Exploring the Mind: Eric R. Kandel's In Search of Memory and the Birth of a New Science

jan: good

United Kingdom on Dec 23, 2023

Joaquin CabreraJoaquin Cabrera: One of my favorite titles in my personal library. A book that will walk you through Kandel's childhood in Nazi Germany, psychology, neuroscience and molecular biology. I love this book

Australia on Sep 15, 2023

Raghubir Singh Pirta: In Search of Memory is a wonderful journey with Eric Kandel. One learns about the trauma of nine years old child, who later explores how these traumatic memories are storedin the brain. And earns the Nobel Prize. The other issue before Kandel was to answer how does a most educated society gets infected by processes of Aryanization. For which he has only partial answer.

India on Jan 27, 2020

Yoana: La obra del Dr. Kandel es fascinante, el medio del envío no fue el mejor, llegó en un sobre que rompieron de una esquina para ver el contenido y por tanto los bordes del libro se dañaron ligeramente

Mexico on Jul 31, 2019

Julie De Merchant: Very informative and detailed account of a life's work in memory research. A interesting scientific book, well written.

Canada on Mar 11, 2019

A. Menon: I bought this book when it was first published but for some reason got distracted while reading it the first time and put it down. Luckily i recently decided to pick it up again- the book is fantastic. In search of Memory is a mixture of autobiography and science. The author constructs the book around his own history and his own motivation both for study of memory. The book is split into 6 sections with the first and last focused on personal history and the middle four focused on the author's work. All is engaging and readible and highly recommended, I will give a brief overview of the sections.

In the first section the author describes his childhood in Vienna with the Nazi invasion and the persecution he and his family faced- he describes the hardships faced and the journey taken to go to the US. In this section the stage is set to pose the questions about how memory works. In particular, how memories can be so clear so far from the date of experience in certain situations and where this permanence is formed and stored is pondered. Though few can empathize with the author's experience all can sympathize with the questions about the basis for memory.

The author works...

United States on May 07, 2012

Emil B: This is an extraordinary book about neuroscience , physiology, molecular biology and neurobiology and also about people and history. I bought the book with the intention to satisfy my curiosity in the latest developments in the science of mind. I was ready to handle an experience of reading through dry, complex theories and do some hard work of extracting information that I can make sense with my limited knowledge. Surprisingly, the book has none of that; it is written so well, as if it is the transcript of an one on one conversation between friends, so captivating, so clear and so human. I could not let go of it, reading until small hours when reluctantly, I had to go to sleep so next day I could show up at work in a reasonable shape.

The book interweaves threads of science, personal life stories, career, friends, Jewish history, Nobel prize ceremony and biotechnology. The main story is about neuroscience, with emphasis on personal scientific work that culminated with Nobel prize award in 2000. The book can be divided in following sections: personal life, history of neuroscience and molecular biology, short term memory, long term memory, complex behavior and DNA,...

United States on Nov 15, 2006