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The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science--A Memoir Paperback – May 5, 2009

by Jill Price (Author), Bart Davis
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 62 ratings
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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. Give her any date from that year on, and she can almost instantly tell you what day of the week it was, what she did on that day, and any major world event or cultural happening that took place, as long as she heard about it that day. Her memories are like scenes from home movies, constantly playing in her head, backward and forward, through the years; not only does she make no effort to call her memories to mind, she cannot stop them.

The Woman Who Can't Forget is the beautifully written and moving story of Jill's quest to come to terms with her extraordinary memory, living with a condition that no one understood, including her, until the scientific team who studied her finally charted the extraordinary terrain of her abilities. Her fascinating journey speaks volumes about the delicate dance of remembering and forgetting in all of our lives and the many mysteries about how our memories shape us.

As we learn of Jill's struggles first to realize how unusual her memory is and then to contend, as she grows up, with the unique challenges of not being able to forget -- remembering both the good times and the bad, the joyous and the devastating, in such vivid and insistent detail -- the way her memory works is contrasted to a wealth of discoveries about the workings of normal human memory and normal human forgetting. Intriguing light is shed on the vital role of what's called "motivated forgetting"; as well as theories about childhood amnesia, the loss of memory for the first two to three years of our lives; the emotional content of memories; and the way in which autobiographical memories are normally crafted into an ever-evolving and empowering life story.

Would we want to remember so much more of our lives if we could? Which memories do our minds privilege over others? Do we truly relive the times we remember most vividly, feeling the emotions that coursed through us then? Why do we forget so much, and in what ways do the workings of memory tailor the reality of what's actually happened to us in our lives?

In The Woman Who Can't Forget, Jill Price welcomes us into her remarkable life and takes us on a mind-opening voyage into what life would be like if we didn't forget -- a voyage after which no reader will think of the magical role of memory in our lives in the same way again.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    263 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    May 5, 2009
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1416561773
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1416561774
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Woman Who Can't Forget is fascinating, whether dealing with the details of Price's life or with the science of the brain, offering glimpses not only into the mysteries of memory but into emotional struggles like depression, anger, forgiveness and even growing up." -- BookPage.com

"[Price's] insights into the nature of memory, forgetting and the formation of our sense of self will resonate with a wide audience." -- Publishers Weekly

"Price has a knack for vividly rendering childhood memories like scenes from an impressionistic film." -- Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Jill Price is the subject of the most exhaustive scientific inquiry into superior memory in history. She has kept her identity anonymous until now, known by the scientific community as patient "AJ," the first patient to ever be diagnosed with what the scientists who have studied her have called hyperthymestic syndrome. She lives in Los Angeles and is currently working as an administrator at an elementary school.

Bart Davis has written four nonfiction books, The Woman Who Can’t Forget, Closure, Shooting Stars, and Holy War on the Home Front. He is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and Stony Brook University and holds a BA in English and an MA in social work.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Free Press; Reprint edition (May 5, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 263 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1416561773
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416561774
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 62 ratings

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Jill Price

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
62 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Laurie Hill
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book!!
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2015
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This book was stumbled upon quite randomly, and has been the most interesting read I've had in a very long time.

The main topic of the book is Jill's insane memory, and its toll on her day to day existence... and especially the fact that there has not been many, if any,quite like her in science history study or past research, from what the book claims. Absolutely fascinating. And so scary, too. I have nothing but sympathy for the author's strife with her condition, and respect for her getting through her life nonetheless, with strength and perseverance.

Layered behind this memory thing is such a great story of her life, told so frankly and with such raw honesty, suffused with her emotions enough to paint a very deep and colorful picture. I was caught up in her life. I do not understand some previous reviews about it being written poorly. Absolute rubbish! It was written so well I thought!! Jill fills out all of her 'supporting cast characters' by her interactions with them and I felt like I was a part of her family, too. I absolutely love her parents! And felt her fears and mourned her losses. I was lost in this book and can't wait for a sequel if that should be a thing she thinks about down the line. I'm hooked on her story!!

I rarely write reviews. But I am today to give Jill the kudos well-deserved after reading previous reviews and wanting to add mine to the mix. This is such a great book. Five Stars!!
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California Dreaming
4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly a Glass-Half-Full Book for a Glass-Half-Empty Kind of Guy
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2023
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I guess you could call me a glass-half-empty kind of guy. And if it's half empty it may as well BE empty. And I suppose it will be empty soon if it's, oh, a nice Chimay on tap, one thing that might make me temporarily feel that the glass is still half full. It is oh so tasty. But I studied Computer Science (CS) and so that is at least a part of it. If you're a CS person the first thing you think about -- unfortunately most software engineers actually don't from my experience -- when given a new problem is, "Is this problem even Decidable? And if it is, what's the worst-case runtime if you were to write the code to decide it?" After all, if you were, say, writing code for the International Space Station and your software takes a hundred years to return an answer, that might be a little too slow for the astronauts with their lives literally on the line.

But lucky for me I don't have a perfect memory like the author of "The Woman Who Can't Forget" (WCF), Jill Price. If I did all those half-empty glasses from the past would keep popping into my head like a bad nightmare and that simply wouldn't do. But Ms. Price DOES seem to have a perfect memory and for her it seems to be mostly a burden. She even says so if you watch any of the interviews she's given, which you might want to do first if you're even considering buying and reading WCF, which I give a mild recommendation that you do. And I will only write "mild" because WCF certainly isn't for everyone. One guy wrote in his review something like, "I didn't like the book and so don't waste your time. Life is short. Remember?" It's a mildly-funny comment that's as snarky as Hugh Laurie on "House" when making fun of his sidekick Wilson after a night out having one too many Chimays. But I'll admit I laughed a bit when reading his review anyways.

