Product Description
"I can't remember when I've learned asmuch from something I've read—or laughed asmuch while doing it."—Jacob Weisberg,SlateFinally in paperback after six hardcoverprintings, this international bestseller is anencyclopedic A-Z masterpiece—the perfectintroduction to the very core of Westernhumanism. Clive James rescues, or occasionallydestroys, the careers of many of the greatestthinkers, humanists, musicians, artists, andphilosophers of the twentieth century. Soaringto Montaigne-like heights, CulturalAmnesia is precisely the book to burnishthese memories of a Western civilization thatJames fears is nearly lost.

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Customer Reviews (49)

Indispensable
One of my life's treasures is a single Word file: Various Quotes.doc

A collection, begun about a decade ago, of quotes that have caught my eye, it's become a record of my intellectual life: my reading, my thinking, my enthusiasms, my obsessions, my laments, my solitude, my delight. I've assembled the quotes as I've encountered them, so it's order is chronological, and I've recorded their origin, including the page number, so I that I can easily locate them again, should I need to. What riches.

Fundamentally, Cultural Amnesia is Clive James's Various Quotes.doc, consolidated into a book, with commentary. The book is filled with astonishing quotes, taken from a life of reading--my goodness, what reading--and film-going, listening, traveling. James uses his various quotes to contemplate people whom in his view we should not forget, mostly for their grandeur, occasionally for their depravity. The quotes get him rolling, and his essays often turn in unexpected--and consistently marvelous--directions: a mediation on the anti-Nazi heroine and martyr Sophie Scholl, for example, turns into a celebration of Natalie Portman. James imagines Portman playing Scholl in a movie of Scholl's life--which takes him to a fascinating claim about the limitations of cinema:

"If Natalie Portman plays the role, the girl won't die. Natalie will go on after the end of the movie with her career enhanced as a great actress, whereas Sophie Scholl's career as an obscure yet remarkable human being really did come to an end. The Fallbeil (even the name sounds remorseless--the falling axe) hit her in the neck, and that was the end of her. Her lovely parable of a life went as far as that cold moment and no further. It's a fault inherent in the movies that they can't show such a thing. The performer takes over from the real person, and walks away. For just that reason, popular, star-led movies, no matter how good they are, are a bad way of teaching history."

The essays in Cultural Amnesia wander like this, as essays should--orbiting elegantly, satellites crossing the firmament, around their brilliant quotes, the shining little planets upon which they gaze and which give them the axis all orbits require.

The primary pleasures of this text, which as a whole constitutes the most compelling defense of Western liberal democracy that I've ever read, number three: 1) reading the quotes James has gathered; 2) becoming acquainted, or re-acquainted, with some of the essential figures of (mostly) 20th century cultural and political history; and 3) following the movement of the author's mind, which, in the end, is any essay's fundamental purpose.

The good news here is that Clive James has a exceptional mind and he has given us an indispensable book.

A Civilized Man's Look at an Uncivilized Time
CULTURAL AMNESIA is a book of over 100 essays that Clive James wrote over a 40 year period. The majority of the essays are about 20th century German, Austrian, and French cultural figures, but there are a few Russians, Asians, and Latin Americans in there as well.

My favorite essays are the ones about the German & Austrian Jews that populated the Viennese cafes between the wars. Many Jewish intellectuals were denied university positions because they were Jews, so they turned the cafes into a university of their own. One especially good essay is about Egon Friedell who was not only a cabaret star but who also found time to write a cultural history of Europe in his spare time. When the Nazis came a knockin' he leapt out his apt window but (ever the conscientious humanist) yelled out a warning to those on the street below as he approached.

Each essay is a kind of character sketch but also each essay contains invaluable cultural insights, some from the figures that he is sketching, and some from his own highly civilized brain (this guy has read everything and I would love a chance to peruse his library). In fact this book made me re-think what civilization is--I decided it is certain basic human decency (humane action under extreme historical conditions)and basic human qualities like understanding which of course isn't very basic at all. Anyway, you won't be sorry if you buy this book.

Its one of those books that makes you feel more civilized just looking at it.

James is a left of center kind of guy, but he is also a guy who has no patience for any kind of reductive catch-all theory of any kind. He's been everywhere and believes in the value of learning from experience. He's spent his life as a journalist and he always prefers the clarifying value of a fact over the seductive power of a theory--which in his view just seduces people away from sense. This is one reason he loves the worldly sophistication of the Viennese Jews who never lived in the safe confines of university communities (they couldn't), but remained in touch with everyday reality and everyday concerns and spoke in a way that everyone could understand.Hes none to fond of the Walter Benjamins & Jean Paul Sartres of the world. He also has no kind words for artists like Picasso & Borges who never seemed to be too terribly bothered by the political atrocities happening outside their studios/libraries.

Each essay in this book is like a reckoning. Some good guys get saved from oblivion and some bad guys get kicked toward it, which is what you want from a highly civilized compendium of 20th century cultural knowledge/thriller, right?

Highest recommendation.

No license for talking through a high hat
This is a book for list addicts. More than hundred essays about artists and writers, organized by alphabet. A seemingly erratic selection: not all essays are in praise of their subject. In fact, many are very much not in praise. All essays are excuses to talk about anything that the author feels like talking about. He claims that there is a pattern, and that may be so. The pattern could be called anti-irrationalist and anti-ideological. I would write `anti-b...s...' if amazon would let me. We meet victims of totalitarianism and of racism. We meet key people of epochs or moods or fads. We meet people who wrote or spoke against the grain. We meet people whose fame needs to be hung lower.

Just look at the entries for A:
Akhmatova, a victim of Stalinist suppression of art (though she survived as a person, contrary to many others of her world).
Altenberg, as a `key figure' of the fascinating world of Vienna before WW1: an influential writer of nothing much, who provides an excuse for talking about all kinds of things (including a reference to the magnificent Egon Friedell, whose Cultural History of Modern Times (= Kulturgeschichte der Neuzeit) is an absolute must). Vienna was the `cradle' of so many schools: critical rationalism, psychoanalysis, Zionism, plus some worse things. Without WW1 and the following totalitarian revolutions in Russia and Germany, St.Petersburg, Berlin and Vienna would have had a great race with Paris for cultural leadership on the continent.
Armstrong, for anti-racism, including the `inverted' racism which would not agree to see white jazz musicians like Goodman or Beiderbecke in their greatness.
Aron, for writing against the opium of intellectuals and resisting the popedom of Sartre.

B: Benjamin, Borges, Browne, plus two Frenchmen that I never heard of (Marc Bloch, Brasillach)
C: Camus, Cavett, Celan, Chamfort, Chanel, Chaudhuri, Chesterton, Cocteau, Contini, Croce, Curtis, Curtius...
That should suffice for a picture of delightful eclecticism.

James manages to discuss Stalin, Hitler,Pinochet, Jim Crow, sex, jazz, occupation/resistance, fellow travelers/Cold War, emigration/cosmopolitism, and whatever else he feels like. A great concept. Great fun. Opinionated writers are most of the time more interesting than the sleek ones. I wish he liked Coltrane and Melville better.

