Billy's Halo

the long version

As Ruth McKernan s father slowly succumbs to a mysterious illness, she relies on her professional training as a neuroscientist to help her work through her fear and grief. Ruth recounts the story of Billy s last year while exploring a collection of cutting-edge scientific themes delving into memory, consciousness, microbes, and stem cells gracefully linking them together like pearls strung upon the thread of her father s life. – from publisher information.