Customer Reviews

The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science--A Memoir

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a fascinating glimpse into the world of a person who has a perfect memory. If you feel the slightest bit skeptical about this, Jill Price was put through intensive testing, along with several other people. Not only could she recall exact dates but the tiniest bits of info about what happened on those days, including what amounted to her entire life, way beyond the norms of human memory. She'd also kept a diary for years.

Other people were also tested and diagnosed with this special, probably rare, condition...and this is what makes this book so interesting. Even though Jill Price isn't the only person known to have "perfect recall or memory", her personality is unique. She tends to see her inability to forget as a curse as much as a blessing, one that often haunts and torments her.

I'd read books about other people with a similar condition but they were autistic, sometimes called idiot savants, and often lacked basic skills that were considered normal. Jill Price was the first person who seems normal in many ways but also has this extraordinary memory. I couldn't help wanting to know how a child copes with this and grows up being so different from those around her. This book was a fascinating biography as well as illuminating about the mysteries of memory, recall and the advantages of those with average abilities to remember things. Until I read this book, I often rued my inability to remember a person's name, face or a particular movie title. I've changed my perspective.

Sometimes being able to forget can be a blessing.

I'm perhaps being a little more generous than some of the two-star reviewers. I did find information about her timeline and some other things interesting, but, contra her own accounts, I don't think her obsessive journaling necessarily has anything to do with her hypermemory. Certainly, it's not a direct part of her hypermemory, or the more technical, hyperthymesia.

Now, might it be part of an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder? Certainly. There's other facets of her life, that if you connect the dots, could one wonder, at least, whether Price doesn't have OCD and/or other mental health issues.

But, she and coauthor Bart Davis don't talk about that.

Nor do they talk about the report of the UCI medical and neurological professionals. After all, Price herself wonders if her hypermemory isn't connected to how she has dealt with her childhood.

Nor does she mention that she has taken Prozac and Zoloft as high as 200mg/day, and that she reported having numerous phobias, including phobias about medical professionals, to McGaugh et al. Or having hit her head at age 8.

Given the studies ongoing of links between PTSD and memory, and the fact that the Neurocase study is readily available on the Internet, it's chintzy at the least to not have discussed these issues in the book.

Available here in full: http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:n_iEEyk5ROcJ:today.uci.edu/pdf/AJ_2006.pdf+%22A+Case+of+Unusual+Autobiographical+Remembering%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

The full study also mentions some other mental functioning diagnoses; some linguistic problems, including word list problems (hence her memory problems) is one; perseveration is another, and it's linked to brain trauma. Interestingly, Price doesn't mention having had a head injury at age 8, as documented in the professional study, and which is about the time her memory started ramping up.

It's time to quote from that report:

"AJ may have a variant of a neurodevelopmental, fronto-
striatal disorder putting her at risk for her hyperthymestic syn-
drome. Deficits in executive functioning and anomalous lateral-
ization are both found in neurodevelopmental frontostriatal
disorders which include autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette's syn-
drome and schizophrenia."

I write none of this to put her down or beat her up, but, as I suspected at the start of this review (written before I Googled the Neurocase report), there's more behind the scenes than just a world-record autobiographical memory.

Finally, re her memory itself, and without diminishing her incredible autobiographical memory, it should be noted that she is, in some types of specific episodic memory, nothing better than normal.

In short, we didn't get anywhere near the full Jill Price in this book. And, nobody forced her to write anything at all in the first place so, sorry, it doesn't deserve more than two stars.

We all have days we wish we could forget. If we think back, I'm sure we also have memories that have escaped us from long ago which we wish we could remember.

Jill Price is a unique person, the first, who can honestly say she can't forget a single day, and has little or no problem with those memories the rest of us cling to.

Jill has a memory condition called "hyperthymestic syndrome" and believe it or not she can recall headlines, deaths, birthdays, holidays, tragedies, worldwide news, and even her own everyday activities from every single day of her life since she was just 14 years old.

In a recent interview with Diane Sawyer, Jill gave the dates and days of the week certain events happened that Diane called out at random from the death of Elvis to the date of Reagan's first inauguration. She is not always 100% right, but is usually not off by more than 7 days. Imagine being able to recall every single Christmas you've experienced, and all from memory.

Jill's story is extraordinary. As you read her memoir, you'll ask yourself, "is this a curse or a blessing?" Is it a gift you'd want to be blessed with? Jill has adjusted well to it. Her life has been unique. She has loved and lost. Scientists have studied her, but through it all she has learned to cope and adapt to this bizarre wonder.

You will be touched by her words, and you certainly won't forget them!

