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

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.

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