I have watched interviews with other "sufferers" of "Hyperthymestic Syndrome" (HS) and some seem to be happy about it. Marilu Henner, seems to think that life wouldn't be any good at all if she couldn't remember what day of the week any day from her life was if simply given a date; or if she couldn't remember her lines from some episode of "Taxi" or even the lines from any of the other actors from that show as well. Or what dress she was wearing on some episode. There's a young guy from England who mostly seems to be happy having HS although he doesn't seem as enthusiastic about it as Ms. Henner. He got tired of talking about episodes from some reality TV show from memory, although I forget which one because, well, I can easily forget. But once again, Ms. Price doesn't seem completely thrilled about the syndrome.

At times information that comes at you in WCF feels scattershot, and I think that's on purpose by Ms. Price. A few times in the book she just randomly throws out dates and memories and it actually helps the reader understand how her mind works and maybe how she feels about it. I often tend to think of things that have happened in my life out of the blue as well, just like everyone else, although the things I remember I will admit tend to be things that I would very much like to forget. I mean, if good things did happen in life I would remember those, right? (That was supposed to be a joke of course. Naturally I occasionally remember good times, like the trip my wife and I flew to Europe and toured through Germany and the Czech Republic, and then continued on to Greece and visited Santorini. Hopefully I'll never forget about that trip outside of deciding to walk from Fira to Oia on a 90-degree day without sunscreen. That was dumb.)

If you read WCF you will get a lot of the details of Ms. Price's life, the good and the bad. She actually does discuss a lot of fond memories she's had, such as houses she lived in and some of the schools she attended. Of course there were schools she went to where she had a bad experience, just like everyone else. No one has a life like Ferris Bueller where he can just willy-nilly take a day off, go for a drive in a vintage Ferrari, sing in a parade, get home in time to feign illness in bed, and then not suffer any consequences of playing hooky. Life just doesn't work that way. Well, at least it didn't for me when I was going to high school although I did take a few too many "sick days" when I got Senioritis.

One interesting item in the book, at least for me. Without giving much away, in the latter half of the book, she discusses meeting her future husband which was a very happy day for her. He actually lived very close to where I live now although at the time I was living near Seattle I believe. I won't write what happens in that part of her life although she has some very good, and some very sad, memories that came from it.

Well, will I recommend "The Woman Who Can't Forget"? If you like memoirs, if you're interested in people who seem to have "Superpowers," and you don't demand that some author is "happy, happy" all the time -- those types of books actually usually irritate me as I'm not a huge fan of glass-half-full people -- then WCF might be for you. I suppose I didn't have a bad time while reading; that's the best that I can do. After all, once again, I'm a glass-half-empty kind of guy myself.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Read
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2023
Verified Purchase
I don’t do many reviews but I thought this memoir was superb. It was very detailed at times, but I understand the author wanted that detail to explain her many thoughts. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes science and the power of our brains. Thank you Jill for sharing your story.
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Michael
3.0 out of 5 stars Sympathy and respect
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2017
When I first heard about the "woman who can't forget", I just couldn't wait to get this book and to read about her phenomenal autobiographic memory. And indeed, Jill Price's life story is quite astonishing and frightening as well. It must have been and still must be a daily nightmare being prone to recollections of the past without having any control about it. And so I realized that it might actually be a blessing not to remember everything or, at least, not to relive the same feelings and sensations with the same vivid intensity one felt making those life experiences. Because that's exactly what Jill Price does and it is obviously something she can hardly cope with. She desserves our sympathy and our respect. But I must confess too that I was a little disappointed. Jill Price is a rather modest and discreet person who doesn't show off and keeps, I think, a lot of things to herself. She is absolutely right in doing so, but I couldn't help wondering what a real author could have made out of such an extraordinary condition of eternal recall. Because Jill Price is not an author and because she does not like to elaborate on her private life, I didn't find much detailed or vivid insights into her mental life. She treats her condition in a rather superficial and slightly repeating manner. Her favorite expressions she uses, well, a lot are "thought-provoking" and "the swirling of my memories". But it's an interesting book anyway and for me it was a first step towards modern psychology research and neuroscience. It's a fascinating field of research I discovered thanks to Jill Price.
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K. Ortego
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting...very insightful
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2008
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I thought the book was good and very insightful to the workings of the human brain. The book gave you quite a perspective to someone who has such a remarkable memory.
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Joy M.
5.0 out of 5 stars In My top 5 favorite books
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2022
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Wow! Reading this book is life changing for me on so many levels.

All I can say is thank you Jill for having the courage to share your moving story. I plan to purchase the hard copy as well to keep in my bookshelf reserved for my favorites.
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patricia earnest
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2013
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This is a great read for any adult...It is written well and very interesting...I really liked this book for my daughter.
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Top reviews from other countries

Peter Roberts
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting In Places
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2013
Verified Purchase
It was an interesting read but very dry in some places. Whilst I appreciate that Jill wants to give us an impression of how detailed her autobiographical recall is that doesn't mean that this all pervasive detail must always be included in the book.
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