An essential behind-the-scenes foray into the world of cutting-edge memory research that unveils ïŽndings about memory loss only now available to general readers.
When Sue Halpern decided to emulate the ïŽrst modern scientist of memory, Hermann Ebbinghaus, who experimented on himself, she had no idea that after a day of radioactive testing, her brain would become so âhotâ that leaving through the front door of the lab would trigger the alarm. This was not the ïŽrst time while researching Canât Remember What I Forgot, part of which appeared in The New Yorker, that Halpern had her head examined, nor would it be the last.
Halpern spent years in the company of the neuroscientists, pharmacologists, psychologists, nutritionists, and inventors who are hunting for the genes and molecules, the drugs and foods, the machines, the prosthetics, the behaviors and therapies that will stave off Alzheimerâs and other forms of dementia and keep our mindsâand memoriesâintact. Like many of us who have had a relative or friend succumb to memory loss, who are getting older, who are hearing statistics about our own chances of falling victim to dementia, who worry that each lapse of memory portends disease, Halpern wanted to ïŽnd out what the experts really knew, what the bench scientists were working on, how close science is to a cure, to treatment, to accurate early diagnosis, and, of course, whether the crossword puzzles, sudokus, and ballroom dancing weâve been told to take up can really keep us lucid or if theyâre just something to do before the inevitable overtakes us.
Beautifully written, sharply observed, and deeply informed, Canât Remember What I Forgot is a book full of vital informationâand a solid dose of hope.