Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Book of the Week

Audiobooks

Factual

Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

BBC Radio 4 FM

Book of the Week: Permanent Present Tense

Debora Weston

Elizabeth Allard

Suzanne Corkin

Richard Hamilton

Book of the Week: Permanent Present Tense: Episode 1

Factual: Life Stories

Permanent Present Tense

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Permanent Present Tense, Episode 1

In 1953, age 27, Henry Molaison undergoes experimental brain surgery.

Permanent Present Tense by Suzanne Corkin is the fascinating story of the life and legacy of Henry Molaison. In 1953 Henry underwent an experimental brain operation to alleviate his debilitating epilepsy which had a devastating and unexpected side effect. Henry was unable to store or recall any new memories, no longer could he remember the faces of new people he met, the places he visited, the moments he lived through, and the myriad experiences of everyday life. Memories slipped from him after just thirty seconds. Following the medical procedure he became the subject of research into neuroscience and went on to transform the way the scientific community understand memory and how it functions. This book is both a biography of Henry (known in the media and the world of science as HM), and the development of neuroscience over the course of the fifty years from the date of Henry's operation to his death in 2008.

Permanent Present Tense is written by the renowned neuroscientist Suzanne Corkin who is the head of the Corkin Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She worked with Henry for nearly five decades and tells his story and that of his contribution to medical science and elucidates the complex world of memory and the advances that have been made by researchers and enhanced by the technological revolution of the last half century.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Suzanne Corkin's story of the life and legacy of the man with no memory, Henry Molaison

Suzanne Corkin's story of the life and legacy of the man with no memory, Henry Molaison. Read by Debora Weston

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Book of the Week

Permanent Present Tense

Episode 1

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4