Can't Remember What I Forgot Lib/E: The Good News from the Frontlines of Memory Research

by Sue Halpern, Cassandra Campbell (Reader)

An essential behind-the-scenes foray into the world of cutting-edge memory research that unveils findings about memory loss only now available to general readers.


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 researching Can’t Remember What I Forgot , part of which appeared in The New Yorker , that Halpern had her head examined, nor would it be the last.

Halpern spent years in the company of the neuroscientists, pharmacologists, psychologists, nutritionists, and inventors who are hunting for the genes and molecules, the drugs and foods, the machines, the prosthetics, the behaviors and therapies that will stave off Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia and keep our minds–and memories–intact. Like many of us who have had a relative or friend succumb to memory loss, who are getting older, who are hearing statistics about our own chances of falling victim to dementia, who worry that each lapse of memory portends disease, Halpern wanted to find out what the experts really knew, what the bench scientists were working on, 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 Forgot is a book full of vital information–and a solid dose of hope.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Medical, Medicine, Psychology, Health, Mental Health

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Sue Halpern lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont where she writes books and articles, consorts with her husband, the writer and activist Bill McKibben, looks forward to visits from their wonderful daughter Sophie, plays with their remarkably enthusiastic dog, and introduces Middlebury College students to digital audio storytelling. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and Rhodes Scholar with a doctorate from Oxford, the author of a book that was made an Emmy-nominated film as well as six others that weren’t, one-half of a therapy dog team, a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, and a major supporter of the ice cream industry.

(from her website)

Reviews

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I could boil down this entire book into one recommendation, it would be: Exercise.

Moderate exercise (cardio rather than stretching and toning) improves memory, triggers production of new brain cells, and reoxygenates the blood. It doesn't cure Alzheimer's, depression, Parkinson's, or dementia, but it increases the amount of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) circulating in the brain, and those four illnesses all include low levels of BDNF.

Blueberries? They’re great . . . if you’re a rat. A blueberry-rich diet has had positive effects in lab rats, but no memory-related effects have been detected in human subjects.

Crossword puzzles? They won’t do you any harm, and eventually you’ll get really good at them. But they don’t seem to have any protective effect against memory problems. According to one study, ballroom dancing may have an effect—perhaps because of the cardio workout and the complex spatial intelligence that a good ballroom dancer needs.

This book is an appealing and even entertaining review of research into memory disorders.

“Memory, it turns out, is an expert storyteller. If there is a context, it fills in the blanks. If there is no plot, it suggests one. This is because human memory does not record in real time; it is not an archive; it functions neither as hard disk or flash drive. Memories reside in the brain in chemical traces.”

Okay, I’m going to go take a walk now. :-)

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's an excellent magazine series or perhaps a chapter in an edited book on neuroscience for the general public trying to get out from this poorly edited, overlong book. It weighs in at 228 pages, and if you subtracted all the:

(a) uninteresting, obvious analyses (memorizing a long string of numbers doesn't mean you're good at math. Memorizing long poems for a contest doesn't mean you're a good writer)

(b) boring, overly detailed anecdotes (I went to interview this memory researcher, and we talked over lunch in the cafeteria; he ate falafel; his office was a mess of papers and books).......

it would be about 60 to 80 pages of content.

too bad, because buried amidst the details of her taking the elevator up to get an fMRI done and what not, there is some useful info about progress in Alzheimer's disease research. It's not the author's fault that the story ends inconclusively, but she certainly could have boiled it way down.

She also could have settled on an organizational scheme for the material. Aside from the last several pages of summary, the rest of the book could have been randomly re-ordered without making any less sense.

All in all, a disappointment. I gather from the jacket material that she's a successful author, and memory research is a worthy subject to tackle, but the result wasn't great.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't really remember what this book was about . . . Some days I feel like I'm lucky to remember my own name.

Actually this is a very good book on the current research in memory. Sue Halpern decided to find out about this field by looking her own memory, and to do this, she interviewed many of the top people in memory research and had various kinds of brain scans and tests. She visited the labs at the Mars candy headquarters where they said they were looking into the chemical properties of foods which had an effect on brain function and attended the Eighth Annual United States Memory Championships to see the goings-on there. I think what she discovered is best summed up in the words of Dr. Scott Small from Columbia University's Neurological Institute, whom she quoted: "We are really getting at the core defects of both Alzheimer's and age-related memory loss. To understand something to the point of being able to fix it you have to get down to the molecular level. And that's where we're at. The goal is to take a person with mild forgetfulness and prevent him or her from developing dementia. If we could do that, it would be an incredible success. We've entered the era where that's plausible to predict. My optimism speaks to that." (p.228)

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm interested in the topic and found much of this interesting.

