Engel, Howard (b. 1931)

The Man Who Forgot How to Read

New York

St. Martin's Press

2007

"I knew I could no longer rely on the 'sticking plaster' of memory"

Gradually, I got the hang of the way my brain was working now. It did most of what I wanted it to do, but it had sand traps that I learned to avoid. I knew I could no longer rely on the "sticking plaster" of memory. I could forget a word in the second part of what I was saying, even though I had already used the word a moment earlier. I could no longer depend on being able to say what I had in mind. I had to work my way through what I had on my mind to say before I said it. And when an idea for additional information to throw into a discussion came into my head, it often evaporated when I was on the point of saying it. This obstacle turned me into more of a listener than a talker, which gave my friends some relief.
(pp. 64-5)

Uncategorized::Sticking Plaster

Reading Oliver Sacks, "A Man of Letters," The New Yorker June 28, 2010, p. 28.

Howard Engel, The Man Who Forgot How to Read. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2007.

07/02/2010