Customer Reviews

Memory'S Ghost: The Nature Of Memory And The Strange Tale Of Mr. M

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I am really amazed that this book seems to have gotten little attention. A coworker left a copy at my job and I picked it up out of curiousity. What a find! Hilts writes well and incorporates a wealth of knowledge into the tale of a man who had his memory removed. Far from a tale of amnesia, this is an exploration of the inner workings of the brain, but even more, it is a testament to the power of memory. Indeed, Hilts makes a strong case that memory is in fact the quality that makes us most human. At times moving and disquieting, this slim work fires the imagination and changes perspectives. I hope, if you've read this review, that you will give this book a shot - it deserves a wider audience.

In 1953, experimental surgery was performed on a young man named Henry. In those days, lobotomies were popular and quite in fashion and were believed to cure epilepsy. Henry suffered from severe epileptic fits and he was brought to a doctor for a cure. So...Henry's doctor, one William Beecher Scoville, drills two holes into Henry's head and draws out his hippocampus through a silver straw. (The straw was an interesting, macabre touch) And after this operation, Henry can read and write and talk but his memory is gone. He can never again live on his own; he gets lost wherever he goes. He has vague memories from before 1953 but they are tattered. And from the date of the operation, his memory spans about 30 seconds.

This book is a well-written, thoughtful examination of not only Henry's loss and subsequent life but also about the nature of memory. Memory, indeed, makes us human. Our lives are a story told by memory, changed, elaborated upon and constantly revised. "Memory is not solid, it is liquid," says the author and around this premise and Henry's misfortune and life, he builds a compelling tale.

--Memory's Ghost should be a blessing for anyone (poet, scientist, or general reader) who wants to understand how memory makes us human. In this easily read, occasionally frightening, singularly fascinating, and stimulating book, the author describes the life of Henry M., who lived nearly forty years without the ability to form new memories. To help us understand this condition, the author also gives wonderful descriptions of memory, including a short history of memory (natural and cultural), the types of memory, limits on its reliability, and how and why it might have evolved. After reading it you won't take memory for granted again!

--In 1953, long before the miracles of modern pharmaceutical treatments and current neurological understanding, Mr. M. was given surgery to help stop his suffering intractable epileptic seizures, by removing parts of the brain thought to generate the seizures. Unfortunately, Mr. M.'s surgeon experimentally removed a brain area which "bundled up" the perceptions and symbols of the Total Present Moment and selectively sent them off for storage and future recall. After the operation, Mr.M. could no longer form long-term memories. He could learn new skills, but could not remember learning them. He could not recognize people absent for more than a few seconds, even if they were staff who had known him daily for years. Nevertheless, he clearly retained his humanity. His pleasant personality and even his happiness remained, his IQ stayed normal, he loved TV and conversation, and his memories and capabilities formed before the surgery seemed intact. Since the surgeon who performed the maneuver quickly realized removal of this area should never be repeated, since human lab experiments were unikely to duplicate the situation, and since other conditions (like accidents, strokes, or Alzheimer's) would almost certainly never remove such a specific area, Mr. M. has given a unique perspective for what it means to lose this critical part of the brain and mind (indeed, he soon became one of the most referenced patients in medical literature).

--The author provides some vivid background for memory (Note: it is not intended to directly cover "how-to-improve-your-memory" issues and it does not discuss the tremendous bioethical issues this case raises). He gives several vivid and metaphorical descriptions of memory, all intended to show it is an intensely active, ever-changing, evolving process, and not a static representational recording device (like a tape recorder). The author shows human memory offers an incredible richness and dynamic adaptibility which could never be duplicated by a simple data retrieval device. Memory is not a hard-disc, it's part of a great adventure.

--Of course, a short book with a deep topic will have omissions, but ....
--In summary, I thought this well-written and accessible book was an admirable story both of Mr. M. and of memory -- one of the richest (and most frustrating) parts of our individual and cultural experiences as human beings. It deserves a wide audience.

In December of 2008, at the age of 82, Henry Molaison died in a Connecticut nursing home. Though his name had been shielded for the previous fifty years, he was known throughout the world as H.M., and his brain was famous, the most studied brain in the history of science.

Outside scientific circles, his case was little documented until Philip Hilts wrote Memory's Ghost. One can understand why. A doctor, though well-meaning, had removed some slivers of H.M.'s temporal lobes and--more significantly--most of his hippocampus. We now understand that this two-inch organ is what enables us to secure thoughts and impressions as long-lasting memories. At the onset of Alzheimer's, the hippocampus is the first part of the brain to be affected, as its neurons are stripped of their protective myelinization. As that happens, the patient's memories, particularly of recent events, fail to be recorded in other parts of the brain.

Much of what is known about the hippocampus comes from studies of H.M., who, after his operation, could remember flickers of his early life, but was unable to store any new memories. He lived in the moment, as his New York Times obituary said, "more so than any mystic."

Mystics may hunger for such experience, but the thinness of such a life is soon evident in Hilts' portrait of H.M. Each morning "he woke and did not know where he was. He could not recall who was taking care of him, though the nurses had attended him for many years steadily. He had been in this state since 1953, and did not know that fact either."

Philip Hilts' subject is memory, and his references are extensive: Homer, Plato, Horace, Augustine and William James. But it's the portraits of H.M. and his doctor, William Scoville, that stand out. The seminal fact that a doctor, while trying to relieve a patient's epilepsy, could remove part of his brain, leads to inevitable moral questions. Not that the excision was without precedent, for Dr. Scoville himself had already performed at least 300 lobotomies. But Scoville once noted in a paper that his surgery with H.M. had been "frankly experimental"--an unusual admission, Hilts points out, "in the cloaked and formal world of science."

This is a rich, wide-ranging book, with engrossing details about H.M.'s life and those of the scientists who studied him for decades. It's not a book about Alzheimer's, but it could not be more central to the topic. I read Memory's Ghost while looking after my father during the worst of his dementia, and found something fascinating on almost every page.

Henry Molaison's brain, only hours after his death, was the subject of exhaustive MRI scans, and has been preserved for future study.

Memory loss of a spouse caused a lot of concern as we took care of this person. This book eased our fear that using an adult day care would be viewed as abandonment by the person. We now understand that this person is not capable of more than very short term memory and the use of day care would not be uncomfortable to them