The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extrardinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science

by Jill Price and Bart Davis

Book Overview

Jill Price has the first diagnosed case of a memory condition called "hyperthymestic syndrome" -- the continuous, automatic, autobiographical recall of every day of her life since she was fourteen.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416561765
• ISBN13: 9781416561767
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 263 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Find out what researchers have discovered about her memory

Jill Price remembers everything she's ever done since 1970 - in minute detail. If she heard about events happening around the country or the world, she can tell you about those too. Sounds great, right? For Jill, her astounding memory is both a blessing and a curse. Her memories constantly play through her head, triggered by a sound, a smell, or something else. The emotions of the memory - both good and bad - remain strong. Follow Jill's story from her childhood to the present. See how her extraordinary memory impacted her life and kept her mired in the past. Find out what researchers have discovered about her memory. Listen to this CD - when Jill introduces medical jargon, it's nice to have the correct pronunciation.

The Woman Who Can't Forget

I was intrigued by the idea of someone who could remember every detail of their life. For most of us we can only remember very small details of our lives, but Jill Price has memories as early as 18 months. As fasinating as it may seem to us she is haunted by every bad thing she ever said to anyone or wrong that was ever infliced on her. This is something most of us never have to indure, time heals most wounds for us, not Jill. This was a fascinating read, enjoyed it.

DVD

Great service and product in great condition! Thank you! Sue Molitor

You Can Do It, Too

Seeing this fascinating woman's story lead me to the discovery of my life: how anyone can improve brain function without medicine or surgery that starts working immediately and only improves as you practice. When Jill Price, "The Woman Who Can't Forget" was cat scanned, we learned one area of her brain was used more than other persons used it. When she was 8, she TRAINED her brain to organize memories by date, just by telling her brain to do so. All of us have more than one "channel" of brain thoughts going simultaneously. My real time thoughts are interrupted constantly over the two survival techniques humans require: where are we getting our next food (for survival of the self) and where are we getting our next sex (for survival of the species). In addition I had interruptions from negative thoughts of remembered experiences and regrets. When these memories are of painful events, they can interfere with or disable normal function. The solution? TELL YOUR BRAIN TO OPEN ANOTHER CHANNEL. That's it. I had already used this technique to solve lifelong inexplicable questions. I would tell myself before I went to sleep to send me the answers in a dream or daydream. And it worked! I once got the answer to a problem that arose before I was old enough to verbalize what was happening -- right in the middle of a busy expressway! After reading Jills story, I told myself to open a "happy" channel. Whenever a negative thought arose, I immediately replace it with a happy thought (too personal to give examples). You can have two (maybe even more) channels open at all times if you practice for "being here now", the past, overcoming the past, and the future - simultaneously as you direct. Try it, youll like it -- and thank you Jill!

The Blessing and the Curse of Memory

Most of us take the ability to remember for granted in a sense. We are fascinated by those who can remember well, and bemoan the loss of our own memories, often attributing such things to the ravages of age. And having seen the horrible effects of Alzheimer's firsthand through my late Grandmother, watching someone slowly robbed of their very soul as their memories are eaten away is a slow and painful process I pray no one ever has to witness. But what we don't realize that some things are best forgotten, or at least dulled by the passage of time. It is in much of that which we forget that allows us to evolve and grow. Just because we don't remember the particulars of an event doesn't mean they don't have lasting effects on us that, ultimately, make us smarter, stronger human beings. But imagine if you never forgot those things... When I first saw Jill Price's story on ABC's 20/20, I immediately purchased and downloaded the book to my Kindle Reading Device because it seemed like such a fascinating story. Price suffers from the first documented case of "hyperthymestic syndrome", which refers to the continuous, automatic, autobiographical recall of every day of her life. On the surface one would think that such an ability is a gift, a blessing that every unsuspecting person wishes they had been given. But as Jill Price takes us through her life journey, we discover the bitter that inevitably goes along with the seemingly sweet. Her syndrome is great in that it allows her to forever relive the most wonderful moments of her life, like meeting and falling in love with her one true love. But imagine when that also means the inability to escape the most embarrassing or painful moments of your life, like the sudden death of this very man of your dreams. Price's memory are vivid and potent, carrying with them not only the clear visuals of every recorded event, but the feelings, sounds, and smells of the moment as well. Childhood fears, though adulthood allows her to put rational perspective upon them, are still as powerful as when she was a child. And although she has the ability to call upon whatever memory she wishes at the prompting of a date, the memories also can come upon her unbidden, and cannot simply be dismissed the way one would change the television set if you don't like what's airing one channel.We've all heard of people who dwell on the past, as well as those who only live in the now. But for Jill Price, there is little distinction between the two, and the only thing more extraordinary than the life journey she's traveled so far is the fact that she's seemingly come through it sane and whole. The book is not only a great biography about a woman dealing with an extraordinary ability that she's only recently found scientific explanations for, but Price also provides a lot of background information about how the mind and memory work, and how they play such vital roles in the people we become. I found it a very compelling read, and I think yo