This book is about Frankenstein and Wolfman. When they met, they became friends. During the time they were friends, they began to fight. I really liked this book. this book had a lot of action in it.

This is the first book to feature a brain being kept alive outside its body. Now, if you think about that, there have been several stories to use that idea. You can thank Curt Siodmak for that.

Donovan's Brain is a really good read, besides. I read it in two days, and that is pretty fast for me. Every free minute I had, I picked it up and continued the story. I think that says a lot.

Now, I'm not saying it's a great novel. It is not. But it has that one aspect that all good novels should have--grip. This story gripped me and I constantly wanted to know what would happen next.

This book was written in 1948 but it feels as if it were written today. If you are a fan of science-fiction (or of the Orson Welles radio play that was made from this, as I am), I think you would enjoy Donovan's Brain.

Some years ago, I saw a list of Stephen King's ten favorite fantasy-horror novels, and Donovan's Brain was on that list. Naturally, I added the book to my own collection. It really is a good old-fashioned mid-twentieth century horror story. The basis of the tale is rather standard fare: a young, obsessive doctor (Patrick Cory) insists on pushing the limits of human knowledge by attempting to keep a brain alive outside of a host body. A pretty, neglected wife watches and worries, and an older colleague consistently berates the young doctor for his all-consuming passion and preaches to him the dangers of playing God. After some limited success sustaining a monkey's brain, the doctor is presented with a golden opportunity to expand his work to the human brain itself. A plane crashes in the remote area of his private laboratory. He amputates the crushed legs of one survivor, but he knows the man will never live long enough to reach a hospital. Quickly, he seizes the opportunity so serendipitously handed to him by fate. In effect, he steals the brain of the man and coerces his reluctant colleague to help him cover up the act. It turns out that the victim is a man of great wealth and fame named Donovan.. The brain is placed in a vessel, its arteries supplied with blood by an artificial pump. Dr. Cory studies the brain, observes its cycles of sleep and wakefulness via electronic readings, and tries to communicate with it. In time, the brain not only communicates with Cory but comes to take control of his own body, seeing with his eyes, carrying out the dead man's former agenda. When the older doctor tries to destroy the brain, it compels Dr. Cory to attack him. The brain sends Cory to Los Angeles to carry out its orders, which includes freeing a murderer from prison, and Cory eventually becomes a prisoner in his own body, capable of watching the brain speak with his voice and move with his body. The physical brain grows larger and more powerful as Cory's reluctant colleague continues "feeding" it in the lab. Predictably, the book climaxes on a battle between the brain and Dr. Cory for permanent control of Cory's body.

It sounds like standard B-movie sci-fi fare, but Siodmak's writing never allows the story to become a stereotypical, Saturday matinee-type adventure. While I did not find this book particularly horrifying, I did find it compelling and completely engrossing. As an interesting aside, this book would seem to supply the source of a particular tongue-twister used by Stephen King in his novel It. All in all, this is classic sci-fi/horror at its best and stands shoulders above most of the similar works written in the golden age of science fiction.

This is an *extremely* scary book. It starts off as a sci-fi novel, in which a scientist experiments on keeping brains alive after death, but then it turns into a bit of a horror novel, much the way the first "Alien" movie did, starting with when he gets the brain of a millionaire who died in a plane crash nearby... Well, I don't want to ruin it for anyone, so I'll just end it there. It is VERY scary, and for two main reasons: one, the book is just plain scary, and two, because after reading the book, it really makes you think: what if...?

Although you probably know that. You're probably not here unless you've already read that book (or perhaps Gabriel's Body) and want to know more about what happened to Dr. Patrick Cory.

Well, Hauser's Memory is along the same lines, except that in this one Cory and his colleague Hillel Mondoro try to save just the memory of a dead Nazi--Karl Hauser--by extracting the RNA from the brain using mortar, pestle, and centrifuge. Cory offers himself as the subject but Mondoro injects himself behind Cory's back. Mondoro almost immediately begins to feel the effects--having dreams and memories--and begins to follow the dead man's wishes.

Similar story as before, but still well-told.

In Hauser's Memory, a biochemist, Dr. Hillel Mondoro, deliberately injects himself with RNA extracted from the brain of a man who has just died - Dr. Karl Hauser, a physicist. Mondoro believes the RNA might, or might not, encode the memory of the dead man. He experiments on himself in order to find out. In this story it turns out that RNA does indeed encode Hauser's memories. But science fiction novels are supposed to work within the factual framework of science. Does this one?