"Time heals all wounds." "This too shall pass." "Give it time." "Someday we'll look back on this and laugh." Our most fundamental beliefs about emotional healing are based on the idea that memories dull as time passes. Just as shards of broken glass can cut deeply when new but, if tossed in the surf, eventually become smooth and beautifully textured, our memories, as they age, become buffered. The kernel of the story may remain, but the glass-sharp edges of emotion associated with the event dull over time.

Which is a good thing, because imagine for a moment the mental chaos if they didn't. Well, that's the story of Jill Price, the real-life Woman Who Can't Forget. With a memory so unusual in its form and function that the neurologists who documented her situation made up a new name for it, hyperthemestic syndrome, Jill Price remembers everything that has happened to her since childhood with the clarity of seeing it unfold on a movie screen. Day after day. All the time.

The memory center of Jill Price's brain is wired differently from most of us, with aberrations that actually show up on brain scans. Her memory type is specific: she isn't like Rain Man, remembering sequences of numbers or bits of trivia. What she remembers is events from her own life, or events of public importance inasmuch as they dovetailed with her own life. You probably remember exactly what you were doing the moment you heard that two planes had hit the World Trade Center or that a government building had exploded in Oklahoma City - or, depending on your age, that the space shuttle Challenger had exploded or that President Kennedy had been shot. Similarly, you probably have crystal clear recall of the moment you found out that one of your family members had a terminal illness, or that you were pregnant with twins, or that you had gotten accepted into your first-choice college. For Jill Price, every moment event is just as memorable as three or four of the most significant moments in our lives are to the rest of us.

The book is both a scientific exploration of the phenomenon and a memoir. Price quotes from the research papers written about her and explains the scientific theories that were formed based on her case, but she also talks extensively about what it's like to live like this. Price's life would make a fairly interesting memoir even without the hyperthemetic syndrome. Her father was a rising executive in the entertainment industry: the family lived first in Manhattan, then in suburban New Jersey, and then in California, where visiting Dad at work meant playing on the soundstage of The Waltons. Price was born one year before I was, so her cultural references are the same as mine, and it's fun reading about iconic 1970s moments such as the time she turned a corner at her father's agency and ran into David Cassidy.

Price has been making the talk show rounds; not being a talk show viewer, I've missed her appearances, and I have some questions that seeing the interviews might have answered. Some of her oddities, in my opinion, can't quite be explained by the memory thing. For example, although she admits to having always had intense separation issues, that doesn't quite go far enough to explain why at the age of 36 she still lived with her parents. As a child, she always hated moving - something that traumatized her in her childhood, first when the family left New York City for New Jersey and then when they headed out to Los Angeles - but it's still a little strange when in her 30's she gets frantic at the thought of her parents selling their house - because it's where she still lives. She never really addresses the subject of whether anyone thinks maybe it's time for the nearly middle-aged woman to find her own apartment. In fact, when her parents do sell their house and downsize, she moves with them - and eventually her husband and stepchildren end up moving in with her parents as well. There is more I'd like to know about this woman than how her memory works.

This is a thought-provoking book, and during the two weeks or so I was reading it (I'm a slow reader), I found my own generally sharp memory getting even more acute. For example, while falling asleep one night, I had an image of my grandmother reaching for a particular glass in her kitchen, and suddenly woke with a jolt, realizing neither the house nor my grandmother was still present in my life. For a few seconds, I missed that earlier time terribly. As I said, I've always had a good memory, but not like Jill Price. And having read her memoir, I'm convinced that's a fortunate thing.

Jill Price is remarkably skilled at perfectly retrieving memories of her past and significant historic events by day and date, but is unable to do justice to that fact through her memoir. Born in NYC in 1965 and raised in an upper-middle class Jewish family, she didn't realize until the age of twelve that her memory was remarkable. At thirty-four, she sought help from renowned memory researcher Dr. James McGaugh. Six years later, he and his colleagues published the results of their extensive testing on "AJ," entitled, A Case of Unusual Autobiographical Remembering (fifteen specific, scientific-minded pages readily available online).

I'd love to spend an hour listening to her talk about her memories (she did well in an NPR interview), but can't say the same about her life story in written form. Ms. Price comes across as a needy, privileged packrat who tends to dwell on the negative, especially her mother's incessant naggings about her weight (an ongoing theme), her father's abandonment of the family, and her mother's health problems. A few things make the book almost palatable: brief descriptions of certain types of memory, references to stories with memory-related themes, and chapter-preceding quotes (probably provided by the co-author). But it's hard to get past distractions like the overuse of certain words and phrases, sometimes on the same page (e.g., "thought-provoking," "hugely relieved," "wrenching," and "stoicism"); the three page time line (a waste of paper); the overinclusion of the minutiae of her everday life (no more interesting than the average person's); the awful, amateurish writing; and the obvious lack of editing. And just when you think it can't get worse, you reach chapter 9 (warning-spoilers), in which you learn that this right-side-of-the-tracks-born, pampered, hoarder, rich girl meets the love of her life, a tattooed, pierced, flannel-wearing Type I Diabetes-afflicted (although in denial about), divorced father of two...in a chat room. The only "thought-provoking" thing about the book that you can't read on the dust jacket is what she considers too "personal" to share with readers, considering her willingness to gush about bedding her beau on their second day together. The Woman Who Can't Forget is a forgettable memoir about an average woman with an incredible memory. Better books on brains: A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas, Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet, and A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar. And by Yasunari Kawabata: The Old Capital.

