Committed To Memory 記憶的祕密

Book Name : Committed To Memory 記憶的祕密

Author : Rebecca Rupp

What is it about : Seventy Seven short passages detailing "How we remember" and "Why we forget". The author examined the amazing feats memory performed by living organisms as well as the astonishing fallibility of our memory as we used imagination and creativity to fill the voids of memory gaps, to make us feel better and even to re-write parts which we would like to forget. To quote Mark Twain "... I could remember anything, whether it happened or not ...". The best advice the book gave to forgetful people - interactive learning to make a deeper impression on the mind and by understanding what you try to remember, would go a long way to hold on to what we remembered. Also, an important finding resulted from one of the experiments - keeping up the process of learning and re-learning during the age between 50-60 years would be vital in maintaining memory at senility - a new chess game, a new language and new crossword puzzles could all help prevent memory loss at old age.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Hats off to all those lab rats who aided our scientists figure out how our memory worked by having their tiny brains sliced left, right and center, had all sorts of tracing elements injected as well as taking all those drugs and chemicals while STILL managing to perform the maze tests. The book reminded readers "don't believe everything you see" because seeing would be one thing, remembering quite another; and also even though many "in the room" witnessed the same incident, the testimonies afterwards would give varying accounts to the event as we all remember in different ways and paid attention to different aspects and objects. Not only that, various suggestive words might also induce and evoke totally different memory to the same chain of events.

Would I recommend this book to you : Good book on the Subject with witty and thought-provoking quotations from all walks of life - Twain, Dickens, Confucius, Homer, Kipling and Machiavelli etc. This would be just the book if you want a comprehensive, fairly in-depth and amusing account on this interesting topic. I learnt a great deal having read it.

Popcorn

Book Name : Popcorn

Author : Ben Elton

What is it about : The book centered on the theme : does life inspire films or do films imitate life ? And the second half : Just Who Is Responsible ? In this book, copycat killings along the Californian coast bear a close resemblance to the latest movies made by our director, Bruce Delamitri. Wayne and Scout, widely known as the Mall Murderers, gunned their way to notoriety and decided to pay Bruce a visit at his LA villa the night after he won the Oscar's Best Director Award. Mayhem broke out when Bruce, in the middle of seducing our gorgeous Playboy Centerfold, Brooke, discovered that the two killers were actually in his house, wanting to play a part in his life and eventual redemption.

Some thoughts after having read the book : The center piece with all the characters involved taking place at Bruce's LA mansion was one long affair, taking up two-thirds of the book - big on atmosphere and dialogues but slack on pace and progress, until right at the very end when the SWAT team stormed in and only a few survived the cross fire. A brilliant satire on the theme "In the USA, Who Is Responsible ?". Such an idea had long simmered under my subconsciousness when news of racial violence, gun killings and the poverty gap in the USA, made me wonder often. It was not until the chaotic and finger-pointing response to the onset of COVID and the million-plus subsequent deaths which finally brought home to me that in the USA, as Wayne Hudson, our Mall Murderer told Bruce Delamitri on Page 230, that "... there is an excuse for anything and everything in the USA ..." and " ... nothing is anybody's fault ...". 

The Epilogue was one of the finest and funniest wrap-up that I had ever read, basically, true to form, everybody blamed everybody else - the murderers blamed the Welfare Department for neglect, Bruce blamed the live TV audience for fanning the murderers' ego, the live TV audience blamed the media for not certifying the live broadcast Rated 18, the media blamed the Government for not having enough regulations, the Democrats blamed the Republicans (vice versa) and finally Scout, our female Mall Murderer, blamed religion since The Almighty did not intervene to stop the tragedy.

Would I recommend this book to you : Although the part on the hostage hold-up was a bit drawn out, it nevertheless felt quite a real life interplay between the roles involved. A brilliant satire about life in the USA and the book to a large extent, answered some of my long-puzzled questions. Go read !

The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes

Book Name : The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes

Author : Arthur Conan Doyle

What is it about : "Elementary, my dear Watson." The super sleuth came back with eleven mind-twisters for our dedicated fans of the Baker Street duo. Watson through his diary with Holmes closely observed and revered, picked out the best cases from years ago before he became the celebrity he was. In these memoirs, Watson jotted down the many mysterious events and cases the cold logician famously deduced and concluded; and honestly, in one of these cases - the Butler really did it. Moriarty, described by Holmes as "... the Napoleon of crime, organiser of half that is evil, genius, philosopher, an abstract thinker with a brain of the first order ..." made a dramatic entrance in the Swiss mountains, in The Final Problem, where quite likely, both Holmes and the master villain met their fate in dubious circumstances.

Some thoughts after having read the book : Always comforting to have Holmes on your side, especially the way he focused and made seemingly un-connected observations (all relevant afterwards, of course), casually picked out the crucial information and uttered his famous phrase "My dear Watson" and reached the Eureka moment. We managed to find more dimensions to our Holmes, like he took cocaine and was a messy person in life. Sherlock's elder brother, Mycroft also made an appearance from his much treasured hermit-like seclusion. My personal favourite was "The Naval Treaty", a real gem of a story where a most important Foreign Office document went walkies from an all-sealed room.

Would I recommend this book to you : Short essay writings at their very best; one vital skills in any story writing would be the choice of an enticing and intriguing title for the essay and here the book did splendidly with titles like : The Musgrave Ritual, The Greek Interpreter, The Reigate Puzzle and The Final Problem. Check out how this master storyteller created the mystery, conjured up the plot, held the readers' hand through the action and effortlessly solved the whodunit. Each essay packed with details, colors and dimensions where clues lied around aplenty for the readers to go-figure - Classy !