Hauser's Brain was written in the mid-1960s. It was partly inspired by a UCLA experiment which suggested that RNA encoded memory in the brain. In this experiment a rat's memory appeared to have been transferred, via RNA extract, to another rat. But before the novel was published the UCLA experiment was utterly decredited. Some 23 scientists jointly authored a paper in Science reporting their respective laboratory's attempts and failures to replicate the memory transfer. The idea has never recovered respectablity. It survives primarily in this novel.

Yet in retrospect it is easy to see that neither the original experiment nor the failure to replicate its result meant anything at all. The episode provided us with no new knowledge about RNA or the brain or the memory. It did give strong direction to the study of memory - basically by slamming a door. Fully two decades later, when I was studying neurochemistry in graduate school, our textbook's (short!) chapter on learning and memory simply advised that it would be a mistake, professionally, to even attempt research on memory chemistry. Pretty succinct career advice.

Today, no one could say decisively whether or not nucleic acids encode memory in the brain. It is unclear how one would go about testing, proving, or refuting the idea. Around 1993, however, the prevailing model of memory, which holds that it is a function of synaptic modification, began to balk a bit because we suddenly lost our most basic understanding of what nerve impulses (and thus, synapses) actually do. See Spikes, by Rieke et al for this story, or Koch. Probably the idea that human memory, like most biological information, is stored as molecular sequences or shapes - will get a second hearing someday. Meantime this novel, Hauser's Memory, has a perfectly valid poetic license. It is first rate entertainment, and it should be recognized that it is only Curt Siodmak's great gift as a storyteller that has kept this interesting technical idea alive for the past 35 years.

Hauser's Memory is a great book. The book is not filled with action, but the plot never ceases to thicken. Hauser's Memory, unlike many other books I've read, does have a good ending. There are no strings attached when the book concludes. The book is filled with German names, and math and science terms that make it difficult to read. I was interested constantly with this book.

Since the 1980s, a renaissance in vintage horror films has supported a spate of books recounting the lives and careers of stars Karloff, Lugosi and the Chaneys, not to mention new information about stalwart co-stars John Carradine, Dwight Frye, Lionel Atwill, Colin Clive and Ernest Thesiger. Now comes Rick Atkins' admittedly star-struck volume. At age 17, he began researching and interviewing the people who made horror happen in the talkies -- Universal Studios' Carl Laemmle Jr., who produced Dracula and Frankenstein (both 1931), The Old Dark House and The Mummy (in 1932), The Black Cat (1934) -- plus actors Carradine, Ralph Bellamy and Alan Napier, actresses Gloria Stuart, Evelyn Ankers, Zita Johann, director William Castle and special effects man Ken Strickfaden, among others. While Atkins' writing is a bit sketchy in places, the roundup of personal reminiscences, photographs and a comprehensive filmography and bio-glossary of personalities make this little tome an odd and specialized delight.

I have the great fortune to know Rick Atkins as my older brother. Until recently, however, I did not truly understand just how personal and real his experiences and interactions with movie greats of the classic horror age were.

In October of this year, I was afforded the opportunity to accompany my brother to California -- where he introduced me to he last remaining cast member of of the original Dracula -- Carla Laemmle, the niece of Universal Studios founder, Carl Laemmle. (Look for her in the documentary on the special edition DVD release of Dracula!)

Not only was Ms. Laemmle a delight, and far younger than me in many ways -- but I could not help taking notice of the special brand of rapport that existed between her and my brother. All at once, I realized that it was this aspect of his very personable and intimate relationships with his idols which make his writing so special.

No, the writing itself may not read as smoothly as a Steven King novel -- but considering that the author began working on this book at the age of fourteen, it's actually quite a literary achievement in its own right! If you can cope with the occasional comma-splice, you will most certainly find yourself rewarded -- and hopefully engulfed in what I can only describe as The Real Thing.

This book is essentailly about relationships and possibilities -- not only the type which form between ourselves and those we admire from afar, but also the ones which stand to form if we follow our dreams.

Trust me when I say that this book was written without an ounce of pretention -- and solely in the interest of giving readers a valuable resource to which they can hopefully relate. I know this to be true.

