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The first story was definitly a heart-wrenching tale in its way. The second seemed more personalized to the reader. Both were intiguing in the possibilities they opened up on the topic of the unconscious. Where is the unconscious? Does it ever go away? The actual destruction of the brain in Greg's story added another element of confusion: when does the conscious and the unconscious collide? The author seems to give the perspective that they were both there, sometimes sinking back to one when stimulation wasn't present. Then there is the addition of music into the equation, why could he remember tunes and jingles when he couldn't recall much else? Another thing I enjoyed about this peice was the relation of his past to the story. His hippie revival days staying sound in his head.

A Surgeons Life brought up different issues. Even though Tourrettes does not actually tear out part of the brain like in Greg's case, people with the disease deal with habitual resurfacing of the unconscious. It's interesting that the author tells us what Bennet is saying about his own disease. A first hand account of what the brain is telling the mind to do. Speaking of the brain and the mind, is there a conscious difference?