Lauren Aguirre—The Memory Thief

Medical journalist Lauren Aguirre tells the remarkable true story of a team of doctors who discovered a surprising connection between opioids and memory.

How could you lose your memory overnight, and what would it mean? First detected in a cluster of stigmatized opioid overdose victims in Massachusetts with severe damage to the hippocampus (the brain’s memory center) this rare syndrome reveals how the tragic plight of the unfortunate few can open the door to advances in medical science.

After overcoming initial skepticism that investigating the syndrome is worth the effort, and that fentanyl is the likely culprit, a growing team of dedicated doctors explored the threat that people who take opioids chronically as prescribed may gradually put their memories at risk. At the same time, they began to grasp the potential for this syndrome to shed light on the most elusive memory thief of all – Alzheimer’s disease.

Perhaps the greatest mystery in The Memory Thief is why Alzheimer’s has evaded capture for a century. Aguirre deftly explores this question and reveals promising new strategies and developments that may finally break the long stalemate in the fight against this dreaded disease. At its core, Aguirre’s genre-bending and deeply researched book is about paying attention to the things that initially don’t make sense, and how these mysteries can move science closer to an ever-evolving version of the truth.

Lauren Aguirre is an award-winning science journalist with experience in multiple formats; documentaries, podcasts, short-form video series, interactive games, and blogs. She built her career at the PBS series NOVA after graduating from M.I.T. Aguirre’s reporting on memory has appeared in The Atlantic, Undark Magazine, and the Boston Globe’s STAT. This is her first book. The research and writing of this book was supported in part by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology.