Part One: Chapter Two, The Lost Mariner Summary and Analysis

A quote by Luis Buñuel begins this chapter about Jimmie G. The quote refers to the loss of memory and the important role memory plays in our lives. Jimmie G. is brought to the Home for Aged where Sacks works. Jimmie is forty-nine years old and is a nice looking and amiable man. On their first meeting, Jimmie tells Sacks all about his life up until his days in the Navy. Sacks leaves the room and when he re-enters, Jimmie starts to recount his tale from the very beginning. Jimmie is shown to have an excellent memory for the past but the present escapes him shortly after it happens. His intelligence is not impaired in the least but he is unable to recall a series of presented objects...