Best books about multiple sclerosis according to redditors

If you ever have thoughts about suicide, please, please talk to someone and/or call a suicide hotline. The anxiety and depression is clouding your judgement and making it feel like killing yourself is the only and/or best option.

Have you talked to a therapist? For me it was the best thing I've ever done. It has tremendously improved my anxiety. It doesn't control me anymore how it used to.

Anxiety and depression are things that many people have experienced and even live with everyday. You are not alone in your struggles. There are many ways to improve your situation.

One thing that is critical for me is my self-talk. I didn't think I was being negative to myself, but I found out that I really was. If you say things like, "God, you are an idiot! Everyone can see how awkward you are!" then you are going to believe that that is true. Try identifying those thoughts and stopping them. Replace them with something genuinely positive. Maybe think about what you might say to an eight year old who came to you with this problem. They would say, "Everyone hates me, they can tell I'm nervous around them. I don't deserve to be alive." What would you say to this child? Try talking in a genuinely understanding voice and tell that child, "It's okay. Everyone gets anxious sometimes. And, being awkward isn't the end of the world. Sometimes people feel uncomfortable and it shows. People understand that." Try talking to yourself like you are the kid you are talking to. This scenario helped me because when I would talk to myself, I would say nice things, but in a tone that conveyed that I was annoyed with myself. When I think about how I would say those same things to someone else, I realized I wasn't being very nice to myself.

When you are in the situation where you feel awkward, try talking to yourself then too. Take deep breaths and tell yourself that it's okay. Tell yourself that this is a natural response that your brain is having. Your brain thinks that there is a threat on your life, so it goes into fight-or-flight mode. Your brain is doing this to protect your life--it just doesn't realize that you aren't actually in any danger. Explain this to yourself, tell yourself that your brain is stuck in a rut and that you are going to get it out of that rut. Tell yourself you can handle anything.

Going in to a situation that gives you anxiety and expecting it to be different....that isn't going to work. I know that a lot of people say to just do it and you will get over it, but that simply isn't the case. The people who say this are ignorant to your anxiety and depression. You have to change something about yourself first, before you can go into these situations and have a different outcome with them. Also, it can help to take baby steps before you just jump in the deep end. Try something smaller, like saying hello to the bus driver or asking the clerk at a store a question. Do this however many times it takes to be comfortable. Use positive self-talk around these situations and tell yourself that you are doing great. Even if you didn't get the outcome you wanted, you still were incredibly brave and tried your best. That's progress in itself. It's a long process and it won't always go well. That's okay. As long as you remember to tell yourself that it's okay to not always get it right, you will be on your way to a new you.

Also read books on depression and anxiety. That helped me realize that I'm not alone, and that there are many, many, many ways to help people with these problems. One book I really liked, that isn't necessarily about depression or anxiety, but made me realize the power you have to change your life, is The Brain That Changes Itself. It was the thing that inspired me to help myself, and made me believe in myself and my ability to change. It's about people's personal stories, but it's all backed up by scientific research. It makes you see that if someone who was born with literally half of a brain can learn to do things that doctors say you need the right side of your brain to do, that you must be able to do something about your own situation.

These are some things that have helped me. I hope they will help you and inspire you too. You can do this. I believe in you.

I'm with you on this. In my readings it does seem that although we understand some of the how of MS - we are no where near understanding the cause or causal factors. Up until the MRI in the 1970s MS was still diagnosed mostly based on symptomology first codified by clinicians in the 1800s. (1854 being one of the first illustrations of pathology by Robert Carswell, but even that wasn't seen as specifically MS- it took until Charcot lectured to clarify, but even then he saw it as quite rare). Nystagmus, slurring of speech and coordination issues were seen as indictative of MS.

It wasn't until 1916 that inflammation and myelin were considered as factors in the problems with the 'nervous system' and the name Multiple Sclerosis wasn't actually established until 1955.

