Reviews

The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science by Jill Price, Bart Davis

solargalaxy6's review against another edition

2.0

While not normally interested in biographies, I was interested in reading this as it hits a little close to home... As someone with a very poor memory, I was able to relate more with the writer than most people would, and felt a strong connection with Jill.

Jill's struggles with the past, and seeing beyond it are difficult for her, and I'm not sure that if I were in her place, if I'd be able to continue on as she has.

The story was well written, in a fully believable way, and that made this book a good choice. At times it was a little overly descriptive, which really enphasized the point, but occasionally it became a little difficult to not skip boring passages.

While I absolutely cannot put myself in her shoes, I can understand now the struggle that others (and not just me) go through in explaining differences, and it gives me hope that one day, I'll come to terms with it as she has.

eoppelt's review against another edition

2.0

So badly written. The concept is interesting, but not enough to carry 250 pages on it's own. This needed more information or stories or something to not make it completely repetitive.

lorink's review

2.0

"The Woman Who Can't Forget" covers a fascinating topic: it's a memoir by the woman touted as having the best autobiographical memory ever discovered. Unfortunately, it's not a very good autobiography, and a better and more insightful writer could have made this story considerably more compelling. It does contain a basic introduction to the research that has been done on memory, which could be useful to people entirely new to the topic. There are far better introductions to memory, though, so I would recommend this only for people with a deep and abiding interest in memory research and all of its footnotes.

alisreads's review

3.0

sepertinya aku harus lebih banyak bikin tags karena tidak cukup variatif wkwkw

yang aku suka dari buku-buku textbook psikologi dasar yang direferensikan oleh dosenku adalah buku-buku tersebut tidak hanya menerangkan teori saja, tetapi juga memaparkan fakta-fakta menarik mengenai orang-orang menarik di luar sana. biasanya dipaparkan di awal bab, sebagai kisah pembuka akan hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan bab tersebut dari segi teori. aku pertama kali mengenal nama Jill Price dari salah satu buku tersebut, sebagai kisah kecil pembuka. yang kemudian aku gali lagi karena kebetulan aku sedang belajar mengenai memori (lagi) di psikologi kognitif dan aku teringat soal Jill Price. yang tidak bisa lupa.

Jill Price adalah satu dari sedikit orang yang mempunyai kemampuan untuk mengingat segala sesuatu yang terjadi dalam hidupnya. dia mengidap HSAM atau Highly Superior Autobiography Memory. dia ingat sampai ke tanggal, bulan, tahun bahkan hari. beri dia tanggal atau kejadian yang pernah terjadi selama dia hidup, dia mampu menyebutkan kejadian apa yang terjadi dan kapan tepatnya. hanya saja kemampuan super tersebut terbatas pada hal2 yang berkaitan dengan dirinya dan jika sesuatu tersebut menarik perhatiannya. ini seperti ketika kita mengalami flashblulb memory, ketika kita benar-benar dapat mengingat suatu kejadian seperti kita sedang menonton film, bagi Jill Price semua ingatan dari dia berumur 14 (saat ketika dia merasa "complete") terasa seperti itu. seperti film yang diputar terus menerus.

buku ini membantuku melihat bagaimana pengalaman Jill selama dia hidup. aku memberi banyak tanda pada hal-hal yang baru kuketahui, yang berhubungan dengan science, yang kebanyakan ada di bagian awal buku. tetapi semakin lama beberapa hal seperti diceritakan dengan gaya yang sama dan jadi terkesan repetitif, yang cukup membuatku bosan dan mengantuk, sebelum kembali menarik lagi di bagian akhir buku. overall 3 bintang buat buku ini.

There is a goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne; but none of Forgetting. Yet there should be, as they are twin sisters, twin powers, and walk on either side of us, disputing for sovereignty over us and who we are.
—Richard Holmes, A Meander Through Memory and Forgetting