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)—a degenerative brain disease found in people who’ve suffered severe or repeated blows to the head.

Beginning with the story of FA Cup winner Jeff Astle, the podcast expands outwards looking at the widows, daughters and families who are left fighting for answers following the death of their loved ones. As the series progresses Hana’s investigation leads her from Britain’s football pitches to support groups for victims of domestic violence and beyond, sparking a vital discussion about accountability and the urgent need for further scientific studies into CTE.

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Episode 1: A Glass Half Full

Jeff Astle was a player that made history. But aside from the glorious chapters of his life on the pitch, away from the floodlights, Jeff’s story is a tragic testament to the effects of CTE. How it was discovered and the events that followed make a remarkable story that sent tremors throughout the Football Association, tremors that erupted across the globe and continue to rock both the world and the Astle Family.

Episode 2: An Inconvenient Truth

Host Hana Walker-Brown meets Dr. Bennett Omalu. A man so integral to the story of CTE, that they made a movie about him with Will Smith in the starring role. Doctor Omalu was the driving force behind the discovery of CTE amongst American NFL players including Pittsburgh Steeler, Mike Webster. Doctor Omalu believed this discovery would change everything; a truth that could save thousands of lives the world over and change sport forever, but one that wouldn’t be well received by the sporting bodies he was up against. Something the Astle family would also soon find out.

Episode 3: The Punch-Drunk Wife

In comparison to men, the research on female brain injury is alarmingly low. The common term associated with women and concussion is TBI—Traumatic Brain Injury—and is defined as “an alteration in brain function or other evidence of brain pathology caused by an external force.” An external force like a football, or a boxing glove, or a fist. In this episode Hana explores the story of one of the first cases of CTE ever reported in a woman. Through her investigation, Hana meets the doctors and scientists dedicating their lives to researching female traumatic brain injury, and hears devastating personal testimony from survivors of intimate partner violence.

Episode 4: Long Live the King

In this last episode, Hana returns to the Midlands for one final meeting with the Astle family on the opening night of For The Love Of The Game, a play written by Mike Howl about Jeff’s life and death. She visits the Hawthorns—West Bromwich Albion’s football grounds—to meet the Albion Memories Dementia Group, an organization which provides space for partners and caregivers to chat with players of the past, share old photographs and trophies, and discuss their shared loved of the game to evoke memories that have been lost.
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I’m a former high school and college football player who then went on to medical school. I’ve been dealing with concussions and post concussion syndrome as part of a sports medicine interest for 36 years. Even I learned some things from this book that I hadn’t thought about before: specifically the difference between women and men‘s concussion. Thinking back on my patients, I have seen this difference. I just didn’t recognize it. I am also very concerned about people like Me who sustained some concussions but have not played for over 40 years. I have been under the impression that once the trauma stopped the vast majority of the pathology stopped. Very thought-provoking book.

Excellent review of a medical problem that will be part of an overwhelming issue in the 21st-century

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This is an interesting story with a personal perspective of the impacts of CTE. I liked that the author brought in other causes of CTE that are. It commonly discussed - like domestic abuse. The various personal stories were relevant and meaningful. There were some areas that were a bit redundant, but overall, this one was a good Audible book.

Well-narrated, interesting story

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You'll have second thoughts about having your child or friend play contact sports after listening to this Audible. An excellent balance between personal tragic stories and the science behind the CTE. We've all heard about concussion injures, but have you ever heard of CTE? I'm a bit disturbed that it isn't front headline news!

A MUST READ FOR ANYONE IN A CONTACT SPORT

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The story is powerful. I played soccer. The terms were all familiar to me. I later had a 70mph motorcycle collision, Diffuse Axonal brain Injury(DAI) for a Traumatic Brain Injury, 6 week coma. The future will often look (& actually be quite grim)

Good presentation

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After listening to this book about CTE, I will never again watch a football game. Watching football is the modern equivalent of ancient Romans watching gladiators kill each other.

CTE and contact sports

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I didn't realize that sport can hurt your health.
Very informative story; it shows the ugly side of sport which is kind of hidden from the public eye.
Really enjoyed the story of John Astor.

sport and repercussions

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This story was sad in part of what had happened to players of football but led to research of what happens when someone gets a brain injury in sports.

Study of brain injuries in sports

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I enjoyed the science and the simple way the Dr explained CTE. The case stories, narratives.

informative

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I'm not a big football fan however this talked about so much more and really opened my eyes about the hidden risks of abuse and what needs to be talked about. We really are just at the beginning of this process. A must read!

Very Informative

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The Will Smith movie Concussion brought CTE in the NFL to the attention of many Americans and has led to increasing awareness of the damage caused by head injuries and concussions in sports. Somewhat more subtle than contact sports like American football, ice hockey and boxing is the damage caused to soccer players by heading the ball. The Beautiful Brain is primarily the story of 1960s English soccer star Jeff Astle, a master at heading the heavy old fashioned leather balls, who died young as a result of the brain damage he sustained as a player.

But Hana Walker-Brown's podcast-like Audible Original goes one step further. In addition to the story of Astle and his family, she devotes one of four chapters to the impact on women who sustain repeated spousal abuse and the dearth of research into how CTE and other head injuries affect women, in a world in which so much attention is paid to men, especially pro athletes. Kudos to Walker-Brown for taking us there -- the story of Astle is interesting, but the chapter on women is the real pay-off.

The only downside are long taped interview segments that are not well edited. I get that Walker-Brown wants to convey more than just straight information by presenting us such long unedited segments, which get very emotional. And she succeeds to a degree. But given the variety of heavy English accents, much of it is lost anyway, at least in audio. Her own narration is excellent, as is the chapter devoted to CTE research which has some illuminating interviews with the real life physician Will Smith played who discovered and named CTE.

Headers and Head Shots

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