Although stuff like LP was known to have abnormality, it wasn't used as a diagnostic method until early 20th century (1940s, ish) and imaging as noted above wasn't a thing until later on. So, really in terms of understanding the disease diagnostically, clinicians are still finding their way. This is why its a very difficult disease to diagnose at times.

But, yeah - as of yet, there hasn't been a lot of movement away from 1960s theories of it being an autoimmune mediated condition and you're right about the drugs as well, a lot of them (and a lot of medical science in general concerning drugs) were tried on an idea that they might work, and within MS a lot of it is incredibly individualised.

There needs to be much more understanding of not only the cause, but the mechanisms of MS before a cure seems likely, at least, in my opinion.

There is a book called: Multiple Sclerosis, the history of a disease - Dr. Jock Murray that has a lot on how MS came to be known as a distinct disease entity, as well as the plethora of home cures, or instituional cures that have been tried and failed. Its also generally a good book if you wanna know more about MS; lot of the info above is taken in part from my memory of the time line outlined within its pages.

I'm going to be lazy and simply repost a post of mine from a year ago. :)

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes is a well deserved winner of the Pulitzer Prize. A combination of history, science and biography and so very well written.

A few of my favourite biographies include the magisterial, and also Pulitzer Prize winning, Peter the Great by Robert Massie. He also wrote the wonderful Dreadnaught on the naval arms race between Britain and Germany just prior to WWI (a lot more interesting than it sounds!). Christopher Hibbert was one of the UK's much loved historians and biographers and amongst his many works his biography Queen Victoria - A Personal History is one of his best. Finally, perhaps my favourite biography of all is Everitt's Cicero - The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician. This man was at the centre of the Fall of the Roman Republic; and indeed fell along with it.

Speaking of which, Rubicon - The Last Years of the Roman Republic is a recent and deserved best-seller on this fascinating period. Holland writes well and gives a great overview of the events, men (and women!) and unavoidable wars that accompanied the fall of the Republic, or the rise of the Empire (depending upon your perspective). :) Holland's Persian Fire on the Greco-Persian Wars (think Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes! Think of the Movie 300, if you must) is equally gripping.

Perhaps my favourite history book, or series, of all is Shelby Foote's magisterial trilogy on the American Civil War The Civil War - A Narrative. Quite simply one of the best books I've ever read.

If, like me, you're interested in teh history of Africa, start at the very beginning with The Wisdom of the Bones by Alan Walker and Pat Shipman (both famous paleoanthropologists). Whilst not the very latest in recent studies (nothing on Homo floresiensis for example), it is still perhaps the best introduction to human evolution available. Certainly the best I've come across. Then check out Africa - Biography of a Continent. Finish with the two masterpieces The Scramble for Africa on how European colonialism planted the seeds of the "dark continents" woes ever since, and The Washing of the Spears, a gripping history of the Anglo-Zulu wars of the 1870's. If you ever saw the movie Rorke's Drift or Zulu!, you will love this book.

Hopkirk's The Great Game - The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia teaches us that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I should imagine that's enough to keep you going for the moment. I have plenty more suggestions if you want. :)

I was reading Multiple Sclerosis For Dummies last week and ran into a passage where the authors said something along the lines of: "You can have MS and still be healthy." In context of the chapter on keeping up with your health outside of the MS, it made perfect sense ... but it still struck me as odd, because MS is a disease. Keeping yourself otherwise healthy when you have MS means, at best, that you are healthy except for the fact that you have MS.

It comes down to the context, I suppose. Healthy and ill are very context-heavy words in normal usage. It sounds like your team member wanted to know if you were okay - another very context heavy word. :)

