The Perpetual Now: A Story of Amnesia, Memory, and Love
- ISBN-10
- 0385539673
- ISBN-13
- 9780385539678
- Category
- Science
- Pages
- 304
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2017-02-07
- Publisher
- Anchor
- Author
- Michael D. Lemonick
Description
In the aftermath of a shattering illness, Lonni Sue Johnson lives in a "perpetual now," where she has almost no memories of the past and a nearly complete inability to form new ones. The Perpetual Now is the moving story of this exceptional woman, and the groundbreaking revelations about memory, learning, and consciousness her unique case has uncovered. Lonni Sue Johnson was a renowned artist who regularly produced covers for The New Yorker, a gifted musician, a skilled amateur pilot, and a joyful presence to all who knew her. But in late 2007, she contracted encephalitis. The disease burned through her hippocampus like wildfire, leaving her severely amnesic, living in a present that rarely progresses beyond ten to fifteen minutes. Remarkably, she still retains much of the intellect and artistic skills from her previous life, but it's not at all clear how closely her consciousness resembles yours or mine. As such, Lonni Sue's story has become part of a much larger scientific narrative—one that is currently challenging traditional wisdom about how human memory and awareness are stored in the brain. In this probing, compassionate, and illuminating book, award-winning science journalist Michael D. Lemonick uses the unique drama of Lonni Sue Johnson's day-to-day life to give us a nuanced and intimate understanding of the science that lies at the very heart of human nature.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
The Perpetual Now
By Jerome J BourgaultThe Perpetual Now
-
The Age of Perpetual Light: Stories
By Josh WeilFrom the prize-winning author of The Great Glass Sea, these stories explore themes of progress, the pursuit of knowledge, and humankind’s eternal attempt to decrease the darkness in the world. “A rich, often dazzling collection of short ...
-
The Perpetual Now
By Tbd, Jerome J BourgaultFerguston, Ontario, is an angry little town full of dark secrets, a place where keeping your head down is never a bad idea.
-
The Perpetual Astonishment of Jonathon Fairfax
By Christopher ShevlinThis hilarious adventure, "by turns absurd and engaging" (Metro), stars lovable, girl-fearing Jonathon as he accidentally sets off a chain of events leading to murder and a government conspiracy - with a dream girl and a glamorous granny.
-
Light Perpetual: A Novel
By Francis SpuffordThis brilliantly constructed novel, inspired by real events, lets an alternative reel of time run, imagining the lives of these five souls as they live through the extraordinary, unimaginable changes of the bustling immensity of twentieth ...
-
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
By Mary RoachEngravings by Thomas Rowlandson and William Hogarth of eighteenth— and early—nineteenth—century dissecting rooms show cadavers' intestines hanging like parade streamers off the sides of tables, skulls bobbing in boiling pots, ...
-
The Myth of Perpetual Summer
By Susan CrandallFrom the national bestselling author of Whistling Past the Graveyard comes a moving coming-of-age tale set in the tumultuous sixties that harkens to both Ordinary Grace and The Secret Life of Bees.
-
The Perpetual Curate
By Mrs. OliphantReproduction of the original: The Perpetual Curate by Mrs. Oliphant
-
Perpetual Motion
By Arthur W. J. G. Ord-HumeIn fact, the basic tenets of engineering grew from the failures of these perpetual motion machine designers. This work offers an illustrated overview of perpetual motion machines and their inventors.
-
The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness: A Memoir
By Graham CaveneyRaised in a small town in the north of England known primarily for its cotton mills, football team, and its deep roots in the “Respectable Working Class,” Graham Caveney armed himself against the confusing nature of adolescence with a ...