He is good at telling the `truth': like about good old Walter Benjamin, whose fate was so tragic that one hardly dares to question his theories, as far as one could find them in his opaque language. Benjamin became a star posthumously, an intellectual icon of the 60s. (Coincidentally, I tried to read his most famous book, the unfinished Passagenwerk (=The Arcades Project), recently. Very hard to say anything about it, as not even the intention, the vision is clear from the huge heap of fragments that he left behind.)
Another debunking subject: Borges, whose literary genius remains undoubted, but whose political blindness irritates.

If you don't want to add to your `must read' list, stay away from this book! It will provide you with tons of ideas what you need to read next. So annoying.
I am posting my review before finishing the book. By its nature it does not require reading it in one sitting. Of course that implies the risk that I will be annoyed by later entries. In that case I will come back and take revenge!
What I regret: I was careless in ordering and now I am stuck with the hardcover version, which weighs about 10 kg.

Endlessly quotable.
A centrepiece of ideas radiant into cultural history and a study in prose style. Endlessly quotable and a perfect example of genuine erudition and scholarship effortlessly integrated with a real humanity and humility.

A unique testimonial to humanism and liberal democracy
CULTURAL AMNESIA is a compendium of intellectual criticism, very broadly construed.The subjects include history, politics, and the arts, but one of the lessons of the book is how artificial the boundaries of those disciplines are, that in truth they are intermixed.So I guess it is best to describe CULTURAL AMNESIA as a book of intellectual criticism of human life - for the most part, 20th-Century human life

The bulk of the book consists of 106 chapters, each of which is devoted, at least nominally, to a different figure from history, politics, and the arts.Some of them are famous (e.g., Albert Camus, Duke Ellington, Adolf Hitler, Marcel Proust, and Margaret Thatcher); some are obscure, at least in this country (e.g., Ernst Robert Curtius, Ricarda Huch, and Pedro Henriquez Ureña).Although most are from the 20th Century, a few predate it (e.g., Sir Thomas Browne, Montesquieu, and Tacitus). Each of the chapters, in turn, has two parts.The second and the raison d'être for the book consists of one or more brief quotations from the figure in question with extended commentary from James that relates to the quotation(s), in one way or another and eventually if not immediately.(For example, the quotation that anchors the chapter on Franz Kafka is "How short life must be, if something so fragile can last a lifetime.").The first part of each chapter is a brief (one-or-two-page) profile of the person, which serves to set a context or frame for the more extended discussion that follows.

Clive James is very well-read, in five or more languages.Now 70, he must have been collecting quotations and working on this book for the better part of his life.It is extraordinarily wide-ranging and eclectic.But it does have certain themes or preoccupations.The principal object of the book is to champion humanism and liberal democracy.Thus, James's primary preoccupation is with those who sponsored fascism and communism in their various manifestations, those who turned a blind eye or were taken in or were hypocritical, and those who resisted, criticized, or heroically endured totalitarianism during the 20th Century.A second theme deals with intellectual and artistic integrity.A third preoccupation has to do with whether, in evaluating an intellectual or an artist, we can dismiss or ignore his/her personal weaknesses, inordinate egotism or selfishness, and hypocrisies. (In this regard, interestingly, James is much more inclined to give a pass to artists than to intellectuals.)

Next to its phenomenal intellectual breadth, what most distinguishes the book is the writing, which in the main is of the first order, often brilliant, marked by cleverness and wit, and studded with memorable aphorisms (both James's own and others he quotes or borrows).Here are a few examples:

*"No ideology can tolerate a full historical consciousness."

*"When academic language gets beyond shouting distance of ordinary speech, voodoo is all it is."

*"A crippled schizophrenic, Goebbels was easy to make fun of at the time by those safely out of his reach."

*"In Sartre's style of argument, German metaphysics met French sophistry in a kind of European Coal and Steel Community producing nothing but rhetorical gas."

*"Many attempt without success to make up for their lack of talent with defects of character."

*"Revisionist historians and commentators who deplore the use of nuclear weapons against the two Japanese cities have a humanitarian case, but they weaken it by supposing that they have a military case to back it up."

CULTURAL AMNESIA is not uniformly superb.Some of the essays are odd (e.g., Michael Mann).At times James is too abstruse or didactic.A few of his discussions are out-of-place (too vulgar) or simply silly (e.g., the extended piece on the movie "Where Eagles Dare" and Richard Burton's hairstyle).James is much better as a critic than as an original thinker (witness the claptrap at the top of p. 702).While the writing itself often sparkles, there are occasions when it is too aphoristic, instances when it is overly artful or contrived, and at times simply baroque.

But I am very glad I stuck with the book and read it cover to cover (although it took me two years of off-and-on reading to traverse its 850 pages).CULTURAL AMNESIA introduced me to numerous figures of consequence of whom I otherwise probably would die in ignorance; it alerted me to twenty or so books that I want to read (or re-read) before I kick the bucket; and, overall, it broadened, and deepened, my own critical faculties. Trite to say, but it has made me a better human being.CULTURAL AMNESIA is a splendid book that I recommend highly. ... Read more

Product Description
'A gigantic book on a gigantic theme' - "Sunday Times". 'Aphoristic and acutely provocative: a crash course in civilization' - J. M. Coetzee. A lifetime in the making, "Cultural Amnesia" is the book Clive James has always wanted to write. Organized from A through to Z, and containing over 100 essays, it's the ultimate guide to the twentieth-century, illuminating the careers of many of its greatest thinkers, humanists, musicians, artists and philosophers.From Louis Armstrong to Ludwig Wittgenstein, via Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, Franz Kafka and Marcel Proust, it's a book for our times - and, indeed, for all time. 'Clive James is one of the most ingeniously stimulating literary critics now writing in English. "Cultural Amnesia", with its encyclopedic length and organization and the intense jostle of its ideas, is to be dipped into over weeks and months. If the dipper occasionally brings up exasperation, it brings up astonished delight far more often; and, best of all, exasperated astonished delight' - "Boston Globe". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Beware
This looks like a great book full of interesting chapters on a variety of topics. Reader beware. It is a book written by a man who is profoundly reactionary.

Cultural Amnesia
Book Review submitted by: Stephen J. Hage

In the introduction Clive James offers this as prelude to what's coming:"What this book then proposes-what it embodies, I hope-is something difficult enough to be satisfactory for an age in which to be presented with nothing except reassurance is ceasing to be tolerable."

At the end of the introduction James offers this: "What I propose is a sum of appreciations that includes an appreciation of their interdependence: a new humanism.

What these words mean is expect to encounter chateaubriand, bouillabaisse, caviar and lobster instead of pablum.It's not a breezy read.It is, rather, one that grabs you by the throat, wrestles you to the ground and forces you to pay attention.I promise it will not put you to sleep.

James is a world renowned critic.I became aware of him and this book while watching him being interviewed on the PBS television series Bill Moyer's Journal.

