Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

"Memory makes reality. That's what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome--a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. Neuroscientist Helena Smith already understands the power of memory. It's why she's dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious moments of our pasts....

When therapy, aided by drugs and hypnosis, unearths "repressed memories" of sexual abuse, the fallout from the discovery ravages an entire family. There is no opportunity to seek cover, no means of self-defense and no way of escape.

"Meredith Maran lived a daughter's nightmare: she accused her father of sexual abuse, then realized, nearly too late, that he was innocent.During the 1980s and 1990s, tens of thousands of Americans became convinced that they had repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, and then, decades later, recovered those memories in therapy.Journalist, mother, and daughter Meredith Maran was one of them. Her accusation and estrangement from her father caused...