101 Theory Drive: A Neuroscientist's Quest for Memory

by Terry McDermott, Stephen Hoye (Narrator)

It's not fiction: Gary Lynch is the real thing, the epitome of the rebel scientist—malnourished, contentious, inspiring, explosive, remarkably ambitious, consistently brilliant. He is one of the foremost figures of contemporary neuroscience, and his decades-long quest to understand the inner workings of the brain's memory machine has begun to pay off.

Award-winning journalist Terry McDermott spent nearly two years observing Lynch at work and now gives us a fascinating and dramatic account of daily life in Lynch's lab—the highs and lows, the drudgery and eureka moments, the agonizing failures. He provides detailed, lucid explanations of the cutting-edge science that enabled Lynch to reveal the inner workings of the molecular machine that manufactures memory. And he explains where Lynch's sights are now set: on drugs that could fix that machine when it breaks, drugs that would enhance brain function during the memory process and that hold out the possibility of cures for a wide range of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Here is an essential story of science, scientists, and scientific achievement—galvanizing in the telling and thrilling in its far-reaching implications.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Psychology, Brain, Biography, Biology, Neuroscience

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Terry McDermott is the author of Perfect Soldiers (HarperCollins, 2005), and 101 Theory Drive (Pantheon, 2010). His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Smithsonian, Columbia Journalism Review, the Los Angeles Times Magazine and Pacific Magazine. McDermott worked at eight newspapers for more than thirty years, most recently for ten years at the Los Angeles Times, where he was a national correspondent.

Reviews

[Kent Winward · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best neuroscience related books I've read, largely because it clarifies in ways rarely done, just how very little we understand about the brain and how it operates. (We don't have memory chips and no one is quite sure how we remember things. And no one really wants to write or read books about what we don't know. ) Each advance is only climbing a ridge to see an even more distant and vast expanse. Meanwhile, the economics drives the scientists to cooperate with pharmaceutical companies to create drugs from each speck of light that might peak through on some type of theory on how our brains actually work. Not encouraging if you are looking for neurological breakthroughs, but enlightening.

[Peter Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in the science of "memory," this is a great book.

Author follows the research of UC Irvine, neuroscientist Gary Lynch for years as his group makes discovery after discovery.

Gary Lynch is an aggressive, arrogant genius.

That is actually common.

When I was at Stanford and Harvard, I met some geniuses that were like that.

They are a lot of fun. Some people don't like them because they are nonconformist. But is part of their nonconformity that motivates them to pursue new scientific ideas.

Gary Lynch has lots of clever, funny quotes. The discoveries on the path to understanding long term potentiation and long term memory are discussed in considerable entertaining detail.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the amazing tale of Gary Lynch, am obsessive, driven, Scotch-loving neuroscientist at UC-Irvine. His lab studies memory and, apparently, has made important discoveries. This book covers his research into long-term potentiation in memory; a persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity. It is both exciting and some-what disheartening to learn of the awesome potential of human memory identified in intracellular calcium transients left over from primitive olfactory evolution. This science history work seems to fit along with theoretical physics advances where the actual underpinnings are more complex than expected (the hippocampus directing memory tasks to various brain areas), the "there" there being so seemingly insignificant (phosphorylation; a chemical reaction in which a small phosphate group is added to another molecule to change that molecule's activity).

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

101 Theory Drive was a genuinely enjoyable experience. Though I must admit that much of it was over my head, the author did a good job of making the information - scientific and otherwise - attainable, and packed in a good deal of character development from a personal and interactive level. The feeling of joining these scientists on their quest for memory is tangible in the pages, and more than one reader will be surprised to see the personalities behind the lab coats, as they deviate greatly from what has grown to be the perceived standard for scientists across the country. Their rebel attitudes and odd lifestyles greatly enhance the experience. I only wish I could remember more of it.

[Leif Denti · Rating 3 out of 5]

We follow the excentric scientist Gary Lynch and his work on the mechanisms of memory. Continuously throughout the book we are being told that his work is resisted by other scientists, but the book portrays Lynch as the misunderstood hero rather than actually showing the counter-arguments by other scientists. Thus I felt that the book was a bit biased toward Lynch's line of work and I could never really figure out whether or not his work was/is valuable.

