No. 13

Samson Greene is found wandering the desert in Nevada, unaware of how he got there and unaware of the cherry-sized tumor in his brain.  When it is removed, he cannot remember twenty-four years of his life.   His wife, Anna, loves him; he does not remember her.  The world of the present bears little resemblance to the last year he remembers--before the Cold War ended, before Elvis died, before his mother died.  He is granted, essentially, a blank mental slate for his adult life, the intellect of a highly educated adult without the prejudices and associations of that intellect.

Man Walks Into a Room is a story of uncovering who we are without the things we've done, finding the self underneath the habits of a lifetime, and the wonder of exploration within the mind, within our lives, and outside into the great world around us.  I won't say that this book amazed and awed me, not in the same emotional way that Krauss' The History of Love did, but Man Walks Into a Room did kindle a constant sense of wonder, one that is still with me a few days after closing the final pages.