THE RAG AND BONE SHOP

As humans, we are entirely shaped by what we remember. It helps us navigate the world and build a sense of who we are. But what exactly is the power of our memories?

Filled with compelling case studies and the latest neuroscientific research, THE RAG AND BONE SHOP shows how we lay down and process our experiences. When things go wrong, we cannot obliterate those memories. They become authentic to us and hardwired into our reality, whether they happened or not: they make us. Memory can make no distinction between hallucination, dream, or reality. And when those boundaries break down, so does our sense of self.

Drawing on a host of examples from literature, film and fairy tales that all describe, directly or indirectly, the issues that she deals with in her practice as a psychiatrist, O'Keane shows how memory is where mind and matter come together for all of us. A process that can create - and sometimes destroy - every level of our identity.

It's very unusual to hear from someone who is a practitioner as well as a scientist, and because of this, O'Keane has a remarkable talent for explaining neurology for the layman. Looking at everything from schizophrenia to post-partum psychosis, brain tumours to anorexia, this illuminating and empathetic book shows us how we all process experience, how memory is hardwired into our reality and how it contributes to humanity's understanding of itself.

Veronica O'Keane is a Professor of Psychiatry and practising Consultant Psychiatrist at Trinity College Dublin. THE RAG AND BONE SHOP is her first trade book, developed from years of practice in the field and her observations of how we filter our experiences over time.