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The Memory Thief: The Secrets Behind How We Remember—A Medical Mystery Kindle Edition

by Lauren Aguirre (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 111 ratings
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FINALIST FOR THE 2022 PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD

"Aguirre writes clearly, concisely, and often cinematically. The book succeeds in providing an accessible yet substantive look at memory science and offering glimpses of the often-challenging process of biomedical investigation.”—Science

Sometimes, it’s not the discovery that’s hard – it’s convincing others that you’re right. The Memory Thief chronicles an investigation into a rare and devastating amnesia first identified in a cluster of fentanyl overdose survivors. When a handful of doctors embark on a quest to find out exactly what happened to these marginalized victims, they encounter indifference and skepticism from the medical establishment.

But after many blind alleys and occasional strokes of good luck, they go on to prove that opioids can damage the hippocampus, a tiny brain region responsible for forming new memories. This discovery may have implications for millions of people around the world.

Through the prism of this fascinating story, Aguirre recounts the obstacles researchers so often confront when new ideas bump up against conventional wisdom. She explains the elegant tricks scientists use to tease out the fundamental mechanisms of memory. And finally, she reveals why researchers now believe that a treatment for Alzheimer’s is within reach.
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  1. Print length
    295 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Pegasus Books
  5. Publication date
    June 1, 2021
  6. File size
    7028 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Aguirre has a knack for explaining science in accessible detail. The blend of science and deeply felt humanity will leave readers thinking about this one long after they finish." (Publishers Weekly)

"The Memory Thief moves with the roller-coaster speed of a first-rate suspense novel while simultaneously offering a deeply compassionate and insightful look at our understanding of what makes and what breaks human memory. Kudos to Lauren Aguirre for a remarkable book." (Deborah Blum, best-selling author of The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century )

“Lauren Aguirre has crafted an intimate tale of sweeping importance, one that travels the mysterious pathways of the mind. This is a story of human frailty, heroic perseverance and, ultimately, hope. She gained the trust of all involved—the dogged researchers and the patients grasping at their fading memories. The result is a deeply reported, remarkable narrative.” (David Baron, author of AMERICAN ECLIPSE and THE BEAST IN THE GARDEN )

"The Memory Thief presents a frightening insight into the lives of the victims of sudden and debilitating memory loss. By intertwining their stories with those of the doctors and scientists trying to help them, Aguirre exposes the difficulties of researching radical ideas in a vastly complex medical world. Emerging from the stories is an engrossing overview of how memory works, and fails, offering invaluable lessons about what we can do to protect our own memories." (Lynne Kelly, author of THE MEMORY CODE and MEMORY CRAFT )

"Truly a masterful synthesis of a large and diverse body of research and clinical lore. Aguirre beautifully brings to life the people behind the research in this excellent and compelling story of medical discovery. I greatly enjoyed reading The Memory Thief." (Bradford C. Dickerson, director of the Frontotemporal Disorders Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital )

"An engaging, suspenseful portrait of medical sleuthing that uncovered secrets about how drugs of abuse can damage memory. It is historically rich and will be of interest to those who study the politics of, and barriers to, scientific advancement. It is a delightful and informative read." (Marc J. Kaufman, director of McLean Hospital’s Translational Neuroimaging Laboratory )

"Aguirre imbues descriptions of the book’s doctors, researchers, and patients with humanity. Because opioid use and Alzheimer’s disease are two subjects affecting large swaths of Americans, this is a fascinating window into the search of one scientist (with a lot of help) to connect the dots and make a difference." (Library Journal)

“The Memory Thief is extensively researched, and Aguirre writes clearly, concisely, and often cinematically. The book succeeds in providing an accessible yet substantive look at memory science and offering glimpses of the often-challenging process of biomedical investigation.” (Science)

About the Author

Lauren Aguirre is an award-winning science journalist who has produced documentaries, podcasts, short-form video series, interactive games, and blogs for the PBS series NOVA, where she worked after graduating from MIT. Aguirre’s reporting on memory has appeared in The Atlantic, Undark Magazine, and the Boston Globe’s STAT.

