Memories
Are Made of This: How Memory Works in
Humans and Animals
by
Rusiko Bourtchouladze
Columbia Univ. Press, New York, NY, 2002
208 pp., illus. 14 b/w. Trade, $58.00;
Paper, $17.95
ISBN: 0-231-12020-6; ISBN: 0-231-12021-4.
Reviewed by Rob Harle, Australia
recluse@lis.net.au
This book, at first glance, seems rather
timid and to some extent understated.
Nothing, however, could be further from
the truth. Reading it closely is like
drinking champagne cocktails, everything
starts out innocently and gently, then
bangit hits you like a sledgehammer.
Memories are Made of This is much
more than a well-written, highly readable
book for general readership, concerning
the nature of memory in animals and humans.
It works on four somewhat distinct levels:
(a) Simply, a "ripping good yarn", (b)
A serious scientific exposition of the
latest research on memory, (c) An overview
of just how science is done, concerning
politics and funding, (d) A frightening
scenario for the future resulting from
the misuse of scientific research findings.
Memory is one of the most important aspects
of being human and, as such, warrants
intense research efforts. Without memory
we would have no sense of self. Brain
injury and disease can have devastating
effects on both long and short-term memory,
many such cases are discussed throughout
this book. It also describes many experiments
done using animals, pretty much in a matter-of-fact
way, this information might distress some
readers who support the decreased use
or abolition of laboratory test animals.
Many of the experiments are done with
mice, which is how we know, "The genome
of a mouse is virtually identical to the
genome of a human" (p. 166). Now I know
why I like cheese so much!
Bourtchouladzes casual writing style
belies the fact that she is one of the
worlds leading scientists engaged
in laboratory research into the molecular,
chemical, and genetic basis of memory.
The first five chapters with such titles
as "The Wiring of a Seahorse and Almonds
Fears and Emotions" are filled with wonderfully
personal and highly relevant anecdotes.
Chapter Six, "The Biology of Memory" explains
in fairly technical, though not necessarily
complicated language, the scientific experiments
and findings that have helped piece together
the little that is really known about
memory. Bourtchouladze notes this dearth
of knowledge regarding memory herself
in the books Preface when she writes,
"I must admit we know very little".
Chapter Seven "What Have Genes Got To
Do With It?," is the sledgehammer!
I was not prepared for the very serious,
heavy-duty ramifications of Bourtchouladze
and her colleagues research findings.
Here we learn that "they also hold out
the possibility of the manipulation of
gene function with drugs. The tetracycline-regulated
system has now been combined with the
technique of producing region-specific
mutations. This will allow us to control
both when and where in the
brain the gene of interest is turned on
and off" (p.162)! As Bourtchouladze, to
her credit, notes further onwhilst
this possibility may be good news
for a person with a disease such as Alzheimers,
it will also be open to abuse in various
different forms.
Simply noting this possibility in the
last two or three pages of the book does
not give me any sense of security against
possible abuse and potential control of
individuals by drugs developed from this
research. Given the quote on page 165,
made by Jim Watson (of Watson & Crick
fame) that "[Scientists] are like Michael
Douglas charactersa
little evil and very competitive", little
ease from this concern is provided. Incidentally,
Watson was involved in one of the laboratories
in which Bourtchouladze did much of her
ground breaking research.
Research into the so-called CREB switch
has become a commercial urgency! Already
two pharmaceutical companies have been
formed to, "search for memory-improving
drugs" (p. 170). Im not generally
given to paranoia, but drugs which can
turn genes on and off in the human brain
in the hands of little evil scientists,
funded by multi-national companies, driven
by the need to make as much profit as
possible worries me.
This book was written for anyone "curious
to know how memories are made". It goes
a long way to satisfying this curiosity
and makes public, perhaps unintentionally,
the covert concerns that millions of humans
have regarding messing about with
genes and scientific discoveries
possibly ending up in the wrong hands.