This book could easily be my best read of the year, even though we are early in March. Arguably, some parts are a bit boring to me, when the scientific terms are largely unknown to me. That said, majority of the book is an intertwine of personal memories, and the scientific findings about how memories work -- adding together, making the title of the book such a perfect choice.

The part that I loved the most, is the authors vulnerability, imposter syndrome even, throughout his career as a scientist. After being trained as a psychiatrist, he decided to devote his life to biological studies, adopting the methodology of examining "one cell at a time".

I was discussing with a friend who's also doing research on biology about this book. His comments was: the author was lucky in making a few critical decisions. I didn't want to debate on this, but deep down I feel the author wasn't just lucky - he made those seemingly risky choices with strong intuition about where the real breakthrough will come from. Such intuition, and a style of Viennese narratives, made up the life of a great scientist and an amazing person. I'm beyond fascinated.

Fantastic! I really enjoyed learning of his life, career, and what led him to win the Nobel prize. So wonderful reading of his scientific experiments and how he thinks. I may have a biased review because I'm studying psychology/neuroscience but this book will be one I will return to probably multiple times in the future.

In Search of Memory is a wonderful journey with Eric Kandel. One learns about the trauma of nine years old child, who later explores how these traumatic memories are storedin the brain. And earns the Nobel Prize. The other issue before Kandel was to answer how does a most educated society gets infected by processes of Aryanization. For which he has only partial answer.
self publishing

Nobel ödüllü Eric(h) Kandel’in otobiyografisini okumaya güdülenmiştim ki John Nash’in biyografisini konu alan Akıl Oyunları gibi bir kitap bekliyordum. Hayatının savaşa ve göçmenliğe dair kesitleri beni bağlasa da çalışmaları bana aşırı teknik dilde ve sıkıcı geldi. O kadar koptum ki belleğin beyinde nasıl şekillenip depolandığını tam anlamış değilim.

I read this book for 2 reasons: a treetop view of the science of molecular neurobiology, particularly as it relates to memory and consciousness, and a memoir of a very interesting man who wrote another fascinating book I have read — Reductionism in Art and Brain Science. Even though the science was sometimes too detailed for me, I learned a lot.

Kandel did something amazing -- he so smoothly interweaved his personal story with history of both biology of mind and 20th century Austria, molecular biology, and philosophy. Sure, toward the middle, the biology was dense and mostly over my head. But his story is so fascinating and illustrious, and for the most part, he handled the complex science exposition in interesting ways, tying it all to his and his colleagues' work. I would love to read more books like this, tying autobiographies to in depth explorations of history, science, and philosophy.

Almost 20 years old, yet this is a wonderfully astute analysis of the “science of mind.” As a Nobel Prize holding neuroscientist, Dr. Eric R. Kandel’s life is not short on engrossing moments, which he intermixes with plenty of instructive writing on the mind. He covers elementary cell biology clearly during the first parts of the book. Gradually, he connects the dots to his wide-spanning scientific work. In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind outlines how Dr. Kandel’s (and others’) research findings illuminated our understanding of attention and consciousness. In the end, he illustrates his humanity, his science, and indirectly- our nature as humans.

This book is the author's scientific and personal journey. This book provides explanations about the inner workings of the mind, particularly memory. He also talks about the different approaches scientists have used and the variety of experiments to get a better understanding on the mind. Before this, I read a book on gene (Gene: an intimate history), and this book has many references to the advances in genetic studies which nicely intertwined in my mind. In all, a great text for beginners who want to understand the workings of the mind biologically. I also recommend watching Dr Kandel's TED talk.
"Apart from the fleeting present, memory is what makes our past and future". - Eric R. Kandel

I'm taking a course at Oxford this summer on "The Brain and the Senses." So this is a little extra homework. The idea of memory, where thoughts come from, etc., is fascinating to me.

And, many years ago, before I was there, Kandel had his laboratory at the Public Health Research Institute, of which I was later CEO.

I'll post more when I get into it.

I HAVE NOW COMPLETED BOTH THE COURSE AND KANDEL'S BOOK.

BOTH WERE TERRIFIC!

The course, offered by Oxford tutor Gillie McNeill, combined descriptions of sensory processes with an explanation of the underlying molecular activity that integrates the incoming perceptions and what's already in memory to create a coherent narrative.

We started by eating a cracker and considering what was involved in our individual perceptions of that event ... taste, smell, sight, feel, sound, and memory of crackers and herbs previously ingested. Quite a bit for the first few minutes of the course.

Kandel’s book offers enchanting glimpses of his life story, the history of brain psychology and science, and a description of the experiments (of Kandel and others) which are moving our understanding of the brain forward at an incredible pace while also revealing just how little we still know.

Kandel’s decision, early in his career, to begin his life’s work with the study of a single cell, set the stage for the way he approached his work. He decided to study the giant marine snail Aplysia as his first means to understand how information was brought into a cell and transferred out to another cell. Learn how that happens, multiply by tens of billions, and you have a working human brain.

These quotes may communicate the excitement of Kandel’s journey (which by the way led to a Nobel prize)...

“the realization that the workings of the brain - the ability not only to perceive but to think, learn, and store information - may occur through chemical as well as electrical signals expanded the appeal of brain science from anatomists and electro-physiologists to biochemists.”

“I was testing the idea that the cellular mechanisms underlying learning and memory are likely to have been conserved through evolution and therefore to be found in simple animals.”

“We pointed out the importance of discovering what actually goes on at the level of the synapse (the place where signals are passed from one cell to another) when behavior is modified by learning.”

This last quote is almost a synopsis of what the course at the Oxford Experience was about.

It turns out that there is considerable growth and change in the brain connections and that this goes on all the time.

Your brain has changed since you started reading this review.

نزدیک ۵۰۰ صفحه اطلاعات هیجان انگیز و انقلابی.

An interesting read which weaves the personal history and research findings together quite seamlessly. And with dozens of pages in the latter part devoted to describing the whole experience of being a Nobel laureate, it is the most detailed account of what it feels like to be at the very top of academic success. Graduate students should read this to get some motivation at low points.

"En busca de la memoria" es el título de este libro en castellano. Se trata de la autobiografía de este médico, Premio Nobel de 2000. Es muy interesante a nivel biográfico porque él era niño cuando los nazis se anexionaron Viena y tuvo que emigrar a EEUU, donde hizo su carrera. Esto marcó su vida porque siempre se preguntó cómo nuestro cerebro almacena esos recuerdos (los que él mismo había tenido de pequeño). Tiene una pequeña parte técnica donde va explciando los diferentes proceos químicos y fisiológicos que pasan en nuestros cerebroe para tener memoria. El libro es algo laro, pero bastante interesante.