[Ferb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obligatorio para el estudiante de neurociencias e impactante para aquellos interesados en la memoria y en su funcionamiento a nivel biológico. Además, amplía sobre aquello alrededor de la ciencia: deberes administrativos, búsqueda de financiamiento, la constante interacción con la incertidumbre, una feroz competencia y la posibilidad de encontrarte con personalidades extravagantes.
Lo volvería a leer.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit crass and rambling, and altogether fun.

[Eric Bengtson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book a 3.5 if possible, but 4 seems too high. I don’t like the character but the depth of science is pretty good.

[Eubond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome insider view of a twenty-year research program that changed our understanding of memory. Much more interesting than it may sound! Well-written!

[rabbitprincess · Rating 4 out of 5]

An illuminating look at one scientist's decades-long quest to find the actual physical indication of memory in the brain. It's written relatively clearly, but you have to sit down with it for extended periods of time if you want to engage the theta rhythm and activate long-term potentiation (LTP), both of which are discussed in this book, thereby retaining what you learn from its pages.

The titular neuroscientist, Gary Lynch, is a colourful character. He came to neuroscience from a completely different academic background and essentially taught himself biology. His lab is filled with a multidisciplinary team that I think really brings home the benefits of having a wide-ranging education. For example, one of the lab members was a computer programmer before turning to neuroscience. Later on, the team needed a computer program to sort through mounds and mounds of data on rat hippocampi, and commercially available software wasn't cutting it, so this guy wrote his own program to do the job. Very impressive, not to mention handy.

The team's successes and failures are interesting to read about, and you really appreciate just how much work goes into all of those experiments, and how gratifying it is to see one's experiments turn out successfully. Even so, the scientists of Lynch Lab are very pragmatic, usually refusing to believe what they see until they've repeated the experiment umpteen times. Because their goal is to be able to point at a spot in the brain and say, "There. That's memory," they don't want to get carried away with themselves and pin too much false hope on a result.

One of the most fascinating things I learned from this book was that the brain has a built-in forgetting process that erases most of what you experience. Makes sense, because you don't want to remember literally every single detail of every single day. If you did, and the Lynch team were able to make all of those memories physically visible in your cerebral cortex, it would look like the synapse version of the show "Hoarders". So essentially what the researchers have discovered is that aging and the memory decline associated therewith is basically the forgetting process being stronger than LTP, so they just need to find a way to block the forgetting process and/or boost the remembering process, and they'll have made great strides in the fight against Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and other cognitive decline diseases. There are even diseases that don't necessarily have a cognitive component but exhibit the same problems with LTP.

I've also learned that memory research is a cruel mistress, especially for the poor rats sacrificed to the cause... the image of a headless rat twitching in a garbage can is rather horrifying. So if you're an animal lover, be warned. The description doesn't really go beyond that; it's just more thinking about the sheer number of rats that have been killed over the years for these studies.

As I stated earlier, this book is fairly accessible, and the author draws some very clever comparisons (e.g. that humans are PCs... see Chapter 13) and uses other common subjects such as baseball to illustrate the memory concepts at work. The book also includes a glossary of terms and a selected bibliography of the actual papers if you're interested. I would recommend this book to well-informed laymen and those with a specialized interest in this kind of field.

[Dav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating biography of an unusual scientist, Gary Lynch. I happen to know a few neuroscientists and the most curious things about reading this was how much certain portions of his personality reminded me of them and how none of them had ever heard of him. The latter is odd because if this book is to be believed, Lynch is perhaps the greatest neuroscientist of our times (easier to say if you consider his arch-nemesis (not really) Eric Kandel to be of a previous time, which he kind of is).

I learned a lot about the physiology of the brain from this book, more so than my previous favorite book about the brain, On Intelligence, which presented a great theory of how intelligence works, but more of a software engineering description than a biological/chemical description. In this book we not only get down into the nitty gritty of cellular and molecular interaction, but we get to ride along with the scientists as they make the discoveries themselves.

I'm not sure what to make of this book really. I have to admit I'm seduced by the character of Lynch. He's a Delillo/Pynchon-reading hard-partying but hard-working in-your-face autodidact with a disdain for Ivy Leaguers who tends to be always right in the face of constant doubt and bad luck. If I were going to be a scientist, I'd never be any better than that and wouldn't care to be. So the fact that my neuroscientist friends haven't heard of him makes me wonder if it's all just a tale spun by an entertaining author.

