Where Does the Self Live?

Book cover for The Perpetual Now, A Story of Amnesia, Memory, and Love, by Michael D. LemonickThe Perpetual Now: A Story of Amnesia, Memory and Love by Michael D. Lemonick, published by Doubleday, 2016. Visit the author’s website at http://michaeldlemonick.com/ for ordering info and an audio clip from the book.

Wow, folks. I actually read a physical book. This is another product of time spent at the library while our house was being shown. I cannot tell you how fascinating it is. You must, must, MUST read it. It is so engagingly written, about such an engaging subject, that you’ll find it . . . engaging.

The book would be worth reading even without the drama of the main’s character’s loss of memory, as it centers around a remarkable family, the Johnsons. The parents of Lonni Sue Johnson, the central figure, were a world-class physicist and an equally-world-class artist. They had one of the world’s best marriages, at least as it’s presented in the book. And Lonni Sue’s sister, Aline, is an immensely-talented computer analyst and musician. As for Lonni Sue herself, she was a commercial artist whose work was published on the cover of The New Yorker magazine five times.

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