Lemonick: The Perpetual Now

THE PERPETUAL NOW:
A STORY OF AMNESIA, MEMORY, AND LOVE
Michael D. Lemonick
Doubleday; February 7, 2017; $27.95
ISBN-10: 0385539665; ISBN-13: 978-0385539661

Lemonick reports:

My book tells the story of Lonni Sue Johnson, an accomplished artist, musician, pilot and organic dairy farmer who came down with viral encephalitis in her late 50’s and became what neuroscientists call “densely amnesic.” Like the celebrated H.M., she can no longer remember more than a fraction of her past, and can’t form new memories to carry into the future. I write about her life before amnesia, what happened, and what her life is like now. I also write about the history of memory research, and of the new research on Lonni Sue — someone with a far richer set of talents than any amnesia victim studied to date — which is helping neuroscientists deepen their understanding of how memory works.

The book came about when Lonni Sue’s younger sister, Aline, came up to me on the street one day and asked if I’d heard about the tragedy that had struck her family. I knew Aline Johnson from middle and high school (seeing her face triggered a rush of memories — the experience that I describe in the book’s first chapter).

I was invited into the family home, introduced to the scientists are studying Lonni Sue, and given the extraordinary opportunity of spending time with Lonni Sue herself, whose warmth and graciousness belied the profound brain damage she had suffered. Aline and her mother also introduced me to Lonni Sue’s friends from childhood and through her adulthood; together they all helped me reconstruct a life Lonni Sue herself no longer can recall.

I already had an agent, who helped me refine my proposal and then sell it, so that part was straightforward, if not easy. For the book itself, I had to do my research on weekends and during vacations. Fortunately, the Johnson family and I both still live in Princeton, the town where Lonni Sue and Aline grew up, which made logistics easier.

What surprised me most was that I’d assumed someone with a badly damaged memory would have lost most of her “self,” since we think of our memories as fundamental to who we are. It wasn’t that way at all: Lonni Sue is at her core essentially the same charming, engaging person she was before her illness. It was a privilege to be given a glimpse into her remarkable life.

Contact info:

• Michael Lemonick, 609-203-4813; mikelemonick@gmail.com
• Book website: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/246470/the-perpetual-now-by-michael-d-lemonick/9780385539661/
• Agent: Eleanor Jackson; 212 645-7606, eleanor@dclagency.com
• Publicist: Michael Goldsmith; 212 782-8412, mgoldsmith@penguinrandomhouse.com

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