Now worries! I totally appreciate the interest and advice. Plus, maybe I can help you with a patient's view on any school work? Btw, what is your major/specialty?
Anyways, the pain doesn't change at all in relation to my menstrual cycle. My docs and I have looked into that a lot. The only thing that really sucks and makes pain worse during my period is using tampons or pads, since touch is very aggravating.
Thanks for the links! They are both very good suggestions. The laughter thing is really true. It does make me feel better to smile and have a good time. There are even laughter therapy groups in most large cities (including mine) to help people like me. I have yet to visit one yet because the meetings conflict with my current schedule, but I do make a significant effort to do things that make me smile and laugh every day. For instance, any time I am hurting a lot or feeling depressed about my situation, I will cuddle with one of my four cats. Two of them are rescue cats and two of them are napoleons. Here is a pic of the naps: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/f333p/kittehs_be_helpin_with_the_dishus/
They always make me smile and laugh no matter how awful I am feeling and it really truly does help with the pain. Also, my pelvic pain doctor in LA always tells me that there are only two natural things that release endorphins and seratonin simultaneously in high amounts: exercise and sex. So I exercise for more than an hour 5 days a week and I have sex whenever my body will tolerate it.
Also, I haven't read that book in particular, but it looks like it is on the same topics as what I am already into. If you like that book or are interested in this kind of thing you should check out these:
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X
http://www.amazon.com/Dissolving-Pain-Brain-Training-Exercises-Overcoming/dp/1590307801/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299766118&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Open-Focus-Brain-Harnessing-Power-Attention/dp/1590306120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299766138&sr=1-1

>Do you think this is a discussion I can have with him now while he's recovering, or wait until time passes and chat about it then?

Depends on if you want to risk losing him as a friend. If he's been a Christian his entire life trying to have a frank discussion while he's going through this will not be seen as idle curiosity. He's your friend so you'll best be able to guess hoe he reacts, but I'm guessing at best it will be an awkward conversation in which he'll be firm in his beliefs and you'll hesitate due to his condition.

Best to just be a friend right now, a non religious friend who sends him stuff he actually needs. If you want, I recently read a book that is mainly about neuroscience but goes a lot into modern techniques for treating a stroke. The book is about the brains ability to adapt and looking into how stroke victims, that have had a portion of their brain die, adapt and relearn to do basic tasks. It's The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science and is a great read. This way you can learn something then recommend the book to him and his wife so they can learn more about what's going on.

Right now they are probably counting on prayers and doctors advice. One will not be answered and the other is probably good advice but not meant to be informative. All those people typing praise Jesus on facebook are trying to help but are unwilling or incapable of do anything beyond asking someone who has never answered. Better to be an example on how to help then to critique others ways, even if they are useless.

I really like this idea and am hoping to see this list grow, so I figure I should at least throw in my two cents to help kick this off.

I would recommend the book A User's guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain by John J. Ratey to anyone who is really new to the field, or is trying to figure out if they are interested in cognitive science.

This is the type of book that you might have to read for an intro to cognitive science class. It isn't too technical, but gives a very good overview and you will learn a lot.

There's an entire bookshelf of interesting material on the topic. I liked Jaynes' book mostly for his rather startling description of the many things we can do WITHOUT conscious attention. Of the books I've read lately on the subject, I am especially impressed with A Universe Of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination by Gerald Edelman and Giulio Tononi (also available for Kindle). This is the first description of how the brain works to create consciousness that sounds like a complete, viable theory to me. Hofstadter, Dennett, Humphreys, and plenty of others are interesting reads, but Edelman and Tononi stand out. For another approach to consciousness -- in this case brain biology in regards repression, emotional health or illness, and related topics, I recommend The Biology of Love by Dr. Arthur Janov; a much lower-priced Kindle version is also available for this title. Both Edelman/Tononi and Janov reference a great deal of relevant research.

The Brain That Changes Itself

Gravity's Rainbow

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Another book recommendation is Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West by Tom Holland.
This book starts much earlier in the history of the Persian and Greek empires and explores some of the events that led up to the war between the two civilizations. The second half of the book then dives into the events of the up-comning 300 movie.

