My poetry collection. Asked in the early, 140-character days of Twitter by a young woman what the book was “about,” I came up with: “We are one species on this, our only planet. War sucks. Love can fix a lot.”
The Inner Dialogue—How Language Builds the Mind: Cognitive Neuroscience, Consciousness, and the Search for the Self, by Brian Dale Babiak MD
A novel approach to science writing, blending well documented data with narrative vignettes, exploring not only how language acquisition helps us understand who we are, but makes who we are, with deep implications for society. As much philosophy as neuroscience: if enough people read this book, we might get somewhere.
The ADHD Brain: An Immersive Journey Through Science, Struggle and Strength: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment Strategies for the ADHD Brain—From Medication to Executive Function and Sleep, by Brian Dale Babiak, MD
We folks with ADHD like to say it comes with superpowers, and hyper-focus can definitely come in handy. But ADHD is classified as a disability for a reason, and if you’ve got it, you’re gonna want to read this book. It will help you understand what you’re dealing with, and give you strategies to help you do so. Understanding your diagnosis can help you parry the attacks of well-meaning but ignorant family or friends who insist you just need Jesus or essential oils or to avoid food dyes or whatever. You can even hand them the book.
As with his other creative non-fiction, he melds science writing with narratives. The reader can see people going through diagnosis, treatment, struggles, and triumphs, as well as see ADHD in other cultures. When I was done with it, I came away not only with tools to help me accomplish more, but also with the feeling that I’m not broken, despite society’s messages otherwise. I just have a butterfly mind.
The Raw Feed: Uncompressed Reality and the Autistic Life, by Brian Dale Babiak, MD
Written after I was diagnosed at 56, this book draws on a huge study in 2025 (we actually know stuff about autism now, and it’s not what RFK Jr. wants you to believe). Like his other creative nonfiction, the book mingles science writing for the layperson with vignettes, these featuring fictional characters experiencing the symptoms and challenges of the autistic neurotype, from children in school to people at the end of their lives.
If you have autism and would like to understand what’s going on in your noggin, or if you love an autist and would like to know how better to support them, this is a must read. It NEEDS to get into the hands of people in the educational, business, and criminal justice systems, so that autistic people can be treated more fairly, and our gifts—which are many!—enabled to benefit society.
Untethered, by Brian Dale Babiak, MD
A thriller featuring a neurologist working for the military who discovers a project to create super-soldiers (his knowledge of the brain allowed him to make it credible), which becomes especially fraught when it turns out one of the subjects is her husband.
I’m bugging him to make it a trilogy, because I need to know what happens next.
Ember Babiak 