The book is big, 851 pages; but it is divided into essays listed in alphabetical order dealing with historical figures and luminaries like Louis Armstrong, Jorge Luis Borges, Albert Camus, Miles Davis, Adolph Hitler, Franz Kafka, and Margaret Thatcher.And keep in mind, this is just a smattering.

As I read it I became increasing impressed with how learned, intelligent and urbane Clive James truly is.He can speak, read and write in several languages and his curiosity along with his deep commitment to humanism infuses every idea he presents in every essay.

The essays are bite sized making this a book that invites you to take it in; in bite sized chunks and almost fooling you into thinking it might be easy-breezy.But as I said, it's not.

While reading it and afterwards, what struck me and haunted me most was this thought: I'll never be able to write as well as this.I am a writer but Clive uses words to reveal he is both magician and sage.

Read this book and feast on the incredibly sumptuous bite sized offerings within; but don't gorge, that might make you sick.

Tolle Lege
I have enjoyed reading this elegant book partly, I suppose, because some of my suspicions about the left were correct. From hundreds of pencil marks, I will be making numerous notes.
The cultural icons that I heard about, and those that I read years ago are resurrected in this tome, or at least in my mind.That Picasso, Brecht, and Sartre were image-conscious communists is not surprising, but the details are amusing. The tailors employed by the Nazis were tops too.
I felt sad for the millions that were victimized, and sadder that so many rationized what they knew to be false. Rationalization is so strong that some could interpret Stalin's activities as an effort to democratize the Evil Empire. Being a talented artist does not prevent one from folly in the other dimensions of living.
The bits about Northern Ireland are weak--read like old-style imperialism. State Security behaved no better than their predecessors in the Black and Tans did--an embarrassment to a civilized nation. Thatcher and her ilk should have known better--maybe they did. The IRA were only a fraction of the terrorists in NI. Be that as it may, this book like a re-education.
So I can feel more confidence in the humanistic tradition of Europe, Clive James' other books are on my "To read list."
Denis O'Sullivan ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (43)

Thought provoking and imaginative
Set in a post apocalyptic USA, nothing is quite as it seems. Chaos, aka Everett, the main character cannot remember exactly who he is let alone what caused the break from the world before to the world now, and he cannot find satisfactory answers in Hatfork Wyoming, the dilapidated town populated with mutants where he has a position of some sort of oversight, so he sets of to find answers, taking with him a young mutant girl.

He may not find all the answers he's looking for, but along the way he does find love and hope, although it may not exactly match the dreams he's been having, the dreams that started his doubting.

In Amnesia Moon dreams and reality become confused in a sort of modern day Alice in Wonderland; funny, thought provoking and highly imaginative.

Unsolved mysteries
More like Ridley Walker than Catcher in the Rye (the book the blurbs compare it to), this was a fast, confusing read. The plot promises but does not deliver, so I felt somewhat let down. Questions are dangled like carrots in front of the reader, but they are not answered. A bit too derivative of PK Dick, but a fun read. BTW, the book sat on my shelf for ten years, since picking it up as a hc remainder from Daedalus back in the 90's. Finally read it! But not in a hurry to read more by this author (though The Fortress of Solitude looks interesting).

Wow I loved this book... until it fell to pieces.
How sad I am._Amnesia Moon_ thrilled me for the first half and more.I was eager to turn the pages and find out more about the bizarre journey of Chaos/Everett.The realms and characters intrigued me.But alas, the story all but collapses in San Francisco.The insertion of highly futuristic technology feels abrupt and unwarranted.Worse, the tale falters into an awkward, mixed-up set of characters and dreams and dead ends.I couldn't wait for it to end, and could care less (unlike so many reviewers) that the ending is "incomplete."

My sense is that Lethem didn't know what to do with his novel.He'd written something quite good, until he got to San Francisco.And then he suddenly goes Pynchon-esque on us.Lethem neither prepares us for this abysmal confusion, nor did he execute the transition adequately.He stammers and reaches fitfully, until he simply closes the book.This book should not have been published in its current state.Will I read Lethem again after this introduction?Perhaps: there was enough in the first 100 pages to make me think the guy can tell a good story... and Amazon readers tell us to focus our Lethem energies elsewhere.

Perchance to ....
This book will convince you that insomnia isn't all that bad a thing.

Which is worse: a megalomaniac or someone pulling the strings who doesn't even know he's doing it? Lethem will have you scratching your head continuously as you try to figure out the meaning of this (pick a genre so long as "strange" is part of the description) book.

It seems the consensus of reviewers is that there is a weak ending. Add my vote to that tally. This is a weird book which is fine; but coupling it with a non-existent finish does a disservice to the reader.

Let your mind play with the ideas
This is a road story where the main character leaves his town in Wyoming to find his identity and answers to key questions that churn over & over in his mind. It all sounds straight ahead, simple, but there's been an apocalyptic event some indeterminate time ago that has changed the face of the USA; the town he's leaving is full of mutants; he leaves with one of them, a girl covered in fur; his dreams suggest that he's not who he thinks he is and others can see his dreams when they sleep nearby. The story hooked me early.

On their travels Chaos and the girl, Melinda, encounter widely different communities - aside from the mutant town, there's one encased in a green fog, another where government officials star in their own TV show and also police the community...all of which seem to be conjured by those in the community that have the ability to broadcast their dreams to the masses around them.Is Letham commenting on how people can be brainwashed and controlled by those with power? Some of the communities are cult-like, with inhabitants doing as they are told by their demi-god.

No-one seems clear on the nature of the "disaster" that led to this post-apocalyptic world or at what point in time it occurred.There is no shared reality on this point beyond acceptance that a disaster of some sort happened. This makes the book intriguing, especially in a time where we all accept that we're waging a "war on terror".Even if we can't define the scope of what that encompasses, we accept that it needs to be done. It is one shared reality in my world.

This book made me think about how we become communities, how we arrive at shared values, how we are governed/controlled, the power of "group-think" & how much we are prepared to accept at face-value without questioning.The story may seem slight, more novella than novel, but it's thought-provoking if you let your mind play with the ideas. ... Read more

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January 27th, 1973: the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong sign the Paris Peace Accords, guaranteeing the right of self-determination to the South Vietnamese people.

April 30th, 1975: President Duong Van Minh of South Vietnam announces the nation's unconditional surrender to the North, ending the decade-long conflict and enabling the merger of both countries into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

What happened in two short years to cause such a dramatic reversal?In An American Amnesia, respected political commentator Bruce Herschensohn re-examines the incredible actions taken by the 94th Congress and by many American citizens which forced South Vietnam's surrender, an event that brought about immense tragedy for Southeast Asians and haunts our political landscape to this day. Drawing on notes, speeches, and writings from his own experiences in Southeast Asia, as well as in the United States Information Agency and in the White House, Herschensohn fills in important facts in that period of history and warns against the danger of succumbing to a similar voluntary amnesia in the future.

Customer Reviews (10)

History you won't get in the classroom
This is recommended reading especially for Viet Nam era "baby boomers" and can easily be read in a day, or two at most. Concisely and to the point explains how Congress was dysfunctional then during the end of the Viet Nam conflict as they seem to be now in 2010.The title accurately says it all.

