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

by Philip J. Hilts

In an experiment that occurred some forty years ago, Henry M.'s memory was stolen from him during a highly controversial operation performed to cure his epilepsy.

Part poetic reflection and philosophical meditation, part popular science and investigative journalism, Memory's Ghost is an unforgettable journey into the mysteries of the human mind.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[Karen]

Very disappointing. Don't let the title fool you. Much more author's "knowledge" & clinical treatment of Mr M.

[Dawn Taylor]

I was a little unsure at first but I ended up really liking this book. It did a good job of covering the research on animal and human memory, while chronicling the life of a man who received a lobotomy to cure his epilepsy and ended up with basically no memory, even more so than my brother. Trip can’t create new memories, so he can’t remember what he had for dinner last night. But Mr. M can’t remember who he is, where he is, what day or year it is, what happened to him, who anyone around him is, and what happened in the prior few minutes. Plus, when I opened the book there were two boarding passes in it, in my father’s and stepmother’s names. I gave the book to my father after my brother tried to kill himself, managing only to destroy his hippocampus instead. My father gave the book back to me, commenting that it didn’t really tell him anything new. Very strange comment from my dad, who never says anything bad to anyone.

[Katie Arten]

This was a personal challenge for me after it became assigned reading for a college course that never got finished. While I’m glad I finally tackled this hill, over-repetition and errors detracted from the message for me, and from the story of Mr. M, which is a tragedy. And for a book that makes the promise of being both scientific and literary, the scales are tipped much more to the former than the latter.

[Ryan Schleeter]

One of the more powerful books I’ve read

[S.L. Berry]

The title got me interested in this so I took the book off the shelf in the library and borrowed it. The story of the profound amnesiac, Mr. M, who had part of his brain surgically removed in the effort to cure his epilepsy was quite interesting. If the science of, and history of the study of, memory could have been interwoven more into the author's investigation and writing of the story of Mr. M, the book could have been a work of narrative non-fiction. As written, it was too much on the science of memory for me.

[G]

Fantastic account of a man who - due to a botched lobotomy - was left with no short term memory.

[Philip Athans]

Surely informed Christopher Nolan's Memento.