I admire your mom for her desire to stay active. I was also diagnosed the week before my 50th. A couple of key things of importance is hydration and staying cool. According to my neuro, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I struggle with getting the water down but find it easier to add lemon and hot water in winter just because I like warm drinks in winter. Also in the summer I try to stay as cool as possible and have a scarf which I put in the freezer and wrap around my neck to stay cool. There are many cooling vests available which I haven't yet tried and may be worth looking into as it is important to not overheat.
As for exercises u/LDP78 trained for a long cycling ride by starting slow and building up to it. Very inspiring. There are others who do run long races and marathons as my neuro went to cheer them on at the finish line.
A website to check out is the MS Fitness Challenge run by David Lyons and his wife. David was and still is a fitness professional and bodybuilder diagnosed with MS. He has a book coming out February 1, 2017 Everyday Health and Fitness with MS. I have pre-ordered mine and am so excited for it. https://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Health-Fitness-Multiple-Sclerosis/dp/1592337414/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
As for other types of exercises she may enjoy swimming and pilates. Here is a great video for stretching, pilates for MS I just found https://multiplesclerosisnewstoday.com/2017/01/10/pilates-exercises-for-multiple-sclerosis/
I also like Jack Osbourne You Don't Know Jack About MS and Lisa Cohen Rockstar Women with MS.
I'm sure your Mom really appreciates your support. My boys are also a huge support system. I have told them I want/need to pick up my workouts and goals and I know they and my husband are my huge cheering squad. You are doing a great job educating yourself about MS to support your Mom. Keep up the great work!

Interesting.

You simply must read The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge. It's a book about how the brain is very, very teachable. One of the stories is about a person with number and clock difficulties quite similar to yours who fixed them through intensive training. It is not an instruction manual though, but a catalog of examples of the brain being changeable.

Incidentally, the digits 0 through 9 tend to get connected to the part of the brain responsible for things like face recognition. You would think they go straight to the logical thinking areas, but no. Looking at numbers is a lot like looking at people, and that is not known for automatically having much logic connected to it.

Good luck.

Not to sound trite, but MS for dummies was a really good resource for my family. http://www.amazon.com/Multiple-Sclerosis-Dummies-Rosalind-Kalb/dp/1118175875/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418921662&sr=8-1&keywords=ms+for+dummies

Persian Fire by Tom Holland is great. I picked up as I walked out of the theater after seeing 300. I realized that my schooling failed to even touch the grandeur that was the Persian Empire and wanted to learn more. I didn't put down that book for 3 days.

You have a lot of good advice here. I was diagnosed last December at 39 and had a lot of questions too. There are a lot of thick books out there that I wasted money and time on but as stupid as it wounds, I found MS For Dummies to be easy to read and really informative. It gave me a good base for future reading.

https://www.amazon.com/Multiple-Sclerosis-Dummies-Rosalind-Kalb/dp/1118175875

I'm actually reading The Brain That Changes Itself now. If you're at all interested in this stuff you should really pick it up.

Persian Fire by Tom Holland. Holland is a fabulous writer. His book Rubicon (about the fall of the Roman Republic) is one of my favorites. Persian Fire, which I'm reading now, is about the Greek-Persian War.

Thanks for bringing this up! I did a search, and now I think I'm going to check out The Brain That Changed Itself by Norman Doidge. Sounds fascinating!

There's actually proof that learning cursive writing, along with many other skills, leads to better development of the brain as a whole. It's all centered around the principle of neuroplasticity, and how forcing the brain to do something tricky or challenging leads to benefits as wide ranging as improvements to memory or yes, motor skills. This principle can even be applied to people in their twilight years, as there have been studies showing how trying to learn a new language or learning how to paint in old age also has significant benefits.

A good book to read which introduces this whole area is this book. It's not all relevant to this particular area, but there's a good few chapters relating to this in particular, and it's an interesting read anyhow.

Edit: missing "in"

Yeah, that was a very sloppy and rather conjectured paraphrase, I apologize. I was aiming for brevity and totally lost the point. Should have checked what subreddit I was in as well...

