Memory's Ghost : The Strange Tale of Mr. M and the Nature of Memory

Hilts, Philip J.

ISBN 10: 0684803569 / ISBN 13: 9780684803562

Published by Simon and Schuster, New York, 1995

About this Item

8vo 253pp. from front flap: ".And for more than forty years now, [Henry] has been a prisoner of the immediate present. Each new moment has no connection to what happened a minute or an hour or a week or a year before. He is perpetually waking from a dream, suspended in uncertainty about what day it is and what lies ahead. For decades Henry's guardians at M.I.T.'s clinical research center have shielded him, restricting access to academic researchers. Now, in Memory's Ghost, Philip J. Hilts, one of a relatively small number of people who have spent extended time with Henry, tells Henry's remarkable story. But Henry's story is only part of Memory's Ghost. On a quest for understanding the mysterious power of memory, Hilts takes the reader on a fascinating trip down Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, in search of Mnemosyne, the goddess of mind and imagination." #02463. Book VG: mild shelf wear, mild toning/offset to endpapers, text unmarked, binding tight.

Seller Inventory # 2398

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Memory's Ghost : The Strange Tale of Mr. M and the Nature of Memory
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684803569
• ISBN 13: 9780684803562
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: first edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: DJ VG: clean, unclipped

About this title

Synopsis

An exploration of the workings of the mind and memory focuses on the case of Henry M., a man who has lived entirely in the present since he had brain surgery to control his epilepsy twenty years ago. 25,000 first printing.

Reviews

Health and science reporter Hilts has always been fascinated by memory, both in terms of its biological workings and its role in the formulation of our psyches, art, and culture. He touches on each of these spheres in this profoundly moving portrait of Mr. M., a man who, literally, had his memory removed. Mr. M.'s epilepsy manifested itself abruptly and cruelly on his sixteenth birthday, severely restricting his life. A dozen years later, in 1953, he underwent radical brain surgery. Dr. William Scoville sucked out a large section of Mr. M.'s brain, a crude procedure that had little initial effect on the epilepsy, but succeeded in completely eradicating Mr. M.'s memory. Mr. M. became a man frozen in the present and a scientific curiosity. As Hilts chronicles Mr. M.'s strange life, he relates the history of the study of memory, that element of mind that, more than any other, defines us. The poignancy of his percipient inquiry is deepened by Hilts' descriptions of his own tragedy, the slow death of his wife. Hilts' sensitive and intelligent inquiry will have special appeal to fans of Oliver Sacks. Donna Seaman