American history and military libraries need this
AN AMERICAN AMNESIA: HOW THE U.S. CONGRESS FORCED THE SURRENDERS OF SOUTH VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA follows the dramatic series of events which in two years caused Vietnam to change from a war zone to a peaceful region. The actions taken by Congress and many American citizens forced South Vietnam's surrender, an event that brought pain upon Southwest Asians. Notes and speeches plus the author's own experiences in Southeast Asia document the process. American history and military libraries need this.

Very good look back!!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who followed the Vietnam War. Some may not agree with all of the book, but their are many highly documented facts that are 180 degrees out of what is considered common knowledge about the war and the era. If you have evered uttered the phrase, "this ______ is another Vietnam", I believe you have a moral obligation to read this book.

Very interesting and more than a little depressing
On January 27, 1973, and in the days following, people in Washington D.C. trumpeted the signing of the Paris Peace Accords as a victorious ending to the conflict in Indochina. But, the aftermath of the treaty brought anything but peace. Immediately after the withdrawal of American troops, the governments of Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam were ruthlessly attacked by Communist forces, overrun, and subjected to some of the most brutal genocides that the world has ever seen. Just what happened to turn peace in Indochina into the Killing Fields? The sad and humiliating answer was the duplicity of the 94th United States Congress.

This book, written by very-much political-insider Bruce Herschensohn, takes an in-depth look at the articles of the Paris Peace Accords, and follows what happened when the Democrat-controlled Congress and their allies in the press began working to undermine the survivability of the non-Communist states of Indochina. Personally, I must say that I found the book to be very interesting, and more than a little depressing. The book quotes American leaders as suggesting that it would be better for the peoples there to be ruled by the Communists, and then goes on to show how they worked towards making that happen, and then turned their backs on them once the murders started. Indeed, the most depressing part of the story is that some of these same politicians are now important leaders in the administration and congress!

Yes, this is a very interesting book, one that really sheds light on a little known and little studied subject - the end of the Vietnam War and the fate of Indochina. I highly recommend this book to everyone interested in the modern world.

The Truth Is Downright Painful
Bruce Herschensohn is to be commended for his very fine work on a time period few Americans have made the effort to seriously study.An American Amnesia must not be called revisionist history.It is simply the truth, and it will infuritate those on the Left who refuse to accept that their perfidious actions had consequences which directly led to the deaths of American and South Vietnamese fighting men and an even greater number of South Vietnamese civilians.Herschensohn's well documented story will likewise raise the ire and blood pressure of those who believe the war was a just cause as he chronicles example after example--in a very readable style without being the least bit ponderous-- of media and congressional undermining of ours and our allies efforts to defeat the communists.
The interpretation of the lessons of the Vietnam War are still very much up for grabs.Herschensohn does yeoman's work connecting the dots for the reader to see how our actions and lack of resolve then still have deleterious impact and consequences in 2010. This book should be required reading for anyone who is serious about understanding the war's unfortunate outcome, why it ended as it did, and why that matters today. ... Read more

Product Description
This concise but comprehensive text provides a systematic account of the memory disorders, whether they result from psychological stress, traumatic injury, stroke, or degenerative disease of the brain.The major amnesia syndromes are covered in consistently organized chapters that give a clear description of the clinical signs and symptoms, predisposing factors, prevalence and prognosis, pathophysiology to the extent that it is known, diagnostic approaches including tests used to evaluate the disorders, and therapeutic efforts.The book's emphasis is on facts rather than theory, and readers from a variety of disciplines will appreciate its clear, jargon-free, well-organized assessment of the state of knowledge about the memory disorders. These disciplines include neurobiology, neuropsychology, psychiatry, cognitive neuroscience, rehabilitation medicine, and gerontology.Even theorists will find the book useful since any theory of memory and its neurophysiological mechanisms must be constrained by the facts of amnesia if it is to be considered complete.The book's clearcut scheme of organization will enhance its value and user-friendliness.It divides the amnesias into three types: progressive, permanent, and transient.The first type includes amnesias associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and with vascular dementias, contrasting them with memory decline resulting from normal aging.The second type consists of classic amnesic syndromes associated with limbic lesions of various etiologies such as Korsakoff's encephalopathy and traumatic brain injuries.The third type includes transient global, transient epileptic, and ECT-induced amnesias as well as the reversible psychogenic amnesias associated with dissociative and fugue states.These discussions are preceded by two introductory chapters that define the mnemonic and amnesic phenomena, classify the various memory systems and functions, and describe the putative brain circuitry underlying these functions, including molecular mechanisms, neurotransmitter systems, and the effects of stress-related hormones and drugs, with the aid of magnetic resonance images and anatomical drawings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Does the human race suffer from collective amnesia?
I've been a devotee of Velikovsky's work for nearly 40 years, particularly his historical reconstruction. But his cosmic thesis, whether right or wrong, was also compelling and opened up whole new vistas of thought. Whether right or wrong, it is atrocious to hear the slander in some of these reviews of Velikovsy's books heaped on them by people who simply assume he was wrong without saying why, or assume that conventional science was correct without even questioning. No scholar since Einstein shook the shoulders of our minds as Velikovsky did, and in a greater number of academic fields than Einstein did. Still, this work, while compelling and offering much of interest, is based on Carl Yung's concept of a collective subconscious mind. Yung was strongly influenced by Hinduism. He saw people around the world being essentially the same and, rather than think that their Creator might have created them all essentially the same, postulated the collective subconscious mind to account for the similarities. From this, Velikovsky postulated collective amnesia to account for the fact that we have forgotten the celestial and terrestrial cataclysms that shook the planet in historical times. Our ancient ancestors wrote them down, but in the age of uniformitarianism (the assumption that the earth developed totally through the slow gradual peaceful processes of weathering and erosion with no major cataclysms) our ancestors were written off as ignorant savages and Velikovsky's work was ridiculed, slandered and scorned, as it still is today by the undiscerning and unscholarly. But, as I do not believe in Hinduism, this is the one work of his that, however well-written, I do not accept the premise of.

Well Worth Reading
I went to a lot of trouble to locate this book in another town's library.It was well worth the effort.

Velikovsky endured scathing abuse by the scientific community for his unconventional theories merging cosmology, geology, archeology and mythology.Despite his serious research to support his theories, he was proclaimed unqualified to discuss subjects outside his field of medicine.

Well, the ideas set forth in this book cannot be dismissed by similar claims.Velikovsky was, by training, a psychoanalyst trained by a student of Freud, eminently qualifying him to discuss the possibility that our species has repressed the memories of earth-shaking events too terrible and frightening to acknowledge.

It gives one a new perspective on the vicious denunciations of Velikovsky's unorthodox theories by mainstream scientists.Just why did the scientific community find Velikovsky and his ideas so threatening?Read this book and you may wonder if Velikovsky was really onto something.