In The Ego Tunnel, The Brain that Changes Itself and no-doubt other recent neuroscience "dumbed-down" books there is a prevailing theme that our brain creates the world around us by unifying our disparate senses into one cohesive world of meaning. It happens to be splayed into 3-orthogonal angles of space which moves forward in time. Your nerve endings gave your brain enough feedback as a baby who feels stuff to build your "dreambody" for you which you can of course see and feel. Anorexics, amputees with phantom-limbs, etc. get fucked by something going wrong in that whole process. This system is also activated empathetically, like watching a soccer player getting kicked in the groin. That's basically how we communicate -- we tweak our universe slightly to become other people. Freud figured that out. Basic human empathy: some people lack it; some people are very specific about to whom they let it work on. This is the same body that walks around in your dreams... your world-building process without the benefit of sensory backup. It's the same one that loses orientation and gives you an out-of-body-experience, or that disappears when you take psychotropic drugs and "become the universe" or whatever.

Basically, all I'm trying to do is bring a completely different subject into the discussion. My conjecture is that since i. everything I see and hear and touch is just in my head (i.e. trees that fall in forests may create air-vibrations but those fail to classify as "sounds" because sound is a sense) and ii. either we're alone in the universe or not, which reasons because it means there's meaning in the universe beyond our present-day dwellings on the matter, then if there is a better viewpoint, a perfectly objective, whole viewpoint of the macroscopic and quantum world, or at the very least a TOE with perfect predictability so that science didn't have to go about it all the hard way like it does now then would the universe look like 3 dimensions and time? Am I a tan blob of meat or an extrapolation on a string who only thinks he's a tan blob of meat?

Because we're taking about holographic projections meaning that 4D space is a projection from a different, lesser-dimensioned space with all the same information stored in both, I figure the mathmatical projection would need to take place in the process which builds our 4D world, the human brain and nervous system.

edit: 3D!=4D... 'tan'!='lily-white pale' will remain unfixed.

I just finished reading

https://www.amazon.com/Persian-Fire-First-Empire-Battle/dp/0307279480/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521417830&sr=8-1&keywords=persian+fire&dpID=51%252BTf7-2OeL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

and was surprised to learn that most of the Persian navy was the Phoenicians and the maritime people on the Turkish coast

Please read the Brain That Changes Itself. The brain is plastic. It can heal and improve. This book is well researched and there is loads of evidence. It's an absolutely fascinating read even if the animal experiments are heart breaking.

http://www.normandoidge.com/normandoidge/MAIN.html
http://www.amazon.com/The-Brain-That-Changes-Itself/dp/067003830X

Also, you can train your brain just like you can train your body. A website call Lumosity has a 40 lesson program for a small fee but there are other websites out there like it and maybe you can find one for free or that you prefer.

http://www.lumosity.com/

You can absolutely recover from this.

Persian Fire is very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-ebook/dp/B000QCTNIW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1374791894&sr=8-2&keywords=brain+plasticity

I read a pretty comprehensive book on the subject: Persian Fire by Tom Holland. Never completely finished it, but the opening chapters had a lot to say about Cyrus the Great and his role in shaping the Achaemenid dynasty.
http://www.amazon.com/Persian-Fire-First-Empire-Battle/dp/0307279480

My gf has just been diagnosed with MS at age 30.

She hasn't been started on drug treaments yet but her tingling and numbness has decreased significantly after following the diet in this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Multiple-Sclerosis-Evidence-Based-Recovery/dp/1855861119/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322136115&sr=8-1

It's extreme though. Basically a vegan/fish diet and also cutting out vegetable oil which seems to be the hardest thing to avoid, since it's in almost everything.
Significant lessening of symptoms in only a couple of months of dieting is pretty good.

When we told the MS specialist who diagnosed her about these results, she just dismissed it and said there was no evidence for diet doing anything. I almost lost my temper at her because she wouldn't let me point out that the book is full of references of studies with plenty of evidence.

>We are both worried and are trying to make the best choice.

What does 'the best choice' mean to you? Because according to studies, in terms of MS, the best choice for disease progression IS to go on drugs. However, if you are married to the idea of not going on medication, I picked up the book Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis. The book is good because it goes into depth about all the steps in the process, but there is also a website that has all the basics.

