Clive Wearing has what Dr. Oliver Sacks calls the worst ever case of amnesia. Mr. Wearing literally cannot remember what happened from one blink of the eye to the next — it’s a totally new world to him every time he blinks.
Here is the link to the Radiolab program of June 8, 2007, that we listened to in class: “Clive” (or scroll down to the story, “Clive”).
See also these links from Radiolab (the New Yorker article is particularly good):
Deborah’s book about Clive: Forever Today
Oliver Sacks’ new book: Musicophilia
Oliver Sacks’ website
Sacks’ article about Clive in the New Yorker
Radiolab noted the music played during the piece:
The music used during the Clive segment comes from Orlando Lassus, performed by the London Lassus Ensemble and conducted by Clive Wearing himself. Check out http://www.orlandodilasso.org/ for more information on the composer. And if anyone needs a specific playlist, hit us at radiolab@wnyc.org and we’ll send it to you!