Most of us take the ability to remember for granted in a sense. We are fascinated by those who can remember well, and bemoan the loss of our own memories, often attributing such things to the ravages of age. And having seen the horrible effects of Alzheimer's firsthand through my late Grandmother, watching someone slowly robbed of their very soul as their memories are eaten away is a slow and painful process I pray no one ever has to witness. But what we don't realize that some things are best forgotten, or at least dulled by the passage of time. It is in much of that which we forget that allows us to evolve and grow. Just because we don't remember the particulars of an event doesn't mean they don't have lasting effects on us that, ultimately, make us smarter, stronger human beings. But imagine if you never forgot those things...

When I first saw Jill Price's story on ABC's 20/20, I immediately purchased and downloaded the book to my Kindle Reading Device because it seemed like such a fascinating story. Price suffers from the first documented case of "hyperthymestic syndrome", which refers to the continuous, automatic, autobiographical recall of every day of her life. On the surface one would think that such an ability is a gift, a blessing that every unsuspecting person wishes they had been given.

But as Jill Price takes us through her life journey, we discover the bitter that inevitably goes along with the seemingly sweet. Her syndrome is great in that it allows her to forever relive the most wonderful moments of her life, like meeting and falling in love with her one true love. But imagine when that also means the inability to escape the most embarrassing or painful moments of your life, like the sudden death of this very man of your dreams. Price's memory are vivid and potent, carrying with them not only the clear visuals of every recorded event, but the feelings, sounds, and smells of the moment as well. Childhood fears, though adulthood allows her to put rational perspective upon them, are still as powerful as when she was a child. And although she has the ability to call upon whatever memory she wishes at the prompting of a date, the memories also can come upon her unbidden, and cannot simply be dismissed the way one would change the television set if you don't like what's airing one channel.We've all heard of people who dwell on the past, as well as those who only live in the now. But for Jill Price, there is little distinction between the two, and the only thing more extraordinary than the life journey she's traveled so far is the fact that she's seemingly come through it sane and whole.

The book is not only a great biography about a woman dealing with an extraordinary ability that she's only recently found scientific explanations for, but Price also provides a lot of background information about how the mind and memory work, and how they play such vital roles in the people we become.

I found it a very compelling read, and I think you will too.

- Gregory Bernard Banks, author, reader, reviewer

I feel for this woman but this memoir is a failure on so many levels. It is so bizarrely repetitive for a book on a women with amazing memory. She also has many many other problems which are not really addressed in the book as other reviewers have noted.

The review section is also filled with questionable "rave" reviews. How much can you trust a review that says she "can remember every moment of her life" when the book repeats so many times that her memory is only complete after a certain year (still amazing).

Ditto to others who complained about the writing. It might have been a far better book had it been written and edited more skillfully. Repetition, poor sentence structure and inconsistent organization made it hard to wade through. As it reads now, it's pretty boring and I didn't even find myself liking her very much.

The Woman Who Can't Forget introduces Jill Price, the first person diagnosed with the condition "hyperthymestic Syndrome" the continuous, automatic, autobiographical recall of every day of her life since the age of fourteen. Once you get over the parlor trick aspect of this condition ..."what happened Monday, September 25, 1978....the crash of PSA flight over San Diego" and on and on and on. What fascinated me were her feelings of being held hostage by memories that were as fresh on recall as the day they occurred. When a memory arises, she feels the emotions of the event with the same vividness as the day they occurred. Memories from a child's perspective are remembered as such, not tempered through the lens of adult understanding. It wasn't until she contacted Dr. James McGaugh of the University of California at Irvine, a renowned memory specialist, did she find someone who understood and could explain the condition. She tries to explain to the outside world what she struggles with every day. Her goal is to become the caretaker of her memories, not their hostage. Written with insight and humor Jill recounts a life where she felt imprisoned by her memory, her struggles to understand and cope and the change love brought into her life.

While the author's autobiographical memory is nothing short of remarkable, she comes across as an easily controlled, whiny woman. The book is also filled with grammatical errors which slow down the story, and the portion about her husband makes this reader wonder why she thought such a self-centered man could be considered a catch. He didn't even think enough of her or her family to take his diabetes meds and stick around to enjoy old age.

Of course, what's engrossing about his story is the author's ability to recall even the must mundane of facts, and is worth reading because of that.