Blom JD. A Dictionary of Hallucinations. Springer 2010, 553 pages, 100 illustrations, $99.00.

Although this clearly is not a neuroradiology textbook, it is nonetheless fascinating.

The author of this 500-page hardcover book, Dr. Jan Dirk Blom, has compiled innumerable short vignettes related to a host of different medical terms, biographical sketches, physiological phenomena, psychological disorders, geophysical observations, and the like, most of which seem to have had their origin from imaginings, frank hallucination, dreams, or the disclosures of mysterious “facts.” The list of described features is amazing — who was Charles Dogeon, how to explain the moon illusion (or superillusion) or Charpentier’s illusion, the meaning of CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome), the description of the first case of Alzheimer ’s disease involving auditory hallucinations, etc, etc. These phenomena/hallucinations/illusions are listed alphabetically, and they number in the hundreds, many with accompanying pictures.

Convince your library to buy a copy, check it out, and then spend and enjoyable evening thumbing through these stories, histories, and explanations.