I was not particularly fond of this piece. i found it difficult to follow, and it was not enjoyable to listen to. One phrase I did take notice to is when it was mentioned about the possibility of there being a storage compartment in our brains for "memories that matter the most."

When I listened to the part where the wife receives voicemails from her husband every 15 minutes, begging her to come, I just cried. How heartbreaking, to hear your husband's panicked voice over and over and be unable to help...
I called my husband, crying, to tell him I love him. He was at guys' night. It was funny to hear him struggling to be comforting while retaining his man persona.

Listening to this particular story was such an emotional experience for me. Bits and pieces practically brought me to tears. His wife's incredible patience. The reference to the Proust quote-"no such rope is available for Clive". Yet love for his wife and a connection to music remains-his rope-so sad, yet so beautiful.
"Where there is love, there is hope" came to my mind during the story. Perhaps that's why this story touched me so profoundly.

Hey, who is that Russian woman at the end? In the credits?

I stumbled upon a rebroadcast of this show and was blown away! I'll be listening to more RadioLab, for sure.

Caught in a massive traffic jam between DC and Baltimore. Listened to this program as a podcast through car radio and didn't even care that we were only moving at 2 mph for an hour.
We were in a different world. Now we load up on RadioLab podcasts and pull them out whenever a drive sees tedious or slow.
Keep up the great programming!

This from Cormac McCarthy's The Road:

Rich dreams now which he was loathe to wake from. Things no longer known in the world. The cold drove him forth to mend the fire. Memory of her crossing the lawn toward the house in the early morning in a thin rose gown that clung to her breasts. He thought each memory recalled must do some violence to its origins. As in a party game. Say the word and pass it on. So be sparing. What you alter in the remembering has yet a reality, known or not.

This is at once the most horrible and absolutely most romantic thing I have ever heard.

I tend to be the type that is hesitant to endorse the ever-lasting Disneyesque idea of ramantic love but this story- this story- moves me. Moves my heart in a profound way like nothing I've heard before.

I'm very sympathetic to the difficulties Mr and Mrs Wearing must face bcause of this condition, but I would have them know that their story has moved something in me like no other.

Thank you for sharing and thanks to WNYC for producing such a worthy program.

-Jason Wood
cynicdesign.com

Having recently read Deborah's book, it was very touching to hear her and Clive's voices. My husband's amnesia began in 2005 and I have sought in vain to speak with another spouse who was further along in this journey than I. My husband's memory is generally a few minutes long yet I found so many similarities between Clive and Lynn's experiences. Within days after beginning to awaken from his coma, he could play the drums flawlessly and sing hymns with me. Music and love survive. Thank God.

It would be nice to know about forgetting. Throughout the program, I was wondering what factors and processes make us determine what we remember and forget. Can anybody shed some light on this for me?

Thank you very much for this informative show -- extremely well done!

We just got access to Radio Lab on the local public radio station in Fresno.

I just came back from the Gim, listened to Memory podcast today. Oh my bleep! It was absolutely amazing. The idea that the more we remember something the more we alter it was something that I knew in the back of the head, but to have it proved by simple repeatable experiments, now thats a treat.

This kind of plants a new idea in my head. I feel that science is a form of literature nowadays .Science and actual literature are converging more and more in being an exploration of humanity. Even in its rudimentary forms like when this guy dropped the stone from pisa tower it was already making bold statements about human nature and existence, but nowadays its hitting more stronger and closer to home base.

The part about the person forgetting everything except the love for his wife, now had I read it some short story I would have brushed it aside and even puked at the amount of mushy wishy ness in the plot - but to actually hear the actual tapes of him waking up, suffering, suffocating for want of some thing that he cant quiet understand, its sends a sharp shiver down my boney spine.

Albert Einstein knew it all when he said Reality is an illusion albeit a persistant one.

#3 - WHERE can I find that documentary? I haven't seen it in 10 years and can't find it anywhere now! Help help! (thanks!)

Thanks my late husband died of a maligant brain tumor and he was also a musican. It brought back so many things his love for his music and family.

Heart-rending story. Quite odd structure to the show - weirdly intrusive voices and fragmented sources. Much like Clive's own experience? Very moving.

OOps, sorry to ask a redundant question about the affect of amnesia on language.

Would one recognize the loss of language as amnesia also, or is that considered a different problem? Does a different style of music affect Clive the same way, say jazz or Chinese opera?

I immediately sent this to my old college choir director. A tear jerker for sure. There really is some inexplicable bond formed around music. (inexplicable, that is, until the Music episode of radio lab premiers)

A touching encounter. I enjoyed listening to it.

thanks,
Hemanth

Once again, a great program. It always gives me something to think about. I've posted another reflection about what I learned on the program here:

http://dixieyid.blogspot.com/2007/06/memory-forgeting-music-and-self.html

Great job Radio Lab team!

-Dixie Yid

Hi all. The music used during the Clive segment comes from Orlando Lassus, performed by the London Lassus Ensemble and conducted by Clive Wearing himself. Check out http://www.orlandodilasso.org/ for more information on the composer. And if anyone needs a specific playlist, hit us at radiolab@wnyc.org and we'll send it to you!

I agree with Mike, I would LOVE for anyone to let us know which music was used during the show. I'm guessing it was music he directed with the choir he worked with, but I'd like to buy some of that music! Please help!

Thanks in advance...

I am trying to subscribe to Radio Lab but it doesn't want to download through ITunes. The shows are dated in 2006, and I can't get the latest ones. What's the answer?

Great Show!

Quick question: Could anyone tell me the music that was played in the last portion of the show (14 minutes of this episode? It was that ambient choral music that was playing during Dr. Oliver Sacks' discussion about Clive.

Thank you.

I loved the show, but I was hoping you would answer as to why Clive could not remember anything, yet Clive could still form coherent english sentences. This raises the question of where does speech and communication skills fit into our memory. Obviously, Clive could still "remember" the process of producing thoughts into english, but how could he do this if his memory was "broken"?

Radio Lab producer Ellen Horne here. Just wanted to comment on your very good question. Clive retained his procedural and emotional memory -- he can still remember how to do things (like make a cup of tea, tie his shoes, even conduct a choir, and, to your point, speak and understand conversation) and he remembers how he feels about things (his wife most noticably!). After the first few months of drastic recovery from the virus, I believe his language and most of his conversational skills were intact. Oliver noted that he was quite witty and has a really jovial sense of humor -- a demeanor which serves Clive very well today given that he can't remember anything that has just happened. He greets the world mostly with a bemused surprise these days. At any rate, your comment goes to the heart of that peice: there are different kinds of memory. Some which are deeper and better guarded than others. It was Oliver's impression that Clive has kept safe in a "subcortigal safe vault" the things which matter most.

Thanks for asking!

Thanks Jen, the link is now fixed!

-Radio Lab

Wonderful show...I've seen the documentary on Clice, thanks for the update!
(I sent to my niece, who will soon be entering a clinical psych program.)

I am a huge fan of Dr. Oliver Sacks' work on neurology, specially of his commitment with the 'who' and not just with the 'what'.

FYI, the link to this episode from the main Radio Lab page is broken....is pointing to 2006/06/08 instead of 2007