Brian Boxer Wachler - Perceptual Intelligence: The Brain’s Secret to Seeing Past Illusion, Misperception, and Self-Deception

As a medical student during my ob-gyn rotation, I delivered twenty babies. With this book its now twenty-one. This healthy bundle of joy you hold in your hands wouldnt have been possible without my team assisting me in the delivery room.

In order of shoe size...

My agent, Gordon Warnock, who believed in me and my idea for this book. You were a superhero who swooped down from the sky to save the project from drowning. Gary M. Krebs, my partner in this crime, who understands how I think and, most importantly, my humor it was fun working with you! David Nayor, for seeing the tree in the seed. Jonathan Franks, thank you for your catalytic efforts and unshakable belief in the book when it was an idea. Montel Williams, for being behind me from the start you are an incredible inspiration. Harvey-Jane Kowal, who is always listening and advising from her tower of experience. Karen Kosztolnyik, for covertly helping me while you were behind enemy lines mission accomplished! Pam Shriver, for opening up and sharing your insights. Dr. Marvin Galper, for conveying your expertise and harrowing experiences. Matt Torrington, MD, for your insights about dopamine and addiction. Thank you, Georgia Hughes at New World Library, for being completely behind this book and turning the perception into reality. I sincerely appreciate Monique Muhlenkamp, Munro Magruder, Kristen Cashman, and the rest of the New World Library team for throwing themselves behind this book to ensure it reaches a large audience of hungry readers. Do I thank Mimi Kusch for her X-Acto knife copyediting handiwork that left many severed manuscript bits writhing on the floor? Of course! Thank you, Mimi! We owe a great debt to Richard Fox, who pointed us in the right direction with art research. Thank you, Blackstone Audio, who made me sound really good in the audiobook of Perceptual Intelligence (and was tons of fun for me to narrate with lots of personality for listeners).

A big shout-out goes to fellow Dartmouth Medical School alum and friend John Kennedy, MD, for lending his ear and advice based on his experience as a published author. A mega-thank-you to prolific author and fan/encourager Boze Hadleigh, for always seeing that I could do this. Thank you, Ana Zamalloa, for sharing Jerrys story in Peru. Thank you, Carol Gross of the United States Olympic Committee, for your assistance. Ari Galper, I am so grateful for meeting you at camp when we were pimply twelve-year-olds and I so value your friendship and sage advice over the decades thank you, 2ARI! Dan Kennedy, thank you for your invaluable writing and strategic help over many years. A big-block thank-you to Susan and Norm Nelson, Geoff Stunkard, Bob McClurg, and Leon Perahia for confirming my gut feeling that Plymouths muscle car color, Curious Yellow, was named after a Swedish X-rated film.

To my wife, Selina, who has been at my side through everything, there are no words to express my gratitude, but I know, after twenty-four years of marriage, that there are plenty of flowers available for thank-yous. Thank you to my twin daughters, who, at the many Friday-night-dinner recounting of the weeks ups and downs during our roses and thorns discussions, listened with interest and asked questions about the soap opera that is book publishing.

Thank you to my caring, expert, and genuinely patient and dedicated staff my second family at my private practice in Beverly Hills, many of whom have been with me for well over a decade.

A special note of thanks to longtime friend Ron Thomson, who assisted with Shakespeare before the clock struck midnight. Dont go changing!

Last, Id like to thank all those city workers who fix the potholes in our roads. It has nothing to do with the book, but no one ever thanks them. So here goes: I thank you, the dedicated women and men in orange who keep our roads and radials safe. On behalf of millions of motorists whose coffee never got jarred and spilled all over them on the way to work because of your commitment to smooth asphalt, I thank you all.

An expert in human perception and one of the worlds leading authorities on Keratoconus, laser vision correction (LASIK), and dry eye treatments, Brian Boxer Wachler, MD (a.k.a. Dr. Brian), has devoted his career to the field of eye surgery. For two decades he has been a pioneering doctor with a career in clinical, academic, and research settings. His vast area of expertise extends into understanding how people think and how the mind works.

He is currently the director of the eponymous Boxer Wachler Vision Institute in Beverly Hills and a staff physician at Los Angeless famed Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Dr. Brian has made countless contributions to the field of ophthalmology and ophthalmic surgery and received thirty-nine honors and awards over his career. He is credited with transforming the treatment of Keratoconus through his breakthroughs in noninvasive Holcomb C3-R crosslinking and Intacs inserts; he is known inside and outside medical circles as the Keratoconus Guru and is the author of three books on the subject. In 2010 Dr. Brian was recognized with the Jules Stein Living Tribute Award for inventing the Holcomb C3-R treatment for Keratoconus, alongside US bobsled driver Steven Holcomb (the procedures namesake) for winning Olympic gold after having the procedure. This procedure has saved thousands of Keratoconus sufferers from needing to undergo invasive and painful cornea transplants. More details about Keratoconus, Steven Holcombs story, and Holcomb C3-R may be found at www.KeratoconusInserts.com. You can also read Stevens book, But Now I See: My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold (BenBella Books, 2012).

Olympic gold medal winner Steven Holcomb and Dr. Brian

Dr. Brian is a recognized innovative leader in the treatment of glasses and contact lensrelated refractive errors vision problems that happen when the shape of the eyes prevents them from focusing properly such as myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism, and presbyopia (the need for reading glasses). Dr. Brian wrote one of the most popular reports on LASIK, the most widely performed type of refractive surgery. Dr. Brians work on LASIK led to the formation of industry-wide guidelines to help make LASIK one of the safest procedures in medicine. Dr. Brian pioneered a procedure to treat brown spots, or freckles, on the whites of eyes as well as bloodshot, or red, eyes. His procedure also treats pterygium, pinguecula, and nevus of Ota. He also has extensive experience in advanced cataract surgery. More information about all his procedures is at www.BoxerWachler.com.

Dr. Brian has written eighty-four medical articles and twenty book chapters, and has delivered 276 scientific presentations. He has written four other books and is an inventor, which includes two approved patents for dry eye treatments. He has participated in fifteen FDA clinical trials evaluating new technologies. A board-certified ophthalmologist, he is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Brian holds leadership positions in numerous organizations, including being a medical editor for WebMD. He has been featured on all the major TV networks and has been written about in numerous newspapers and magazines. For more about his media coverage, please visit his IMDB page.

Dr. Brian lives in Los Angeles with his wife, to whom he has been married since 1993. Of note, he is one of a select number of men in the country with a maiden name; when they married, he and his wife combined each others last names to create Boxer Wachler. They have loving preteen twin daughters who are a delight. Dr. Brian still competitively rows (which he did in college) and often employs his college debate team skills with his daughters over limiting their iPad time.