Random HouseProduct DescriptionOliver Sacks meets Stephen King* in this propulsive haunting journey into the life of the most studied human research subject of all time the amnesic known as Patient H.M. For readers of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks comes a story that has much to teach us about our relentless pursuit of knowledge.
Winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
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In 1953 a twenty-seven-year-old factory worker named Henry Molaisonwho suffered from severe epilepsyreceived a radical new version of the then-common lobotomy targeting the most mysterious structures in the brain. The operation failed to eliminate Henrys seizures but it did have an unintended effect: Henry was left profoundly amnesic unable to create long-term memories. Over the next sixty years Patient H.M. as Henry was known became the most studied individual in the history of neuroscience?? a human guinea pig who would teach us much of what we know about memory today.
Patient H.M. is?? at times?? a deeply personal journey. Dittrich??s grandfather was the brilliant?? morally complex surgeon who operated on Molaison?and thousands of other patients. The author??s investigation into the dark roots of modern memory science ultimately forces him to confront unsettling secrets in his own family history?? and to reveal the tragedy that fueled his grandfather??s relentless experimentation?experimentation that would r