Unfortunately, this was not a very good book for explaining to a non-science person the research she discusses - although this appears to be billed as a book of general interest, the discussion of the various scientific principles, studies, etc., were not very well explained.

The second problem was that there was no overall picture - chapter after chapter discussed various scientific theories and studies working on those theories, but I didn't wind up with any sort of overall picture of what is actually the current state of affairs - and I didn't wind up with any feeling that I had been told any "good news" - unless it's just that lots of organizations are doing lots of studies.

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's a summary of this 272 page books:
* Research is inconclusive. Maybe you should exercise and eat healthy and take supplements, or maybe not.
* Better yet, try to be born with good genes.

It's pretty telling when a book can be accurately summed up in two bullet points. This book could have easily been a one page article, and even then it would have included quite a deal of padding. I didn't get the impression that the author understood a lot of the science she was talking about, which is why it came across as so shallow.

[Al Maki]

Published in 2008, it's an account of the state of knowledge of memory loss at that time. It's a good piece of science writing in several ways. It does a good job of presenting the scientific issues from a number of points of view: anatomical, neurological, chemical. It also captures the concerns of the sufferers, both the actual losses some people experience as well as the anxiety about potential loss that I see in most people over fifty. It's also very good at presenting the difficulty of developing a scientific understanding of a problem.
Fascinating science writing.

[Shawn Jorgenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle on this book is all wrong. Maybe “the struggle for a cure to our fading memory“ would have been more apt.

I really enjoyed the book for what it was, not what the subtitle promised. This is a story about the many too-good-to-be-true substances, programs, and studies that over promise and under deliver.

The writing style made the story enjoyable even when the end was a lackluster finding that exercise and good diet is one of the best tools we have, and maybe this time a causative agent has been found, but there the story ends. TBC…?

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrative is killing me. I could do without the long descriptions of her taking neuropsych tests and do with just the research. I'm not a fan of intense skimming. I agree with another reviewer. This needed to be edited. It is a long article or chapter, not a book. All that said, it contains some cool information on new findings in AD research.

[William Schram · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is mediocre. I mean that in the literal sense. I suppose some might see that as having a negative connotation. Perhaps it would be better to call it average.

First, a little backstory; my grandmother had Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease and died before I was born. This is something that worries me. I suppose it shows in all the different memory books that I have. It isn't a subject that keeps me awake at night, though.

Can't Remember What I Forgot is a book that covers Sue Halpern's worries about basic memory issues. She has some precedent for worry since her father had a type of dementia before he died. The book is very well written. Halpern goes through several channels to find that she is completely normal. She has MRI scans done so often that she has it down to a science.

Her musings and meanderings on this subject become silly. She attends a Daniel Amen seminar, eats blueberries, and drinks tea to consume more flavonoids. She talks about genetics and what it tells us about Alzheimer's Disease. She goes deep into the rabbit hole with the subject of memory loss.

Halpern ends on a positive note. I have read most of the stories and ideas presented in this volume before.

[Allison Joyner Bizama · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really think everybody should read this book... It was published back in 2009, but it's still a fascinating read. I loved the neuroscience portions.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The author name drops and talks about Yaakov Stern (research on cognitive reserve), Scott Small (research on retromer theory), Michael Merzenich (research on neural plasticity), Ted Berger (research on role of entorhinal cortex in Alzheimer's), etc. Neuroscience is for everybody, and knowing more about the brain gives us key insight into how we can take better care of ourselves and our loved ones.

Some key practical takeaways are the importance of aerobic exercise for neurogenesis, and the importance of our nutrition for brain and body health!

Flavinoids have been shown to be anti-inflammatory, among other things. This is the reason doctors recommend consumption of cocoa, berries, red wine, green tea, walnuts, onions, etc.

"Cocoa can improve blood flow to the brain and kidneys, relaxing blood vessels leading to and from the heart." ~p.159

If you can get your hands on a copy, give it a try. The author makes the most technical garble intelligible and fun to read. 💘💖

[shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally finished the book, but now I can not remember the details.

Basically, the book is about how memory works, and how AD and dementia disrupt the memory process. What I learned from the book is that memory is not like information stored in a usb stick or hard drive, but rather stored in different parts of the brain. As we age, we go back and replay these memories, adding and removing bits, editing as our perspective change.

It helps when we record our experience, then we can go back and revisit these memories as they are filed in its original version.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was interesting, albeit outdated. I probably would have enjoyed it more had I read it shortly after publication but reading it years later I simply felt like there was too much that had been discovered in the intervening years and the book didn't age well.

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay book, not stellar, not terrible. Halpern talks a lot about the research and pharma on memory, brain exercise, and Alzheimer's Disease particularly. Some of it is super interesting, some of it is, honestly, kind of drivel.