The research and writing of this book was supported in part by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08FK6GSRR
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pegasus Books (June 1, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 1, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7028 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 295 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1643136526
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 111 ratings

About the author

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Lauren Aguirre

Lauren Aguirre

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Lauren Aguirre is an award-winning science journalist who has produced documentaries, podcasts, short-form video series, interactive games, and blogs for the PBS series NOVA, where she worked after graduating from MIT. Aguirre’s reporting on memory has appeared in The Atlantic, Undark Magazine, and the Boston Globe’s STAT. This is her first book.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
111 global ratings
Non-fiction medical thriller will keep readers riveted
5 Stars
Non-fiction medical thriller will keep readers riveted
It is rare to find a non-fiction scientific or medical book that reads like a novel, but this is it. From the very first page to the last, I could not put it down. As my photo shows, I read it on a vacation at Cape Cod in two unseasonably warm days. But forget the pool and sunshine, I was on a mission to find out what happened to the fascinating characters who are interwoven with the science. Lauren Aguirre is a gifted writer who explains complicated medical and scientific research in a way that anyone can understand. I bought eight copies for friends and they have all had the same reaction--a must-read that you can't put down. Anyone who is interested in memory, how it is formed and how fragile it is will enjoy reading this book.
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Top reviews from the United States

Claude
5.0 out of 5 stars It is a great book I enjoyed with zero scientific knowledge.
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2024
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I enjoyed the mystery structure of “The Memory Thief.” Beware, by moments, one can forget it is not fiction.

Lauren Aguirre wrote the medical content so clearly that I followed and understood everything.

More importantly, I have been invested in, associated with, and concerned for every character, touched by their humanity, no matter who they were or their occupation: patients, families, or doctors-researchers.

Lauren Aguirre dived with compassion and intelligence into a world where I knew nothing more than what the media revealed, i.e., very little.

This page-turner ended too soon. And I wish I knew what happened since. Yet, I dare hope because the author, patients, and researchers persist. They want to understand and find a cure. They are resilient and perspire an outstanding and inspiring tenacity.

To consume and spread without moderation.
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Peter Tyson
5.0 out of 5 stars As Riveting as "House" but Real and Urgent
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2021
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This book is a tour de force of investigative journalism. It draws you right at the prologue, which opens with the devastating story of Owen Rivers, in the hospital after an overdose, offering the surprising revelation that he was ecstatic when he thought he might have cancer, which would have given him the excuse to use again. Then the wind-up: “He believes that he’s wasted his life, but he hasn’t. Out of his tragedy the faintest glimmer of hope will emerge, a way, perhaps, to catch an elusive memory thief.”

Owen comes across as a hero. He's lost 10% of his hippocampus after one unfortunate overdose, making it extremely difficult to form memories as simple as what he decided just minutes ago he would do next. So helping the researchers isn’t likely to help him much but could well help advance our understanding of this newly revealed syndrome (officially called opioid-associated amnestic syndrome) but also perhaps that great horror, Alzheimer’s.

The whole fentanyl crisis is so tragic. While reading this book, I read a piece in the Times about how cocaine laced with fentanyl killed six people on Long Island — it’s not just heroin that’s being laced with fentanyl. I was astonished to learn how powerful fentanyl is: 50 times more potent than heroin and 100-200 times as potent as morphine. And what a tragic irony that what anesthesiologists use safely all the time in surgeries should wreak such havoc on the streets.

Good for Aguirre for bringing this little corner of the opioid crisis to the fore. As she notes, “the syndrome affects stigmatized, marginalized people. If children were affected, it would be different.” It’s amazing when you first learn, as I did in a Michael Pollan article in the Times, that the majority of heroin users don’t get addicted, and that it’s all the other circumstances and burdens and abuse that such marginalized people face that contribute to addiction. It’s important, as the author notes, to label addiction substance *use* disorder and leave out *abuse*.

