Apparently, the brain feels like… tofu. “The soft variety, if you know tofu.” Somehow I always imagined it to be more glutinous, like mochi. The great news: “Because it is soft, the brain, it turns out, is a forgiving, flexible organ.” Not so great: tumors can grow to “‘impressive citrus fruit proportions’ before patients even notice something amiss”.

Besides the intriguing memoir,
Another Day in the Frontal Lobe : A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside, Katrina Firlik has a fascinating
personal site filled with
brain favorites (quotes, facts, images) and an
online gallery of her original drawings illustrating the resemblance of brain structures and surgical tools to flowers, animals and hello kitty. At left, a brainstem and an orchid. I could spend hours just medulla-gazing.