Edit: I also wanted to add that she can go on a different med from what her neuro suggests. I'm also concerned about side effects and if my neuro had suggested Ocrevus right off the bat, I probably would have pooped my pants. But Copaxone is one of the mildest out of the MS drugs.

Did she have any side effects while taking Copaxone, or was she just afraid of the possibility of side effects? Was there a particular reason that the neuro suggested Ocrevus (e.g.: 'I just got your MRI results, and you've had such an explosion of lesions since your last one it's a miracle you can still walk')?

Don't freak out! :-) I was diagnosed with MS this year and yes I was freaking out too but.....you know what? Even if it's MS that you end up having as a diagnostic, be reassure that most of us fully recover within a few months. We are then also lucky that nowadays in 2015 there are plenty of solutions for you to live a long life without any real disabilities; I don't know for how long you will have to wait for the diagnostic to come but until then I have 2 suggestions: take 10,000iu/daily vitamin D (it's really safe) and read a book such as this one: http://www.amazon.ca/Overcoming-Multiple-Sclerosis-Evidence-Based-Recovery/dp/1742371795/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450484985&sr=8-1&keywords=jelinek which really gives high hope and his clinical trial shows that it improves quality of life (the site is https://overcomingms.org/). :-)

I like this a lot:

Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis: An Evidence-Based Guide to Recovery

and they have a pretty cool website: https://overcomingms.org/

I also like Terry Wahls book:

The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles

Her website: http://terrywahls.com/


Aside from that, I've done tons of research on the drugs and methods of diagnosis. Not all of it is pretty. Some of the harder to find stuff is pretty eye opening.

Basically MS is a huge pile of different symptoms that they just group together under the name. They don't really know how or why it happens, or why the drugs they give (sometimes) help.

There has been a large push lately to diagnose MS earlier. 10 years ago they'd not have told me I have MS. In one way this is good for patients, they can get the help they need earlier.
On the other hand, the docs might miss something else that they just group under the big umbrella they call "MS".

For example, Lyme disease might look like MS in some people.

As for drugs, the first ones they put everyone on, Interferon (rebif, avonex), and Copaxone have a horrible success rate. Something like 30%. That combined with all the side effects really makes them iffy. The doctor won't tell you that, and it defo is not advertised on the more mainstream (drug industry funded) MS "help" sites.

Hope that gives you some ideas where to start. Don't believe everything you read right off. Defo do your research on the drugs yourself! And watch out for the trap on most ms help sites. There's a cult of drug worship that can be pretty toxic.

I say drugs can be useful. I wouldn't tell anyone to stop taking them, but they can only help an otherwise healthy lifestyle.

Take care.

I liked A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain by John Ratey. It's written in relatively layman termanology so it's easy to jump into. It's got a lot of talk about brain physiology and neuroscience. Link

Both

The Owners Manual for the Brain By Pierce J. Howard

A User's Guide for the Brain John J. Ratey

Are great introduction books.

This is the book that got me interested in the field.. It's more like stories of peoples brains and explains plasticity, but an easy read and awesome book. http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X

There is an interesting book and documentary on the subject called The Brain That Changes Itself if you want to check it out.

Here is the documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFCOm1P_cQQ

And the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

This might be an interesting book for you: The Brain That Changes Itself

It's a very engaging read. I sat down with my mother-in-law's copy and had read a hundred pages before I realized how much time had elapsed!

I think schools should still be teaching cursive. Typing is much easier to learn, but the act of using your hand to draw long lines in specific patterns fosters brain development.
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X

Are you in treatment?
The brain is (to some degree) capable of reorganizing itself and a good neuropsychological program might help you to regain some abilities or at least delay further symptom onset.
The Brain that changes itself by Norman Doidge is a great introduction into neuroplasticity. Also Train your Brain, change your mind

I don't recall enough off the top of my head to answer this well, but this book has a lot of info about the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians, and the Persians' later interaction with the Greeks

http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X