Lisa Genova author photo

Lisa Genova

Born: November 22, 1970 – Waltham, Massachusetts, United States

Lisa Genova is an American neuroscientist and novelist whose work explores Alzheimer’s disease, autism, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological conditions. She is best known for Still Alice, a New York Times bestseller later adapted into an Oscar-winning film, and for novels including Left Neglected, Inside the O’Briens, and Every Note Played.

Biography & Author's Journey

Lisa Genova built her writing life on a scientific foundation. She graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard in 1998. The decisive turn came when her grandmother developed Alzheimer’s disease. Genova could explain the biology, but she has said that scientific knowledge did not tell her how to understand the lived experience of the person in front of her. That gap led her from laboratory training toward fiction, with empathy becoming the bridge between neuroscience and narrative. ((https://www.lisagenova.com/))

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Quotes

quote
Our brains are not designed to remember people's names, to do something later, or to catalog everything we encounter. These imperfections are simply the factory settings
-Why forgetting is healthy
quote
Sameness is the kiss of death to memory
-Why forgetting is healthy
quote
Most of the time forgetting is not a problem to solve
-Why forgetting is healthy
quote
If we want to remember something, above all else we need to notice
-Struggling to recall something? You may not have a memory problem — just an attention problem
quote
Your memory isn’t a video camera, recording a constant stream of every sight and sound you’re exposed to — you can only capture and retain what you pay attention to
-Struggling to recall something? You may not have a memory problem — just an attention problem
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We tend to pay attention to — and therefore remember — what we find interesting, meaningful, new, surprising, significant, emotional and consequential
-Struggling to recall something? You may not have a memory problem — just an attention problem
quote
Every time we learn something new, we are creating and strengthening new neural connections, new synapses
-Feel helpless against Alzheimer’s disease? You can do something to help prevent it
quote
And you are more than what you can remember
-Feel helpless against Alzheimer’s disease? You can do something to help prevent it

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Community Voices

"Quite simply, there is no one like Lisa Genova"

Jodi Picoult

"Lisa Genova’s discerning, scientific mind and remarkable gifts as a novelist are at their finest"

Ann Leary

"With grace and compassion, Lisa Genova writes about the enormous white emptiness created by Alzheimer’s"

The Improper Bostonian

"Lisa Genova has essentially created her own genre"

Laura Lippman

"Lisa Genova’s subtle, finely tuned prose gains momentum until you don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or give thanks"

Vanessa Diffenbaugh

"Still Alice, written by the neuroscientist Lisa Genova, offers a crisp, straightforward, and wrenching depiction"

The New Yorker

"Lisa Genova’s deep empathy for her characters shines through"

Barbara Shapiro

"Lisa Genova's novels ring true"

USA Today

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platform
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