The Perils of Pauline
Mankind in Amnesia, (Doubleday, New York, 1982) by Immanuel Velikovsky

Dr. Velikovsky gave us the controversial best seller "Worlds in Collision" (1950), and sequels on the same themeincluding "Ages in Chaos" (1952) and "Earth inupheaval" (1955)."Mankind in Amnesia" is the first ofseveral to be published posthumously and it develops the thesis addressedin his other books, namely the catastrophic history of our planet-sotraumatic that the human race has rejected it from memory and refuses toface evidence of it.He postulates near collisions between Earth and Venusand other bodies.

Velikovsky, a Russian-born Jewish psychiatrist, useshis theory to justify a literal reading of the Exodus.The miraculousevents (the parting of the Red Sea, manna from Heaven, etc.) he ascribes tonatural causes.

He was quite a salesman.Although his formaleducation, gained throughout Europe, was in medicine, obviously his greatinterest was astronomy, cosmology, geology and the architectonics of theuniverse.And his writing has had an impact on those who pursue knowledgein those areas.The late Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesicdome, said of the book, "...an extraordinarily important book,beautifully researched and devastatingly true."Or, so he is quotedon the dust jacket.The late Carl Sagan, on the other hand, calls hisapproach "shoddy, ignorant and doctrinaire," and strongly impliesthat his scientific understanding is sadly lacking (Broca's Brain, RandomHouse, N.Y., 1974.)

So, Velikovsky's theories, to put it mildly, arenot universally embraced by his peers.Nevertheless, this is a good book. He has a good vocabulary and he uses it enchantingly and persuasively tosell his great idea.It is a book for the literate person who relishes newideas and fresh approaches to old ones.

Joseph Pierre,
Author ofTHE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

... Read more

Product Description
Jonathan Lethem is perhaps our most active literary voice mining the genre margins of our culture.In this unique collection he creates an anthology that no one else could.He draws on the work of such unforgettables as Julio Cortazar, who presents a man caught between the ancient and modern worlds unable to say which is real; Philip K. Dick, who tells the story of a man trapped on a spaceship of the somnolent, unable to sleep and slowly losing his mind; Shirley Jackson, who takes us on a nightmarish trip across town with a young secretary; and Oliver Sacks, who presents us with an aging hippie who possesses no memory of anything that has taken place since the early seventies.

What Lethem has done is nothing less than define a new genre of literature-the amnesia story-and in the process he invites us to sit down, pick up the book, and begin to forget.

Also including: John Franklin Bardin, Donald Barthelme, Thomas M. Disch, Karn Joy Fowler, David Grand, Anna Kavan, Haruki Murakami, Flann O'Brien, Edmund White, and many others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Lacunae of Amnesia is Present in this Book
Although a worthy endeavor, the author has, either through negligent research or faulty criteria, neglected to include the work of Nicomedes Suarez-Arauz, Amazonian poet, artist, academic (professor emeritus at Smith College), theoretician and creator of an artistic movement using amnesia as a creative premise in the arts. A seminal work is Amnesis: The Art of the Lost Object (Lascaux Publishers, 1988), Amnesis: The Art of Amnesia and the Lost Object For a partial chronology of Suarez-Arauz's work on Amnesia see [...]. Also, on that website you can find a poetic evocation of his theory in The Amnesis Manifesto (1984). In 1988, Suarez-Arauz gave a lecture on the topic at Boston City Hall and you can view videos on UTube. Just type in his name.
Artists throughout the world have been influenced by his work on amnesia as a creative metaphor. Do a google search with his name and the words amnesia amenesis loen. (Do three different searches.)
No less than Jorge Luis Borges and Buckminster Fuller praised Suarez-Arauz's work.
Recently, Robin Blaetz, professor film studies at Holyoke College, wrote an essay entitled Amnesis Time: The Films of Majorie Keller in the book Women's Experimental Cinema (Duke University Press, 2007).
Suarez-Arauz's creative work on amnesia began in 1973. For anyone interested, there are a multiude of resources to futher investigate the topic. Presently, an anthology of his work over the last 34 years is being prepared for publication in Latin America.
The author seems to have been afflicted with amnesia when preparing his anthology.

Some great stories, some so-so
When I saw this at a bookstore, I had to have it, being a big fan of that cheesiest of all literary and cinematic devices, amnesia.
Most of these stories were new to me, except for the Donald Barthelme's "Game,"and some are great, such as Philip K. Dick's "I Hope I Will Arrive Soon," Brian Fawcett's "Soul Walker," and particularly a nonfiction entry from Oliver Sacks, "The Last Hippie."I did not care at all for "Sarah Canary," or "The Second Coming." Many of these "stories," are actually excerpts, which now makes me want to read Cornell Woolrich's "The Black Curtain" and "Cowboys Don't Cry" by L.J. Davis. Still, I have to say the best thing in the whole book is Lethem's introduction. After that, the book itself was a bit of a letdown. Still, I'm glad I bought it and I look forward to going through the books listed in his "Incomplete Annotated Bibliography of Amnesia Fiction."

Uneven and teasing, but contains gems
The theme is right up my alley and Lethem is one of my favorite authors. Nevertheless I found the book frustrating, because many of the pieces are excerpts from novels and show it, with abrupt endings that don't resolve anything. I'm grateful for having the chance to get tastes of these (mostly obscure) books, but it detracts from the anthology itself. Nevertheless, thanks to this I've already discovered, purchased and read two excellent novels I'd never heard of before -- Lawrence Shainberg's "Memories Of Amnesia" (first person view of eminent neurologist's mental collapse) and John Franklin Bardin's "The Deadly Percheron" (weirdo '40s noir) -- and in between enjoyed some old classics I hadn't re-read in a while, such as Philip K Dick's terrifying SF short story "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon".

Hardly cohesive
While this book contains many wonderful short stories, it fails at being a cohesive anthology.Editor Lethem has broadly defined 'amnesia' define anything related to the doubt of one's mental state or existence.That's wide net, and the resulting catch is eclectic and disjointed.

I also have a problem with the excerpts from full novels.Although many stand well on their own, I always feel as if I'm not getting the full point.Once I was halfway through I began skipping the excerpts and focused on the complete short stories.

But as I said, there are many gems here.Particulary the Borges, Lethem, and Sacks stories stand out.If you read this with the understanding that most of the stories have nothing to do with the common perception of amnesia, it may be well worth your time.

Mmmm... yummy.
Are you worried that coughing up the bucks for an anthology will leave you with two or three gem stories and a pile of duds? Well don't worry this time, kids, Lethem delivers the goods. At least eight solid keepers in this one that I will certainly read again at some point. Overall, the theme works very well, and the variety of experiences (from creepy to wacky) is pretty wide. It's not all bumps on the head, waking up in white-walled rooms... ... Read more

Product Description
According to Bertman, just as an individual needs memories to maintain a sense of personal identity, so does a nation need them in order to survive. Like Alzheimer victims, however, today's Americans are rapidly losing a consciousness of history, and with it, a sense of national identity and direction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One of the greatest books I have ever read
It truly is a live changing book. I am only 19, but this book has been one of the true foundations I will use for the rest of my life. It has opened up and entire world into understanding and securing my culture. It is a shame not many people will be able to read it, especially my age group. I am trying to get my friends to pick it up, but it is a battle.

