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

Hilts, Philip J.

ISBN 10: 0684803569 / ISBN 13: 9780684803562

Published by Simon & Schuster, 1995

About this Item

New York. 1995. Simon & Schuster. 1st Printing. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0684803569. 256 pages. hardcover. keywords: Memory Science Psychology. DESCRIPTION - In 1953, experimental brain surgery was performed on a young man named Henry M. It was a time when lobotomies were in fashion, and Henry's doctors believed that his epilepsy could be cured by a radical operation. Two holes were drilled into Henry's skull above his eyes and through a silver straw the hippocampus - a grayish-pink organ the size and shape of a fist - was sucked out from deep within Henry's brain. When Henry recovered, it was clear that something had gone terribly wrong. He could talk and read and write. But when asked where he was, or who the people were at his bedside, he did not know. Nurses could speak to him and return a moment later, only to find he had no memory of them. 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. Memory's Ghost examines as well how great thinkers have understood memory, from Plato and St. Augustine to Proust and William James. Memory's Ghost explains how memory works and how it doesn't work, how mnemonic devices work, where memory functions are physically located in brain regions, and how the hippocampus - the part of the brain that Henry M. lost - organizes information into memory. Part poetic reflection and philosophical meditation, part popular science and investigative journalism, Memory's Ghost is an intriguing exploration of the mysteries of the mind and of a man whose memory was stolen from him. inventory #21403.

Seller Inventory # z21403

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Memory's Ghost: The Strange Tale of Mr. M & the Nature of Memory
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684803569
• ISBN 13: 9780684803562
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good in Dustjacket
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

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