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There are so many great quotes about memory that it is very hard to choose just one to illustrate its place in the human condition. But it seems poignant to begin with Marquez, who, although now suffering from advanced dementia and with little memory left of his own life, has so much to say about memory in his wonderful books (Jacobs, 2012). Given our enduring fascination with memory, it is not surprising that amnesia has had a lead role in neuropsychology. Both of the books under review deal with loss, or distortion, of memory but from very different viewpoints. Suzanne Corkin’s book on the amnesic patient H.M., Permanent present tense (Corkin, 2013), and Alison Winter’s book, Memory: Fragments of a modern history (Winter, 2012), are both excellent. But they are chalk and cheese. Extending this analogy, Suzanne Corkin’s book could be seen as an in-depth study of the science of cheese-making focusing on English cheddar, whereas Alison Winter’s is the equivalent of the history, sociology and psychology of cheese-making across the ages. Yet despite radically different perspectives, there are overlapping themes and commonalities. One of these is the impact of trends in science. Another is the way in which scientists have used metaphors based on technology of the age to explain the workings of memory. Henry Molaison, ‘HM’, underwent neurosurgical removal of the medial part of his temporal lobes at a time when psychosurgery was still in vogue and was yet to suffer its fall from grace. One of the most fascinating sections in Suzanne Corkin’s book describes the events leading up to HM’s ‘frankly experimental operation’ on Tuesday, 25 August 1953. No doubt I am not alone in believing that HM underwent surgery by an experienced neurosurgeon, who had already carried out a number of unilateral procedures for the relief of epilepsy, but then, unwisely, extended this to bilateral resection. This myth is debunked by Suzanne Corkin who places HM’s surgery in the context of experimental limbic ablation for the treatment of psychosis. Henry Scoville, HM’s surgeon, developed medial temporal lobectomy as a treatment for psychosis discovering, by serendipity, that it cured epilepsy in two women with psychosis and epilepsy. Against this backdrop he offered the procedure to HM who was struggling with intractable seizures. As we all know, the surgery was both a success and a disaster. His seizures were controlled, but HM was rendered profoundly amnesic. Indeed the severity of memory loss became a yardstick against which other cases were compared ‘as amnesic as HM’. Yet, Henry might never have come to our attention if Scoville had not attended an American Neurological Association meeting in 1954 when he heard the neurosurgical guru of the age, Wilder Penfield, describe two similar cases rendered amnesic by left temporal lobectomy. As a result of this encounter, HM was referred to the Montreal Neurological Institute where he also met Brenda Milner. Milner was able to document the extent of his amnesia and Scoville wrote one of the most important papers in the history of cognitive neuroscience (Scoville and Milner, 1957). Suzanne Corkin was introduced to HM just a few years later while MEMORY: FRAGMENTS OF A MODERN HISTORY By Alison Winter 2012. Chicago: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 9780226902586 Price: £21.00