Can't Remember What I Forgot Your Memory, Your Mind, Your Future

When Sue Halpern decided to emulate the First 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 "hot" that leaving through the front door of the lab would trigger the alarm. This was not the First time while researchingCan't Remember What I Forgotthat Halpern had her head examined, nor would it be the last. Like many of us who have had a relative or friend succumb to memory loss, who are getting older, and who are hearing statistics about our own chances of falling victim to dementia, Halpern wanted to Find out what the experts really knew, how close science is to a cure, to treatment, to accurate early diagnosis, and, of course, whether the crossword puzzles, sudokus, and ballroom dancing we've been told to take up can really keep us lucid or if they're just something to do before the inevitable overtakes us. Beautifully written, sharply observed, and deeply informed,Can't Remember What I Forgotis a book full of vital information and a solid dose of hope. "Informative, beautifully written, and hard to put down, this is a book you have to remember not to forget to buy." Julia Alvarez

SUE HALPERN received her doctorate from Oxford University in 1985 and first began teaching at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is the author of Four Wings and a Prayer, Migrations to Solitude, and two books of fiction. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Condé Nast Traveler, and The New York Review of Books, among other publications. She lives in Ripton, Vermont, with her husband, writer Bill McKibben, and their daughter, Sophie, and is a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College.


From the Hardcover edition.