It is indeed sad to know that many faces of the horror genre will be forgotten by many -- but it is comforting to know that this book will keep many of the greats with us for years to come! Kudos to my brother for following his dreams!

Mr. Atkins should be extremely proud of this book. With interviews with such film legends as Gloria Stuart, it serves as a great textbook for lovers and students of film history.

What a terrific idea to introduce people to the works of Curt Siodmak--two books in one! I certainly appreciated the ability to read the first two books in the Patrick Cory trilogy (also including Gabriel's Body) by buying just one book.

Donovan's Brain is a terrific SF/horror novel combining medical experimentation with horrific consequences. Cory saves the brain of a millionaire (this is where all the "brain that lived" storylines originated) and keeps it alive in a jar with electricity and tubes containing oxygenated fluid. But the brain begins to control him. Yeah, I know, it sounds silly, but Siodmak writes in such a way to pull you into the story.

Hauser's Memory is along the same lines, except that in this one Cory and his colleague Hillel Mondoro try to save just the memory of a dead Nazi--Karl Hauser--by extracting the RNA from the brain using mortar, pestle, and centrifuge. Cory offers himself as the subject but Mondoro injects himself behind Cory's back. Mondoro almost immediately begins to feel the effects--having dreams and memories--and begins to follow the dead man's wishes. Similar story as before, but still well-told.

Siodmak is obviously the master of this kind of story. He is probably more well-known for writing Universal horror films from the '40's like The Wolf Man. I am an old-time radio fan and I knew him from the Suspense adaptation of Donovan's Brain starring Orson Welles.

I am looking forward to reading the third book in this series and certainly will look for more works by Curt Siodmak in the future.

Dr. Patrick Corey, the main character, deals with two experiments on the human brain. Both are narrated well, are fascinating and they give some real thrill about the opportunities science has got. It is on the one hand like opening Pandora's box, showing a nightmare becoming true, and on the other the prospects that could be reached. Never science is alone, like in a lab. There are always other interests interfering - politics, especially in the time of the Cold War, and money, but also human features like pride or man's will to get as close as possible to the secrets of nature. Siodmak tells the stories and the reader thinks the story on with all the possible consequences. Real horror to see peril and evil and hope and help clearly in the same topic!!!

In Hauser's Memory, a biochemist, Dr. Hillel Mondoro, deliberately injects himself with RNA extracted from the brain of a man who has just died - Dr. Karl Hauser, a physicist. Mondoro believes the RNA might, or might not, encode the memory of the dead man. He experiments on himself in order to find out. In this story it turns out that RNA does indeed encode Hauser's memories. But science fiction novels are supposed to work within the factual framework of science. Does this one?

Hauser's Brain was written in the mid-1960s. It was partly inspired by a UCLA experiment which suggested that RNA encoded memory in the brain. In this experiment a rat's memory appeared to have been transferred, via RNA extract, to another rat. But before the novel was published the UCLA experiment was utterly decredited. Some 23 scientists jointly authored a paper in Science reporting their respective laboratory's attempts and failures to replicate the memory transfer. The idea has never recovered respectablity. It survives primarily in this novel.

Yet in retrospect it is easy to see that neither the original experiment nor the failure to replicate its result meant anything at all. The episode provided us with no new knowledge about RNA or the brain or the memory. It did give strong direction to the study of memory - basically by slamming a door. Fully two decades later, when I was studying neurochemistry in graduate school, our textbook's (short!) chapter on learning and memory simply advised that it would be a mistake, professionally, to even attempt research on memory chemistry. Pretty succinct career advice.

Today, no one could say decisively whether or not nucleic acids encode memory in the brain. It is unclear how one would go about testing, proving, or refuting the idea. Around 1993, however, the prevailing model of memory, which holds that it is a function of synaptic modification, began to balk a bit because we suddenly lost our most basic understanding of what nerve impulses (and thus, synapses) actually do. See Spikes, by Rieke et al for this story, or Koch. Probably the idea that human memory, like most biological information, is stored as molecular sequences or shapes - will get a second hearing someday. Meantime this novel, Hauser's Memory, has a perfectly valid poetic license. It is first rate entertainment, and it should be recognized that it is only Curt Siodmak's great gift as a storyteller that has kept this interesting technical idea alive for the past 35 years.