I'm going to get one of them to read it and let me know, so I'll update this review then.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an incredibly dense book and not one suitable for audio, at least for me. While it says it is a biography of Gary Lynch, noted neuroscientist, it is just as much a biography of his life's work. Which, I guess in a case like this, makes a lot of sense. Problem is, I am not a scientist, let alone anything to do with neuroscience, so much of the science stuff went way over my head. I got some of it, but I think going into this book it would help immensely to have a background in the field, at least remotely. It's not like a science journal essay, but some of it does get about as dry as a textbook.
I did enjoy some of the writing about Lynch himself, along with the others in his lab and field of study. He has done some pretty amazing work. His character is quite a mad genius, which keeps it fairly interesting.
I also enjoyed some of the look into how the politics of the field of science works. Everything from working with the university to getting their papers published in peer-reviewed journals. So much backstabbing and fights. I can see how someone like Lynch would get immensely frustrated.
The final lines were spot on, how the narrator mentions that he just will never see the end. There is always more to discover, learn, and study.
I may have gotten more from a paper version, but not that much. It probably doesn't help when I listen to a slightly sped up narration, but the narrator was good for the most part.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. Accessible for a non-scientist, but not always easy reading: it takes some concentration sometimes to understand the scientific concepts. The "main character" is definitely a character: a sometimes renegade scientist who goes his own way, bound and determined to find something he is sure is there, when everyone else in the scientific community thinks he's crazy. But 30 years of dogged determination pay off, and he makes some significant finds. The author does a great job bringing out Gary Lynch's personality, giving an overview of the science over the past few decades, and explaining what Lynch has been doing to move the science forward. Again, can take a little brain power to focus, but McDermott strikes a good balance in writing the book.

Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/nonfiction-boo...

[Bookmarks Magazine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though 101 Theory Drive covers a significantly different terrain from that in McDermott's 2005 account of the 9/11 hijackers, the critics proclaimed his latest book a riveting "joy ride" (Oregonian)--a rollicking behind-the-scenes tour of modern science, including its egos, contentious debates, funding disasters, and extraordinary advancements. The story centers on science, and McDermott, with his crisp prose and clear explanations, skillfully guides readers through this technical but always enjoyable tale. However, the true star of 101 Theory Drive is the hard-drinking, foul-mouthed Lynch, whom McDermott clearly admires. Lynch's enthusiasm for his work is infectious, and readers will find much to admire in this riveting, thought-provoking testament to science and its devotees. This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Andres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely engaging book about one scientist's 30 year quest (and counting) to understand how the brain forms memories. This is a great book not only on this particular subject, but a great primer on how scientific discoveries in general are made: step by gradual step. It shows how tedious day to day experiments can be, but also how necessary it is in order to benefit from the slow build up of the accumulated knowledge.

As well, the book shows how much is unknown when it comes to the brain and that most of what is considered fact is merely everyone's best guess with the available information (or lack thereof). Regardless of what may or may not be true of the discoveries in this book, I learned a lot and look forward to reading more about this subject.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was great for insights into both neural biology and the structures of memory in mammalian brains, and also into the real-world politics of western science... its strengths and some shockingly petty weaknesses.

If you like your science stories with plenty of vernacular of the Anglo-Saxon variety (seems to have had a quota for the word fuck), then this is the book for you.

Actually, I do recommend it. It's one of those things that is a little surprising to realize how little we know about the mechanics of memory and thought in the brain. This will give you plenty to think about (no pun intended)

[Paul Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

How does memory work? Follow a rock star of sorts in the field. A really fun read that puts you in the middle of Research Laboratory work/life over many years. This book coherently keeps the thread going, never revealing too much, but always peaking the reader's interest. You learn gaining traction in research isn't always about the best idea or even solid results... it becomes very political. Push boundaries, but you can't go too far or you're crazy. Collaborate to some degree but compete to be the first to the prize. This book made me respect the perseverance required to keep refining your theories and to piece the story together.

