Borges and Memory: Encounters with the Human Brain

by Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, Juan Pablo Fernández (Translator), María Kodama (Foreword)

Imagine the astonishment felt by neuroscientist Rodrigo Quian Quiroga when he found a fantastically precise interpretation of his research findings in a story written by the great Argentinian fabulist Jorge Luis Borges fifty years earlier. Quian Quiroga studies the workings of the brain--in particular how memory works--one of the most complex and elusive mysteries of science. He and his fellow neuroscientists have at their disposal sophisticated imaging equipment and access to information not available just twenty years ago. And yet Borges seemed to have imagined the gist of Quian Quiroga's discoveries decades before he made them. The title character of Borges's "Funes the Memorious" remembers everything in excruciatingly particular detail but is unable to grasp abstract ideas. Quian Quiroga found neurons in the human brain that respond to abstract concepts but ignore particular details, and, spurred by the way Borges imagined the consequences of remembering every detail but being incapable of abstraction, he began a search for the origins of Funes. Borges's widow, Mar?a Kodama, gave him access to her husband's personal library, and Borges's books led Quian Quiroga to reread earlier thinkers in philosophy and psychology. He found that just as Borges had perhaps dreamed the results of Quian Quiroga's discoveries, other thinkers--William James, Gustav Spiller, John Stuart Mill--had perhaps also dreamed a story like "Funes." With " Borges and Memory," Quian Quiroga has given us a fascinating and accessible story about the workings of the brain that the great creator of Funes would appreciate.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Psychology, Popular Science

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Richard Cytowic · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Argentinian neuroscientist finds his work on memory anticipated by Borges' "Funes the Memorious." Funes can retain and recall countless details--what fails him is abstraction, the gist of generalization, and logical thought itself.
This small book on memory shares some similarities with Luria's "The Mind of a Mnemonist," whose protagonist S Quiroga in fact discusses.

[Aslihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borges’ten ve başka edebi metinlerden ilham alarak yola çıkan yazar, algı, bellek ve düşünceyi ortaya çıkaran süreçler hakkında nörolojik açıklamalar yapıyor ve bunları vaka analizleri ile destekliyor. Hafıza ve bellek üzerine çalışmalar edebiyat gibi kurgusal alanlarda kullanıldığında yaratım sürecinin hem nesnesi hem de öznesi olabiliyor. Bilimsel çalışmaların konusu olduğunda ise fen bilimleri ve sosyal bilimlerin analizleri farklı yollar izlese de birbirini tamamlıyor; bir sosyal bilimci olarak nöronların işleyişi, pekiştirmenin önemi, beynin hafızayı yönetme biçimi açısından bu kitaptan ve sinirbilimin yaklaşımından çok şey öğrendim. Ancak yine de bazı teknik kısımlar alana hakim olmayan geniş kitlelerin ilgisini çekmeyecek kadar uzundu. Bir hayal kırıklığı da edebi analizin çok sınırlı bir düzeyde kullanımıydı. Bütün olarak öğretici, düşündürücü bir kitap.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as detailed as one would want - basically a research paper stretched out into a thin book. Quiroga summarises Borges' ideas about how memory and mind work and ties it to his own research with specific neuron triggers. The brain, it seems, is designed to classify and form abstractions, to work conceptually. Interesting stuff and certainly a nice companion to Borges' fantastic fictions.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can check out my review here.

http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/201...

[Jacob Bornheimer · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10

A well-written discussion of human memory as it related to Borges. Very easy reading if you have a bit of background knowledge of psychology. For me, the book didn't delve as deeply into the neuroscience as I hoped, nor did it discuss Borges as much as I would have liked. The content is good, however, it's just that I was already familiar with much of what Quiroga discusses. Some of the most interesting sections were the ones in which he describes findings by his fellow Argentine scientists. I also enjoyed him quoting Borges' poetry, which I am less familiar with.

Due to the shortness of the work he wasn't able to go fully into the studies that he did on the "Jennifer Aniston neuron". Though I will withhold judgement until I read the primary work, the interpretation he gave of the function of the conceptual neurons was not satisfying to me. To even compare them to the so-called "grandmother cells" makes little sense. He presents no evidence that the neurons are not just a component part of a chain that processes an abstract concept. The length of the book likely impacted this section, so i'll read his primary sources to get to the bottom of it.

