A Sense of Self: Memory, the Brain, and Who We Are
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-06-03 03:19:02
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Victoria O'Keane
- ISBN：0393541924
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
A twinge of sadness， a rush of love， a knot of loss， a whiff of regret。 Memories have the power to move us， often when we least expect it， a sign of the complex neural process that continues in the background of our everyday lives。 This process shapes us: filtering the world around us， informing our behavior and feeding our imagination。
Psychiatrist Veronica O’Keane has spent many years observing how memory and experience are interwoven。 In this exploration， she asks， among other things: Why can memories feel so real？ How are our sensations and perceptions connected with them？ Why is place so important in memory？ Are there such things as “true” and “false” memories？ And， above all， what happens when the process of memory is disrupted by mental illness？ O’Keane uses the broken memories of psychosis to illuminate the integrated human brain， offering a new way of thinking about our own personal experiences。
Psychiatrist Veronica O’Keane has spent many years observing how memory and experience are interwoven。 In this exploration， she asks， among other things: Why can memories feel so real？ How are our sensations and perceptions connected with them？ Why is place so important in memory？ Are there such things as “true” and “false” memories？ And， above all， what happens when the process of memory is disrupted by mental illness？ O’Keane uses the broken memories of psychosis to illuminate the integrated human brain， offering a new way of thinking about our own personal experiences。
Reviews
Canadian Reader
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Published in the UK as The Rag and Bone Shop: How We Make Memories and Memories Make UsRating: 3。5Veronica O’Keane has been a practising psychiatrist and researcher for over thirty-five years。 She has worked in both England and Ireland and has particular expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of post-partum psychosis and depressive illness。 She explains that when she was training， Freudian theory and therapeutic technique dominated the field of psychiatry， but that from the late 1990s on disco Published in the UK as The Rag and Bone Shop: How We Make Memories and Memories Make UsRating: 3。5Veronica O’Keane has been a practising psychiatrist and researcher for over thirty-five years。 She has worked in both England and Ireland and has particular expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of post-partum psychosis and depressive illness。 She explains that when she was training， Freudian theory and therapeutic technique dominated the field of psychiatry， but that from the late 1990s on discoveries in neuroscience have shed light on the biological underpinnings of mental illness。 In The Rag and Bone Shop she provides case studies of psychiatric patients she has cared for over the years， reflecting on their illnesses—from anorexia and borderline personality disorder to mania and schizophrenia—in light of discoveries about brain anatomy， circuitry， and the neurophysiology of memory。 Psychologist William James’s observation that the study of abnormal mental function can help us to better understand what is normal resonates strongly for O’Keane， forming the bedrock of her book。 In addition to her own clinical experience with mentally ill patients， she draws on the findings of psychologists， philosophers， neurosurgeons， and researchers—historical and current—and on the literary works of greats from Samuel Beckett to Virginia Woolf， who， she declares， were highly observant and even prescient about the workings of the brain。 Rich in detail， fascinating， and informative， O’Keane’s book is ambitious， possibly too much so。 （I think the forays into physics and folklore， for example， could quite safely be cut。） Early on， she writes that she is interested in the question of memory。 However， her work ranges well beyond that subject， her stated focus seemingly ironically forgotten。 I found the title， taken from Yeats， rather misleading。 O’Keane invokes “the rag and bone shop of the heart” in her discussion of the prefrontal cortex and insula of the brain， regions which interpret and regulate our emotional responses to the external and internal worlds。 Since the book is about so much more than these areas of the brain， I would have liked to see a more general and inclusive title。I read an uncorrected proof provided by the publisher。 It was abundantly clear that the text was still in its own “rag-and-bone” form—that is， still in need of a fairly significant clean-up。 There were numerous distracting typos， dangling modifiers， pronoun agreement and reference problems， punctuation issues， and many baggy， ungrammatical sentences。 Since the material is fairly dense and complex for the lay reader， I do hope the prose undergoes a rigorous editing。 I would especially love to see someone correct O’Keane’s tendency to refer to research subjects， not in the expected plural—i。e。， as “rats”， “monkeys”， or “babies”—but in the singular， as proper nouns。 Her writing about how seven-month-old babies learn that their parents are separate people is particularly grating and awkward: “If Baby is left alone too long or if they are not soothed 。 。 。 difficulty in forming trustful relationships may start” and “About eighteen months later Baby begins to become aware of themself。” I have no doubt that O’Keane’s subject matter would fascinate many。 Having said that， I think some expert revision and editing are in order before this book is sent out into the larger world。Many thanks to Allen Lane/Penguin for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review。 。。。more
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