I reccommend this for any reader! Do yourself a favor!

Cultural Amnesia:Americas Future and the Crisis of Memory
At first glance, I thought certainly I would be disappointed with this book.Not only was it short (and expensive), but broken down into many "sub-chapters".Fortunately I was wrong.

The author begins thebook with a necessarily abbreviated synopsis of the history of culturalmemory.He then examines how the invention of writing, the printing press,the television, and the internet affect cultural memory.

Afterestablishing that there is a decline in America's basic education level andcollective understanding of our culture's history, the author thouroughlyexamines root causes.He also talks about how losing a sense of culturalheritage, as well as the transfer of basic educational information cannegatively affect the U.S.

This book is thoroughly researched, wellorganized, and ties together well many seemingly unrelated topics.

Ihighly recommend this book, especially if you are, like me, intent onexamining why our mainstream American culture is so mind-boggling ignorant ... Read more

Product Description
From the Exodus to the crucifixion the Bible records a struggle between two worldviews: the dominator system and partnership ways. God favors partnership ways, but the dominator system is a formidable opponent. Its agents are often the powerful, the rich and the religious. Indeed, an alliance of such people crucified Jesus. The irony is that we cannot understand the Bible because we read it as if God favors the dominator system! Biblical Amnesia corrects this fatal flaw. In the process, we glimpse alternatives to the ways of life we now painfully life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Biblical Amnesia
This book really makes one think. It is not a fast read but is thought rendering.

A Much Needed Paradigm Shift


Scott Gustafson brings to light an important and exciting new approach to understanding the Bible that is dynamite.His insights make the biblical messagean important social and politicalstatement that confronts the timeless hypocrisy of those in power. It really makes you think.It stirs the soul.It's the kind of thing that puts steel in faith.This author makes it clear how much we have forgotten. But it's not too late to learn that what was forgotten can makes all things new.

Biblical Amnesia
President Bush needs to read this book, (or have someone read it to him).

Biblical Amnesia: A Forgotten Storyof Redemption
Scott Gustafson in clear and easy to read language speaks about some startling ideas that are found in scripture, but which have been forgotten due to our cultural relgion covering up the message of the Bible. The fact that morality comes as a result of the human fall into sin, and is a force for death, rather than life, was a new way for me of seeing the context of the Biblical writings. He makes use of the work of Raine Eisler to define dominator and partnership ways and shows how the scriptures both Old and New Testament are examples of a partnership model trying to survive in a dominator system. This book would be helpful to anyone who is working on models of change both in the church, as well as any political organization. Anyone in a position of power in an organization would find it useful in defining a role that has as it purpose, the fostering of partnerships rather than autoritarian relationships. ... Read more

Product Description
Action/Adventure/Mystery/Comedy


Hi there, I’m Alex Cheradon, private investigator and local trouble magnet.

Recently a man has come into my office with no memory of who he is. Naturally, he wants to hire me to find his identity. For some reason he also happens to have a winning lotto ticket that he’s willing to use as payment. Said ticket is worth 10 million dollars. I don’t find anything suspicious about that, do you (note: sarcasm)?

I’ve also been recently employed with the newly widowed Mrs. Ruxpin. Seems her deceased husband had a certain gem that’s gone missing. A gem with some mystical properties, if you catch my meaning. Look, I know I hate the supernatural as much as the next guy, but, hey, her money’s good. So it’s a mystical gem, what could go wrong?

No, seriously, I’m asking: What could go wrong? Could someone please talk me out of this because I just had a flash of images that involved a head in a bathtub and a pet shop emporium. Please don’t make me go to the pet shop emporium. Please.


This is Book 2 in the Alex Cheradon Series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason Krumbine is a born again Christian and is happily married to wonderful woman named Donna. They live in Florida where he spends his free time reading and practicing his mad Nintendo Wii skills. Jason is the author of Fruitbasket from Hell, Reflections of the Pink Elephant, Explorers of the Unknown, Heaven’s Superhero, A is for Amnesia, B is for Bullet and Rupert & Me: Tales From Under the Desk. For questions, comments, and just about anything e-mail Jason at onestrayword@gmail.com or just drop him a line at his website, www.jasonkrumbine.com
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Customer Reviews (2)

Wacky Plotand Annoying Dialogue
I confess I purchased this mostly due to its $2.99 download price; and because the book's description sounded like it would be an amusing light mystery. The story is more of a bizarre sci-fi than mystery; involving human cloning, and other concepts.But at the talking corpse out of the coffin point, I left it.The story is hard to follow.The author jumps to different and unrelated concepts, characters, and scenerios with no real flow or sense.Characters are brought into the story without giving the reader any idea of who they are, or how they relate.And the conversations between him and his assistant quickly passed from amusing to very annoying.I am an avid reader, I can read and enjoy about anything..but this one I could not finish.

Even better than the first Cheradon mystery
I enjoyed Fruit Basket from Hell.I liked A is for Amnesia even better.It had a little less gore than the first book.Alex's assistant cracked me up.Jason Krumbine delivers again with his mix of wit and wackiness.Looking forward to book #3 to see what the author does with the crazy time travel sequences. ... Read more

Product Description
Asserting that the "return to Wesley" that is represented in the Quadrilateral is "intellectually wrongheaded,"William J. Abraham argues that the Quadrilateral is not, and should not be, United Methodist doctrine.Abraham's lively treatise makes a provocative appeal for a reasoned exploration of the significance of the UMC's doctrinal identity.He reveals how churches have faced incompatible doctrinal proposals within their midst and examines the specific issues facing the United Methodist church as a whole. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Doctrine and Practice
Abraham's book has already proven prophetic and continues to point toward future difficulities in UMC polity and practice.What purpose is there for a Book of Discipline, if it can generally be ignored with impunity?The underlying problem may be that very few UMC clergy and laity are familiar with Methodist Discipline.It absolutely contains doctrines and creeds, despite the naysayers.

Abraham calls for a reawakening to the UMC Book of Discipline and the propagation of knowledge about it.Without fundamental Christian doctrine, the UMC begins to look like the Peace Corps or a Masonic Lodge.The UMC is so much more than a proponent of social justice and rituals.We should not lessen the significance of the Incarnation, or Scriptural teachings.

As a result of the factions found in the UMC, we are seen by the public as a congregation of people who can believe anything.Abraham points us back to the Book of Discipline and shows that if we are to remain a connectional church, then we simply must afford more consideration to the rules upon which we have agreed.

I like this book.It is short, easy to read, and hits home in a direct and forceful way. We have had quite enough of the much abused Outlerian quadrilateral.Let's revisit our creeds. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Intriguing Effort!
Although this book gets off to a slow & often complicated start...it really is worth pursuing.

The author is very talented at given different spins on each story to unravel an even more complex web of truth.

Fascinating details are included...not least of which includes shrunken heads & decomposing whales. Quite an adventure. ... Read more

Product Description

Is this stranger really her husband?

