The riveting true story of the star-crossed friendship between two neuroscientists—one famous, the other forgotten—who mapped the brain, but lost each other.

In 1924, when brain surgery was still in its infancy and more of a death sentence than a cure, Dr. Wilder Penfield met Dr. William Cone at New York City’s Presbyterian Hospital. The two men, who could not have been more different in personality or appearance, were quickly drawn to each other by their fascination with the “undiscovered country” inside our heads.

Globe and Mail journalist Eric Andrew-Gee unfurls a rich history of the partnership that birthed the world-renowned Montreal Neurological Institute and revolutionized the study of the human mind. While Cone labored anonymously in the trenches of The Neuro, spending long hours at patients’ bedsides and in the blood-spattered operating room, Penfield pursued the loftier goal of discovering the seat of consciousness. He went on to develop the Montreal procedure for treating epilepsy, which helped identify the source of speech, executive function, and memory in narrow slivers of grey matter.

Under Penfield and Cone’s leadership, The Neuro grew into a hotbed for neurological study, attracting men and women from across the globe to a thriving mid-century Montreal, including the first Chinese, Indian, Arab, and African-American neurosurgeons. But it was at the cost of their friendship, which became fraught with personal and professional hurts—and suddenly ended when Cone was found dead in his office at the age of 62.

In this compelling, meticulously researched dual biography, Andrew-Gee breathes new life into a familiar hero and revives the oft-forgotten, tragic story of his partner. In doing so, he writes Dr. William Cone back into the historical record and reveals the untold story of the birthplace of neuroscience.

Eric Andrew-Gee's profile page

ERIC ANDREW-GEE is the Quebec correspondent for The Globe and Mail, based in Montreal, and a former staff reporter for the Toronto Star. He is the winner of two National Newspaper Awards. His work has appeared in magazines including The Walrus, Toronto Life and The New Republic. This is his first book.

"Eric Andrew-Gee has pulled off something remarkable: a history of the breakthroughs in brain science that takes us on a fascinating journey deep into not just the minds but also the very hearts and souls of the two scientists who put Canada in the forefront of that research. Using his sharp prose as his scalpel, he exposes the myths and mysteries in the race to understand what makes us human." —Julian Sher, author of The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln
"Andrew-Gee has written not just a biography of two fascinating brain surgeons, nor just a portrait of Montreal as a global mecca for brain research in the 1930s and 40s. He invites us into the mysterious territory of the brain itself. Engrossing, compelling, convincing." —Rosemary Sullivan, bestselling author of The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation

"Brisk, lucid writing about one of nature’s most perplexing mysteries—the human brain—enriched by a deft and unflinching exploration of the complicated friendship between two of the world’s most famous doctors." —Linden MacIntyre, bestselling, Giller Award-winning author and broadcast journalist

"Eric Andrew-Gee’s The Mind Mappers is an obsessively researched, supremely detailed portrait of the greatest unrequited love story in neuroscience, the beautiful and then suddenly tragic friendship of Wilder Penfield and William Cone, two pioneers who unraveled the mysteries of the brain but not the mysteries of each other. Like many love stories, it begins and ends in Montreal and offers a darkly glittering portrait of that city’s most glamorous period." —Stephen Marche, author of The Next Civil War

"Compelling and accomplished, The Mind Mappers unfolds several remarkable stories in elegant tandem: of bold medical research and discovery, of intimate friendships and their sometimes tragic cost and of mid-twentieth century Montreal, a city of radiant character. An impressive debut by Eric Andrew-Gee." —Charles Foran, author of Mordecai: The Life of Times

"The Mind Mappers is an intriguing book that reveals the trailblazing researchers who made modern neurosurgery possible. This fascinating study of the brain and the unique friendship among scientists shows how individual genius and community interact to create knowledge. A thrilling and insightful book that will illuminate your mind." —Jason Bell, bestselling author of Cracking the Nazi Code

"In his vividly realized portrait of medical heroism, Eric Andrew-Gee unravels the dynamic bond between two gifted, driven, fatherless brain surgeons whose ground-breaking achievements end in betrayal and tragedy. Mirroring the left and right hemispheres of a single brain, Penfield and Cone operated as ying and yang, linked yet distinct personalities, brilliantly probing the “undiscovered country” of human consciousness. Yet in their quest for the holy grail—the seat of the soul—they become the stuff of Greek myth, unconscious of the dark side of obsessive perfectionism, the saviour complex and the unforeseen human costs. An archetypal tale, both inspiring and cautionary, abounding in paradox. Physician, heal thyself!" —James FitzGerald, author of What Disturbs Our Blood, winner of the Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Award