The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief

Headaches can be “among the worst pain disorders known to human beings,” according to studies journalist Zeller cites in his moving debut. Noting that he has suffered from cluster headaches for over 30 years, Zeller recounts “writhing on the bathroom floor” and collapsing unconscious from pain, and traces the history of treatments for cluster headaches and the more common migraine (around 12,000 years ago, sufferers often underwent trepanation, or the drilling of a hole in the skull to relieve pressure). Contending that remarkably little is actually understood about headaches, Zeller points out that basic questions about their causes remain unresolved, and that they are frequently dismissed as “just a headache.” He explains the current landscape of solutions and cures, including stress reduction and relaxation therapy, and writes that while these may help, for most people, they’re as practical as “meditating your way out of cancer.” Zeller is a strong writer, especially when it comes to describing pain: “It’s all just poetry in the end—like trying to describe the color of an atom, or the texture of gravity, or the shape of sadness.” The result is an eye-opening study of an all-too-common affliction. Agent: Mackenzie Brady Watson, Stuart Krichevsky Literary. (July)