{"product_id":"patient-h-m-book-luke-dittrich-9780812992731","title":"Patient H.M.","description":"\u003cb\u003eOliver 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks\u003c\/i\u003e comes a story that has much to teach us about our relentless pursuit of knowledge.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the PEN\/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award - \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times \u003c\/i\u003eBook Prize Winner\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post - New York Post - \u003c\/i\u003eNPR - \u003ci\u003eThe Economist - New York - Wired - Kirkus Reviews - BookPage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 1953, a twenty-seven-year-old factory worker named Henry Molaison--who suffered from severe epilepsy--received a radical new version of the then-common lobotomy, targeting the most mysterious structures in the brain. The operation failed to eliminate Henry's 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003ePatient H.M.\u003c\/i\u003e 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 revolutionize our understanding of ourselves. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Dittrich uses the case of Patient H.M. as a starting point for a kaleidoscopic journey, one that moves from the first recorded brain surgeries in ancient Egypt to the cutting-edge laboratories of MIT. He takes readers inside the old asylums and operating theaters where psychosurgeons, as they called themselves, conducted their human experiments, and behind the scenes of a bitter custody battle over the ownership of the most important brain in the world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003ePatient H.M.\u003c\/i\u003e combines the best of biography, memoir, and science journalism to create a haunting, endlessly fascinating story, one that reveals the wondrous and devastating things that can happen when hubris, ambition, and human imperfection collide. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003ePatient H.M.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn exciting, artful blend of family and medical history.\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn prose both elegant and intimate, and often thrilling, \u003ci\u003ePatient H.M.\u003c\/i\u003e is an important book about the wages not of sin but of science.\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Spellbinding . . . The fact that Dittrich looks critically at the actual process of scientific investigation is just one of the things to admire about \u003ci\u003ePatient H.M.\u003cb\u003e--The New York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eBook Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003ePatient H.M\u003c\/i\u003e. 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.\u003cb\u003e--Sheri Fink, M.D., Pulitzer Prize winner and author of \u003ci\u003eFive Days at Memorial\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This is classic reporting and myth-making at the same time.\u003cb\u003e--Colum McCann, author of \u003ci\u003eLet the Great World Spin \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e*\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":49854960009489,"sku":"CIN0812992733A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50058003677457,"sku":"GOR010657317","price":9.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50093965639953,"sku":"CIN0812992733G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50590670323985,"sku":"CIN0812992733VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51687848575249,"sku":"GOR008174533","price":6.3,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53146929561873,"sku":"GOR011705432","price":5.4,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0812992733.jpg?v=1751138758","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/patient-h-m-book-luke-dittrich-9780812992731","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}