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The perpetual now : a story of amnesia, memory, and love / Michael D. Lemonick

by Lemonick, Michael D., 1953-

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Doubleday, c2016.

616.8320092 J67L

Johnson, L. S. (Lonni Sue) -- Health.

Encephalitis -- Patients -- Biography.

Brain damage -- Patients -- Biography.

xvi, 282 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., col., black & white ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-282)

A textbook case -- "Would like to meet Charlemagne" -- Where does memory live? -- Princeton -- How cells remember -- Artist -- Flight to Cooperstown -- Buzz the cowboy -- First turning point -- Second and third turning points -- Pictures of Lonni Sue's brain -- False memory -- Challenging the conventional wisdom -- Maggi's memorial -- The opposite of amnesia -- Other amnesics -- The saga of Henry's brain -- What does the hippocampus do? -- Lonni Sue's world

In the aftermath of a shattering illness, Lonni Sue Johnson lives in a "perpetual now," where she has almost no memories of the past and a nearly complete inability to form new ones. The Perpetual Now is the moving story of this exceptional woman, and the groundbreaking revelations about memory, learning, and consciousness her unique case has uncovered. Lonni Sue Johnson was a renowned artist who regularly produced covers for The New Yorker, a gifted musician, a skilled amateur pilot, and a joyful presence to all who knew her. But in late 2007, she contracted encephalitis. The disease burned through her hippocampus like wildfire, leaving her severely amnesic, living in a present that rarely progresses beyond ten to fifteen minutes. Remarkably, she still retains much of the intellect and artistic skills from her previous life, but it's not at all clear how closely her consciousness resembles yours or mine. As such, Lonni Sue's story has become part of a much larger scientific narrative--one that is currently challenging traditional wisdom about how human memory and awareness are stored in the brain. In this probing, compassionate, and illuminating book, award-winning science journalist Michael D. Lemonick uses the unique drama of Lonni Sue Johnson's day-to-day life to give us a nuanced and intimate understanding of the science that lies at the very heart of human nature.

The story of Lonni Sue Johnson, a talented artist, musician and amateur pilot who lost all capacity for short term memory when she suffered encephalitis and the amazing scientific discoveries her condition has inspired.

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