Patient H.M.
A Story of Memory, Madness and Family Secrets
Published on 11. August 2016
Book
Hardback
464 pages
978-0-7011-8713-2 (ISBN)
Description
In the summer of 1953 maverick neurosurgeon William Beecher Scoville performed a groundbreaking operation on a twenty-seven-year-old epileptic patient named Henry Molaison. The operation failed to eliminate Molaison's intractable seizures, but it did have an unintended effect: Henry was left profoundly amnesic, unable to create long term memories.The story of Patient H.M., as he came to be known, is the story of how we came to understand memory, and better understand ourselves.
Scoville's grandson, award-winning journalist Luke Dittrich, takes us on a journey through the history of neuroscience, from the first brain surgeries in ancient Egypt to the fraught debate between surgeons over lobotomy operations on the twentieth century; from the gleaming laboratory analysing Molaison's disembodied brain, to the archives of the decrepit New-England asylum where his grandfather first developed a taste for human experimentation.
Dittrich's compelling, kaleidoscopic investigation confronts unsettling secrets in his own family history, and reveals how the bright future of modern neuroscience has dark roots in the forgotten history of psychosurgery, raising ethical questions that echo into the present day.
Scoville's grandson, award-winning journalist Luke Dittrich, takes us on a journey through the history of neuroscience, from the first brain surgeries in ancient Egypt to the fraught debate between surgeons over lobotomy operations on the twentieth century; from the gleaming laboratory analysing Molaison's disembodied brain, to the archives of the decrepit New-England asylum where his grandfather first developed a taste for human experimentation.
Dittrich's compelling, kaleidoscopic investigation confronts unsettling secrets in his own family history, and reveals how the bright future of modern neuroscience has dark roots in the forgotten history of psychosurgery, raising ethical questions that echo into the present day.
Reviews / Votes
"A remarkable examination of how neuroscience works" * Economist, Books of the Year * "Luke Dittrich has achieved something remarkable in Patient H.M. This book succeeds on every level: as a fresh look at the most famous patient in medical history, as an expose of our dark history of psychiatry and neurosurgery, and, most powerfully, as a deeply personal investigation into the author's past. And yet, it's still a page-turner that reads like a thriller. It deserves a spot next to the great medical histories The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Ghost Map, and The Emperor of All Maladies." -- Susannah Calahan, author of Brain on Fire "In Patient H.M. Luke Dittrich explores the limits of science and the mind. In the process, he rescues an iconic life from oblivion... This is classic reporting and myth-making at the same time." -- Colum McCann "It felt as if I read this book in one breath. Patient H.M. is a fascinating, powerful investigation, a matroyshka doll of nested stories about the past and present, remembering and forgetting. Luke Dittrich's quest to understand the amnesiac patient who taught the world so much about memory - and ourselves - leads him to the shoals of his own family tragedy, and an ending that will break your heart. But it's his beautiful unfolding of the story, the art of his sentences and reportage, that you'll never forget." -- Michael Paterniti "Patient H.M. tells one of the most fascinating and disturbing stories in the annals of medicine, weaving in ethics, philosophy, a personal saga, the history of neurosurgery, the mysteries of human memory, and an exploration of human ego. Sweeping, meticulous, and seamless - with an ending that, like the best of scientific investigations, challenges everything that came before it. A monumental contribution to our understanding of medical research, and ourselves." -- Dr Sheri Fink, Pulitzer prize winnerMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
608 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7011-8713-2 (9780701187132)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Luke Dittrich has been working as a journalist since 1997, and his on-the-job experiences have included running a marathon in Antarctica and walking 340 miles along the United States/Mexico border. He is a contributing editor at Esquire, and his articles have appeared in a variety of anthologies, including Best American Crime Writing, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Science and Nature Writing. A story he wrote about the survivors of a devastating Missouri tornado won the 2012 National Magazine Award for feature writing. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and this is his first book.