The Man Who Forgot How to Read: A Memoir by Howard Engel (2007)

I'm sure I've never said this about a book and I'll probably never say it again: I wish there were more science.

The memoir is about a voracious reader and detective fiction author who awakes one morning to find himself unable to read the newspaper. He thinks it looks like a foreign language. He's taken to the hospital and finds out he's had a stroke and it's affected the language center of the brain. He has alexia sine agraphia which more or less means he can't read but he can write. The memoir goes through his experience in the hospital, in the rehab center, and then back at home.

My problems with the book are numerous. First, I don't feel like the condition itself is explained at all. Why can he write but not read? Why can he read sometimes? How does the rehab work? How can he learn to read again? What's going on? How did the stroke cause it? Etc. The reader only gets to see the effects of the condition but never understands the beast itself. I understand that Engel himself may not have understood at the time but surely he's found some information. He visited and wrote to Oliver Sachs who I'm sure told him something. I would like that information.

Second, I understand that the memoir is written by a man whose memory is impaired and who has a condition that preempts his reading with any ease. But at points the author contradicts himself and on many many many many many many . . . occasions the author repeats himself. This gets annoying in such a small book (157pages). And then, in the afterword, Oliver Sachs repeats information already given and Sachs offers new information that seems to contradict the author's narration. While I understand why this may be the case, a couple of foot or end notes would be helpful in creating a more complete picture of the situation.

All in all, it's not a terribly compelling read which is unfortunate.