For a year, Samantha has been existing with no memory of her previous life. But when a dark, stunningly handsome Italian walks into her life, Sam's past is about to be revealed....

When Sam sees André Visconte, she faints clean away. Is her body's instinctive response to him telling her that she's recognized him? However, there are further shocks in store, the first of which is André's insistence that he is her husband!

Customer Reviews (4)

Not enamored with the leads
I usually enjoy a romance with an amnesia plot.They tend to be tension filled with a big surprise toward the end.I did not, however, enjoy Unforgettable Husband because the characters were rude and obstinate with each other way too often.

Samantha has amnesia after her automobile accident. When she was released from the hospital no one came forward with any clues to her identity so she stayed in the small English Village where the accident occurred and works in a run down hotel.

Andre Visconte thought his wife walked out of their marriage and he is relieved to discover after a year long search that she is alive.He is surprised about her amnesia though.

When Samantha meets Andre she instantly dislikes him, after he proves she is his wife she resents him even more.She desires to know her past but seems generally unwilling to discover it.Samantha has quite an uncontrollable temper on her; she actually hits Andre and tells him within a few days how much she hates him.This is before she discovers her past. Andre can be overbearing though when it comes to protecting and caring for Samantha.

These two seem to know each other in the bedroom where Samantha has no problem jumping into a physical relationship with Andre.She appears almost sex starved, she even recognizes this. However Andre is harboring some secrets which are detrimental in his relationship with his wife.

I stopped caring about this couple about half way into the novel.Samantha comes across as childish and irrational and Andre is just too controlling.They only connect in the bedroom mainly because Samantha is willing to forgo her suspicions about Andre because he just turns her on so very much.Hard to believe this is the same girl who argues most of the time with Andre whenever they are outside the bedroom

This is a Keeper! A must for romance readers
If you love alpha males, well this is the book for you!!! Now this is a good romance.
Faithful? Hell yes
Favorite?Yes, definitely, a book to read over and over

Hot and bothered.
Back Cover description:IS THIS STRANGER REALLY HER HUSBAND?For a year, Samantha has been existing with no memory of her previous life.But when a dark, stunningly handsome Italian walks into her life, Sam's past is about to be revealed...When Sam sees Andre Visconte, she faints clean away.Is her body's instinctive response to him telling her that she's recognized him?However, there are further shocks in store, the first of which is Andre's insistence that hi is her husband!

Good tight story.Sam has been in an auto accident.She has lost her memory, and no one has claimed her for over a year.Then her husband finds her.There are the usual plot twists, and the sexual tension is great.I've been tracking down all of the Michelle Reid books since I read ARABIAN LOVE CHILD (catchy title!), and this is one of the better ones.Try it.

What a story
This love story really touched my heart. This poor man suffered for the time that he was without his wife. When he gets her back she does not remember him and so the story goes... I was enchanted by the deep and passionate love the male had for his wife and how he fought for this love. This author is great at letting the reader understands how the male feels and well as the female. I would recommend this book highly. ... Read more

Product Description
The Apocalypse didn't end with a BANG, but with a whimper. Silently, the 'amnesia wind' swept away all of mankind's knowledge. Thousands of years of human civilization vanished overnight as people forgot how to use the tools of modern civilization; who they were, how to speak - everything! Technology decayed as mankind was reduced to an extremely primitive level. Two years after the devastation, a young man explores a nation reduced to barbarism: America. Miraculously re-educated after the cataclysm, he is accompanied by a young woman - somehow spared the obliterating effects of the amnesia wind. Pursued by a relentless killing machine, they search for those responsible for stealing their memories. ... Read more

Product Description
As we are approaching our fin de sielce, issues of time and memory haunt contemporary culture.Musuems and memorials are being constructed rapidly, as if there were no tomorrow. Contemporary art and literature focuses on memory and the past, rather than claiming radical breakthroughs into some unknown future.With the recent resurgence of nationalism and issues of national identity, the political future, too, seems to fold itself back into the past rather than offering a bold vision of the 21st century.The great paradox of our fin de siecle culture is that novelity is even more associated with memory and the past rather than future expectation.

But if the obsession with memory is one salient symptom in this age of a modernity grown old, then cultural and political amnesia is undoubtedly its counterpoint.Rather than blaming amnesia on television or the school, Twilight Memories argues that the danger of amnesia is inherent in the information revolution.Our obsessions with cultural memory can be read as re-representing a powerful reaction against the electronic archive and they mark a shift in the way we live structures of temporality.In this book, the media are the hidden veil through which the author looks at the problem of cultural memory and an emerging new sensibility of temporality in literature, art, politics, media theory and the museum. ... Read more

Product Description
When Thaine wakes up in the hospital after a bull riding injury, he has a few problems. He doesn’t remember the last five years, or his new boyfriend, and all he wants in the world is his ex-lover Jerry. Thing is, he and Jerry broke up a long time ago, and no one is sure Jerry will come. Thaine’s best friend Jesse makes the call, even though he thinks it’s a pretty crappy thing to do to the new boyfriend, Drew. Drew is everything Jesse has always wanted, young, optimistic, and hard-working. He can’t believe his buddy Thaine would pass Drew by for an old flame, even if his friend can’t remember the kid. Jerry is flattered that Thaine still wants him around, and he still carries a torch for his cowboy, so when Thaine asks to go home with him to recover, Jerry agrees, even though he knows Thaine could get his memory back any day… Can Jerry and Thaine make a future that wipes out their past? And can Jesse convince Drew that he was looking for love in all the wrong places? Can Thaine live without the last five years, or will he remember everything and have to choose between his old life and his new one? Sean Michael pens a masterful love story in Amnesia, one that will make you believe in the power of love, no matter what the odds. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Four Men Whose Lives Underwent a Metamorphisis!
A love thrown away, a love found, a love rekindled, a love reborn. A well developed story, and well developed characters. I loved them all especially Drew. Let us not forget the great sex as per Sean Michael! He made us love some of the characters and hate others - but in the end - it was all good!:)

Hot, sexy and deliciously loving M/M!
The plot here is most refreshing, sometimes bitter sweet, at times disarmingly sweet but mostly just pure charming. The sex is sizzling hot as Sean shows us good old fashioned sex is the most erotic. And this man just keeps getting better at telling it!
2appealing couples here, the explosive and darn hot couple in Thaine and Jerry and the more down-to-earth and no less loving couple in Jesse and Drew. The interaction among his guys is pure chemistry and I love that Sean tells his story from each man's view. These 4 men, 2 stubborn and proud cowboys, one sweet young thing and one tough and filthy rich businessman are most interesting characters and I just wish the story could have been longer. A very enjoyable read indeed. ... Read more

Product Description

When Princess Anastasia's private jet crashed, she couldn't recall her royal roots. Her handsome rescuer, former FBI agent Jake Sanderstone, took the beautiful lone survivor to his humble home. And while Jake struggled to untangle a web of clues, the only thing the pair discovered was an undeniable attraction burning between them....

As they were trapped by stormy weather, desire raged, though Jake fought off his longing to ravish the anonymous beauty. But as Princess Anastasia's memory slowly returned, would their newfound love become something of the past--or be something so powerful that it could supersede the demands of duty and country...?