Altogether, while reading this book I felt like I was watching “House.” I don’t read often about medicine or medical research, so I learned a great deal. Of most interest to me was learning about the basic functioning of the brain. I picked up new terms, like electroceuticals, and cool facts like the brain has 86 billion neurons and that other animals don’t develop Parkinson’s, and that you don’t say “severely amnesic” but “densely amnesic.” Also interesting notions like memory isn’t about the past but the future, and that there might be cells that track the flow of time.

In sum, I highly recommend this book. Aguirre leads you on a rich intellectual and emotional journey that couldn’t be more timely.
7 people found this helpful
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GameGal
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2021
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This is simply a really good read! It is so superbly written, I had to keep reminding myself that it was all true. It often felt like a first class mystery novel with compelling characters and completely unexpected twists and turns. But this mystery novel is very real, and you walk away with so much understanding about how the human brain works, about how memory works, about how medicine works, and about how scientific research works. The reader is introduced to a small but dedicated group of researchers who work tirelessly to finally provide the dignity of a diagnosis to people who have long had no idea what happened to them.
"The Memory Thief" takes us to the surprising intersection of drug addiction and medical breakthrough. Lauren Aguirre offers a deeply compassionate, but unflinching look at the agony of drug abuse through a group of people whose brains were broken by an unintended overdose of opioids. There will be no miracle cure for them. But this story is not without hope. The kind of hope that could profoundly benefit all of humankind. As it turns out, the experience of these drug users provides a critically important key that could unlock the secrets of devastating dementias, including Alzheimer’s Disease, that have robbed probably hundreds of millions of people of their memories, their identities, and ultimately, their lives.
It’s a complex story, but an easy read … and worth every minute of your time.
10 people found this helpful
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blindwaffle
5.0 out of 5 stars Close your jaw because it's going to be open throughout the book
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2023
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The last time I stayed up for 18 hours straight reading a book I couldn't finish was in 1992, when I couldn't put a Sidney Sheldon novel down. This book beat Sidney by a whole lot. It captivated me, scared me, excited me and instigated me all at the same time. A great read. Infact, an amazing read. One of the best books I've read in my life.
One person found this helpful
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imagine
4.0 out of 5 stars The Memory Thief is an engaging and fascinating read!
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2021
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The Memory Thief is an engaging and fascinating read into the often baffling, sometimes tedious journey into the research behind the nature of the brain and memory. I was not expecting this very personal ‘medical mystery’ unfolding into a page turner as Aquirre meticulously reconstructs events from the many interviews with doctors, clinians, patients, and their families. The latter being the casualties who make it possible for neurologists like Jed Barash, one of the main characters, and others to begin to chart a course.

As someone who knows survivors still battling the effects of opiates, and the loss of members of my immediate family to Alzheimers, I am personally grateful to all those involved in this medical odyssey as we go along on this quest to explore and catch a glimpse into the elusive memory thief . . .
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jacques Demaël
5.0 out of 5 stars A singular journey at the cross road of day to day medicine and advance research / intuition
Reviewed in France on November 5, 2021
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I found this book extremely well written and structured. I followed with pleasure, and must admit excitement, the human and scientific intuitions, journeys, high and lows. It is particularly good at illustrating how funding on disruptive ideas still remain, at least in public health. I understand that the book had to be published, probably due to COVID deadlines, but I am eager to read the sequel. I am also convinced that it could trigger a few STEM students to elect that domain for their early career.
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Louvet Anne-Claire
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating book
Reviewed in France on November 1, 2021
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I really enjoyed reading the book. I found it easy to read despite the complex themes covered. There was a real pull in the book; I really wanted to find out how the main characters would find their way. In addition, the book gave me some insight on how memory works. Il also gave me some background information to have documented discussions with my teenagers who believe nothing can happen to them, no matter what they do or take.
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