[Sabin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fact that I did not have any knowledge of the biology or chemistry of the brain beyond what I learned in high-school (if that), I found it an interesting and informing book. The book presents neuroscience, its research paradigms and follows the work of Gary Lynch through almost 50 years of research and a one-sided quest to discover the mechanics of memory.
The information is valuable beyond doubt, but I found the author's style at times a bit overly-dramatic. However, I now believe that the cause may have been the influence of Lynch, a very passionate scientist and an explosive personality.

[Quinndara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book by Terry McDermott that details Gary Lynch's lab over the past 30 years toward discovering the physiological basis of memory. I gave it 5 stars because I felt I understood (nearly) every word/description of Lynch's effort to find evidence to prove his ideas about LTP--long term potentiation--the strengthening of connections between brain cells that occurs when they communicate. I enjoyed reading about the people who worked in the lab, their efforts, discoveries, personalities, and about Gary Lynch's way of understanding and conceptualizing the task. Good writing and an informative and interesting read. I'm glad to have read it.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I understood maybe 1/10th of the science, but after the first chapter, "understanding the science" was no longer my priority--which instead became compulsively devouring the 3-decade-plus story of what it's like to work week in and week out in the same lab on the same problem, trying to stay on the cutting edge of research while the scientific and academic and corporate worlds are all whirling around you. Excellent. And if you have any interest in cognition, memory, and the brain, the science is pretty compelling as well.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful science writing, excellent descriptions and use of humor. This isn't a book to listen to while doing something else -- it needs your full attention. I kept wanting to take notes!
Great primer for the novice and great review for the experienced -- especially those who find themselves teaching complicated neuro science in lay terms.
It is also an up-close-and-personal look at the difficulties of bio-research, the FDA and the personalities involved in neuro-reseach. Well written, well narrated. Stephen Hoye was the perfect choice for this one

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this 5 stars because i think it's a great recommendation for people interested in neuroscience. McDermott tracks Gary Lyynch's researach journey of 30 years trying to nail down LTP. But what I found most eyeopening were the insights into the science/industry of neuroscience. I also learned how imprecise the science of interpreting the meaning of laboratory findings. Overall, it gave me a much better perspective on interpreting the almost weekly "new discoveries" in the field(s) of neuroscience.

[Donald Plugge · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insight into Gary Lynch's search for memory or the correlates of memory or "The Thing Itself" or the "N Gram". McDermott does his own scientific investigation of a scientific investigator. He actually joins the neurological lab run by Gary Lynch and shadows his day to day hunt for memory.

Read this and the book "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins and you'll have a good layman's overview of the neurology of the brain. A good on-going source of current neurological ideas is the http://www.brainsciencepodcast.com

dgp

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not being a scientist, or specifically a neuro-scientist, parts of this book got very dense in the descriptions of the processes in the brain of how memory happens, or at least the experiments to study it. There was a lot of interesting aspects of this book - some of the people in Lynch's lab and some of the broader aspects of the research - that kept me moving forward in spite of the detailed areas that seemed to drag on at points.

[Broodingferret · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a remarkably engaging book! McDermott would be a perfect ghost writer for pop-science literature: he manages to make complex topics accessible without "dumbing down" the information. He also has a wonderful way with words and succeeds marvelously at presenting the people, process, and problems behind scientific research; his colorful depiction of Gary Lynch is an exercise in brutally honest and sympathy-inducing storytelling. A great quick, yet engaging read.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. Part overview of one specific part of brain science - memory - and a variety of things associated with that (olfactory sense, theta rhythms, evolution and laboratory testing). Part biography of one scientists quest to nail down the biology of memory. We don't know enough about the brain - it's great to read about somebody trying to change that!

[Sally Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended book about neurobiology and neurobiochemistry. A little bit too much about personality for my taste, but interesting if you are unclear about the research and drug development fields.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me a lot of the Emperor of Scent: a scientist on an ambitious quest to understand how human senses and basic processes work. Both the discoveries and how they were pursued were interesting.

[Pierre · Rating 4 out of 5]

An edifying glimpse into an important and frustrating branch of biotechnology. I hope this book will inspire more smart people to go into this field so that they can speed things up. Some parts reminded me a bit of https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Diane Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A random pick off the library shelf ... A bit above my head but compelling anyway. More a story about how research science gets done than its implications/applications. Interesting. Listened on audio and the narrator's energy made it quite an engaging story.