[Milt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I've read this book before.

[Lawanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook performed by Cassandra Campbell

[Diana Mielecki · Rating 1 out of 5]

It takes Halpern six pages to present one take away; there are, however, take aways if you can endure.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. I just could not make heads or tails of the brain chemistry, the pharmaceutical chemistry, or anything else about this book. At this point it's probably somewhat out of date anyway, though..

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really didn’t keep my attention.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and informative look at research and studies about dementia / Alzheimer’s. Glad to know I’m doing 2 of the three best things to lower the risks — exercise and healthy diet, but the ballroom dancing has not yet been tried!

[Cricket Muse · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who like their science delivered in friendly, anecdotal ala Malcolm Gladwell style, then Halpern’s book about the timely topic of memory loss, as in preventing dementia or finding a cure for Alzheimer’s is a read to consider.
The first two-thirds is primarily research driven, who is doing what and they results. If you hang with it and get to chapters seven, eight, nine, you get the payoff: learning what does help (aerobic exercise); discovering what might have been helpful isn’t that helpful (doing crosswords puzzles basically means you get better at doing crossword puzzles); and blueberries really are helpful.
The main problem is this book is now twelve years in the past. This leaves the question of what happened to all those exciting cutting edge almost ready discoveries—shouldn’t the problem of memory loss be solved by now?
Oh right, I just remembered something from the book—as we age memory loss is inevitable. I keep forgetting that.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halpern spends a lot of time describing the personalities and ambitions of memory researchers (and their biomedical companies), explaining what scientists consider to be "real science," and expressing her own anxieties about her own neurological makeup. She spends less time (less time than I would like) telling me about memory and the brain. She gives the impression that everyone who could tell me something about these things has a patent or is under contract or is in the process of developing something hush-hush that will be ready "in five years" or is selling "snake oil." But that's not so. Read Sacks and Damasio instead.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

My neighbour was giving this away and didn't have much to say about it. I have been picking it up from time to time and must admit to skimming. It was interesting to see some of the research that is being done, but she went into too much detail for the layperson. I didn't worry about missing details, because research changes so fast and this book is 5 years old. However,like Halpern, I wondered if forgetting things leads, inevitably, to dementia (her Dad had it, my Mom). The simple answer seems to be that, as we age, we start to forget, but we are not doomed to that fate and there are things we can do to help day-to-day memory.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Happy is the writer who can transform needless fretting about health into a book contract. If I chanced to wonder if doing Sudoku regularly would delay the onset of Alzheimer's, it just wouldn't occur to me to ask a leading research neurologist at a major university. That's why I read this book but didn't write it.

This book was published in 2008. If you are interested in how research into one of the topics mentioned in it has progressed since then, read the following

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-1277...

[Kiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't quite realize (when I took note of this book at the bookstore) that it was really about the state of the art in alzheimer's research. I took the "frontlines of memory research" part seriously and expected some stuff about non-pathogenic memory. Nevertheless it was an informative book and one I'd recommend to anyone with concerns about Alzheimer's memory loss; there are things one can do, and there are treatments on the horizon.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halpern provides a really comprehensive look at the latest research--and marketing--related to memory. The science is quite readable and I appreciated her humor. At times I wanted her to draw more substantial conclusions, but one of the things she keeps pointing out in the book is that we know very little about how memory works, so maybe I expected too much.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book while in graduate school, earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. At the time, I was still learning about disorders such as dementia, and I found the vast array of information presented about denentia research and treatment to be fascinating. Now that I've completed my Ph.D. (and even received some training in neuropsychology), I wonder how this book would read.

[Jim Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those of us who are already old, and getting still older. And who are not as sharp as we once thought we were. And are deathly afraid of Alzheimer's. But don't read reports about science easily. - This is a good book, even if all she can offer is the hope that we're getting closer to a solution. Plus Halpern writes well.

[Jean Cipolla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with much of what's been said here = that the book could have been edited down quite a bit, that some of the material is old now, but I still found it interesting (especially as the caregiver for and daughter of an Alzheimer's patient). So - if you don't feel like reading a whole book, listen to it on tape...otherwise, it's not dry and dull...

[Sabin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book a very good introduction to recent developments in neuroscience with an emphasis on memory research and disease prevention. The author has an engaging style and is easy to follow and empathise with. She shares not only research data and information gathered from interviews, but also her hopes, doubts and anxieties.

[Pierre · Rating 4 out of 5]

A survey of the state of the art ca 2000..2007. Can be used as a starting point to search for the current state.

At a certain (my) age, impaired is the new normal; get over it. Get a pill? Not yet. A diet? Maybe. Exercise? Yes! But this applies to age-related decline, not AD.

A broader view than (refers briefly to) the story in https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...