All that said, I do recommend this book to anybody slightly interested in either psychology/neuroscience or Jorge Luis Borges. Lots of interesting ideas inside.

[Osdolai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libro marginalmente interesante, pero irónicamente muy mal escrito. La fórmula "Borges y..." ya se está comenzando a agotar y ni siquiera 'el sello de calidad' (otra ironía) que es un prólogo escrito por Maria Kodama puede salvar este esfuerzo modesto. Su intento de asociar su nombre al de Borges y no ser apenas la 'viuda de' ya está claramente destinado al fracaso, en pocos años morirá y en menos años aún será un pie de página en la biografía del gran escritor sudamericano. Volviendo al libro en sí, el autor es un neurofisiólogo muy reconocido, que ha contribuido con investigación original para destrabar los secretos del funcionamiento de la mente humana. Eso está muy bien. Pero el título y la tapa no son más que publicidad engañosa, porque lo único que el autor hace es utilizar un cuento de Borges sobre una persona que no podía olvidar ningún recuerdo como punto de partida para discurrir, de manera bastante superficial y simplona, sobre la historia y la actualidad de esta área del conocimiento. Hay libros mejores sobre este asunto.

[HullabalooLane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was both a neuroscience of memory primer and a recall of the work of Borges, the links between the two were somewhat spurious. Mostly because of the author's extremely literal interpretation.
I will admit the author's method of referring to autistic people was largely what turned me off the book as he refers only to the medical model, the example of which is referred to in the book as highly embarrassing. If you have read Neurotribes, the same incident of Kim Peek interrupting the play is described entirely differently.
This moment of cynicism on my behalf coloured how I read the rest of the book so I enjoyed it less.

[Raghavendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting read. The author tries to use Borges' work as a way to introduce how memory works. It's intriguing how little we know about how memory works and how little we have learnt in the past 150+ years. The brain is another scientific frontier that man has yet to breach. and this book is a timely reminder of how fragile our beachhead is. The parallel track of reviewing Borges' work was a little heavy for me, primarily because I've never read Borges. I found his selected work exciting and very refreshing. Worth the read. Good segue into reading more of Borges.

[Noel Urban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente lectura para los no iniciados (ya saben que los iniciados o los que creen serlo son harto petulantes y despectivos) en el tema de la neurociencias. Haciendo apología de la obra de Borges, con el relato de Funes, en relación a la memoria y cómo funciona esta. Desde luego es un ensayo limitado, pero nos da una idea general pero precisa del funcionamiento de la misma.
Lectura ya de 2010 que desde la actualidad, 2024, ya presenta algunas deficiencias, no por eso deja de ser menos interesantes.

[Zeynep · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
Psikoloji 1. sınıfın özeti gibi bir kitaptı benim için. Beyinden tut da anı oluşumuna, Gestalt'a, Ebbinghaus'a, Penfield'e. Ağır bir dili yok, ara sıra tekrar düşse de bellekle ilgili güzel bir giriş kitabı olmuş bence. Bir ton referansı not ettim bu kitaptan, sağ olsun.
Şimdi hemen gidip Borges'in tüm kitaplarını sipariş edeyim, seviyorum romantik bilim yaklaşımını :'))

[Alexandra Séptimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

No esperaba mucho de este libro, puesto que bueno, no estoy acostumbrada a leer libros de esta temática o género, pero, la verdad es aprendí bastante y saqué buenas referencias de aquí. En fin, me gustó, bastante enriquecida la lectura.

[Cami Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[salma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel the book could’ve been more interesting and informative. A wasted potential.

[Guille Bazarra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy buen libro y sobretodo muy interesante lo que plantea Quiroga. Me queda pendiente leer a Borges y a su Funes el memorioso

[Oliver Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty much exactly what I wanted: a primer on how memory works, tied in with an analysis and history of one of my favourite Borges stories. I will definitely dip into this book again to refresh my memory.

[Gary Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. A bit more technical than Oliver Sacks, but not by much.

[Csilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://csilcox-thebookshelf.blogspot....

[Burcu]

It is an easily accessible work on memory and its workings from a neuroscientific point of view. It's informative and interesting. However, although there are references to and inspirations from Borges and his works, the book does not really has much to do with them. If you're here for a read on the topic of memory and neuroscience that is comprehensible to a general readership, you might enjoy it. If you're here for the Borges-link, this is not the book for it.