Product Description
Urban Memory: History and Amnesia in the Modern Citybrings together ideas about memory which bear upon thearchitectural and urban experience of the modern city.Itpresents a critical and creativity approach in thetheorization of memory and focuses this burgeoning area ofstudies on the actual forms of the built environment inthe modernist and post-industrial city.Urban memory was a key theme in many of the leadingmodernist writers and social thinkers. Conversely,modernism in architecture and urbanism was more oftendevoted to a utopian ideal which seemed to erase memoryfrom the city.More recently the two have come together.Cities that were once centers of intensely forward-lookingmodernist culture, now proclaim themselves as primarilypalimpsest or 'memory-spaces'. This can be seen in aburgeoning of architects and architecture specializing inmonuments to trauma, nostalgic collaborations betweenconservationists and developers; city centers which areproclaimed as 'urban villages'; and the ever increasingnumber of amenity groups, listed buildings, museums,historians, and preservation societies.This book analyses these patterns, showing that thedynamics of history and memory, commemoration and amnesia,pervade as never before our contemporary cities.Its aimis to understand such symptoms in the light of what wehave come to call the 'posturban' and post-industrialcity.As such it will be of interest to all who areconcerned with the future of the urban past.The contributors come from the fields of architecturalhistory, art history, cultural studies, sociology, fineart, critical theory and specialist in psychoanalysis; andtheir contributions approach the theme from a number ofview points. A particular area of focus is post-industrialManchester, but the book also includes studies ofcontemporary Singapore, New York after 9/11, contemporarymuseums in industrial gallery spaces, memorials built inconcrete, and contemporary art.The book is illustratedwith images of architecture, art works, views of cities,maps and other materials and includes nine speciallycommissioned artists' pages commissioned from the leadingcontemporary artists Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson. ... Read more

Product Description
A woman is shot in the head, left for dead in a deserted New England cemetery. Her boyfriend's corpse turns up in her blood-spattered home. Now, as the dazed, grieving Sylvia Jackson comes to grips with her loss--and with her devastating brain injury--a brilliant forensic psychologist is reluctantly drawn into a chilling case that forces him to confront the horror of his own tragic past.No stranger to the brutal aftermath of murder, widowed Dr. Peter Zak is determined to unravel the secrets trapped in Sylvia's shattered mind. Slowly, nightmarish details are coming back to her. But as a deadly scenario emerges, Peter can't help wondering: are Sylvia's fragmented recollections true memories? Or were they painstakingly planted in her mind by someone close to her...someone bent on getting away with murder... AUTHORBIO: G.H. EPHRON is actually two people, Hallie Ephron, a journalist, and Dr. A.A. Greeley, a forensic neuropsychologist, writing together. Both live in Massachusetts, and this is their first book.Amazon.com Review
Forensic psychologist Peter Zak is still plagued by guilt over his failure to save his wife from death at the hands of a criminal angered by Peter's suggestion of an insanity defense at his trial. But he reluctantly agrees to evaluate the mental competence of Sylvia Jackson, whose memory of the events surrounding her boyfriend's murder seems to Peter to have been influenced by the Boston policeman who hasn't left her side since she awakened from a coma weeks after the killing. Although she remembers nothing at first, within a few months she is sure enough of significant details to implicate her former husband, whose lawyer calls on Peter's expertise to challenge her testimony. There's a connection between Sylvia Jackson and Maria Whitson, a private patient referred to Peter by a colleague after a failed suicide attempt, but the full import of it isn't teased out until the penultimate chapter. Meanwhile, the authors do an excellent job of explaining the vagaries of the mind, memory loss, and traumatic amnesia.

Amnesia, a collaboration between a sibling of the writing Ephrons and a Boston-area psychologist, is an engrossing thriller with a complex protagonist well versed in the etiology of false memory syndrome. Peter's mother and Annie Squires, a public defender whose patient affection awakens feelings Peter has buried since his wife's death, are appealing minor characters, and the particulars of the Cambridge setting--sculling on the Charles in a chilly, gray dawn, the memorable taste of a toffee-topped cone from Steve's Ice Cream--are nicely rendered. --Jane Adams ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A Book You Won't Forget Reading!
This was a pretty entertaining mystery. The psychology angle made it quite interesting and gave it an added element over the standard mystery. But the characters, overall, lacked that certain sparkle to be the first book in a series that I am desperate to continue reading. I will say that for it being written by two authors, it was remarkably cohesive. The ending was not a complete surprise, but it was exciting.

A slow but exciting mystery
In the novel Amnesia, the Protagonist Dr. Peter Zak works in the Neuropsychiatric Unit.Life for him consists of work and rowing in the Charles, in his last gift from his wife Kate.This being the only thing that could keep him from playing back those chilling images of Kate's death.He had long since stopped working as a forensic scientist until one call from an old friend drew him back in.A very intriguing case had come up, seems a women was shot in the head, and left to die, spent weeks in a coma, only to wake up and remember the killer.Dr. Zak's job could she really remember who the killer was after being shot in the head and going into a coma?This book was a very good mystery novel.I myself enjoyed reading it but found that I came to be inpatient because of the time it took to really unravel the mystery.I found that the action just doesn't really come soon enough for me personally, but when it did it was hard to stop reading.

AN INVITATION
You are all invited to come toWinsted's Beardsley & MemorialLibrary Mystery Discussion Groupmeeting.    They say that the apple ofcreativity doesn't fall far fromthe tree. That appears to be thecase with this apple from theEphron family tree.   On April 9 we will have thepleasure of hosting HALLIE EPHRON.  Hallie is the third daughter ofHenry and Phoebe Ephron, whom amongother things, wrote the screenplays for"Carousel", "Desk Set", and "Daddy LongLegs".      Her older sister Nora Ephron, isthe writer, director and producerof such favorites as, "Sleepless in Seattle", and "You've Got Mail".In my opinion, these are a farcry from the bad majority of theHollywood violence andblood-letting movies that besmirchthe once "silver screen".  Before deciding to join herfamily in the writing trade, Hallietaught at Curry College and LesleyUniversity. I also discovered thatshe teaches workshops for publishedand aspiring writers in Summerwriters'conference classes on CapeCod.  With her partner Donald Davidoff,Hallie has authored the Dr. PeterZak mysteries:Amnesia(2000),Addiction(2001), anda soon-to-be-published Delirium.Donald Davidoff is aforensicpsychologist who teaches atthe Harvard Medical School, andruns a neuropsychiatric unit in theUniversity's psychiatric hospital.

More than Mystery
I liked this book not just because Peter Zak is sympathetic and engaging, and not just because it has a suspenseful and well-constucted plot. I liked this book because it explored the idea of memory and made me think differently about eye-witness testimony. A great read!

Can't put it down
This is the kind of book that grips you from page one and makes you want to re-read the whole thing when you're done to see if you could have spotted whodunnit. Very much looking forward to "Addiction" next and hopefully a whole series of books by such great writer(s). ... Read more