101 Theory Drive, Terry McDermott
101 Theory Drive, Terry McDermott
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101 Theory Drive
A Neuroscientist's Quest for Memory

Author: Terry McDermott

Narrator: Stephen Hoye

Unabridged: 8 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/06/2010


Synopsis

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.

About Terry McDermott

Terry McDermott spent thirty years working as a reporter for eight different newspapers, most recently at the Los Angeles Times. He is the winner of the 2008 Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award for his four-part investigative study of research on memory and the author of Perfect Soldiers: The 9/11 Hijackers-Who They Were, Why They Did It. He lives in Los Angeles.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kent on July 28, 2018

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......more

Goodreads review by Peter on December 04, 2014

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......more

Goodreads review by Tom on July 23, 2017

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......more

Goodreads review by Leif on December 29, 2017

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 s......more

Goodreads review by Seth on November 28, 2017

A bit crass and rambling, and altogether fun.......more