Two new novels explore a world where technology has even greater access to our minds

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

Two new novels explore technology's increasing access to our most intimate thoughts. First, the protagonist in The Mechanics of Memory can't remember her last year. Hope has found herself in a too-perfect mental health facility where she participates in questionable treatment, some involving virtual reality. Audrey Lee's novel follows Hope as she slowly starts to recall pieces of her life and questions what to believe. In today's episode, Lee joins Here & Now's Scott Tong for a conversation about memory and identity – and the extent to which our memories are malleable. Then, a new book by Laila Lalami imagines a world in which dreams are surveilled through special implants designed to aid sleep. The Dream Hotel is about a woman who's pulled aside when her dreams indicate she's on the verge of committing a crime. In today's episode, Lalami speaks with NPR's Emily Kwong about coming face to face with the surveillance state and the author's efforts to untether herself from certain technology.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. The thoughts and images and memories you have.
0:08.3	Although they sort of exist in the safety of your brain, they are actually quite vulnerable.
0:14.2	We've got two sci-fi-ish books today that are about that vulnerability being exploited.
0:19.6	In a bit, author Leila Lalami has a new novel about
0:22.0	your dreams being recorded and sold to advertisers. But first, Audrey Lee is an author out with
0:27.6	her debut novel, a psychological thriller titled The Mechanics of Memory. It's about a woman
0:33.4	who enters a treatment facility for her mental health where she is given a VR headset
0:38.5	and, well, it wouldn't be a very good psychological thriller if everything turned out fine and dandy,
0:43.9	now would it? Lee talks to here now, Scott Tong, after the break.
0:48.0	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky
0:54.1	conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
0:57.1	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
0:59.3	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people
1:02.6	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:06.9	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:12.1	Pull up a memory for me. Maybe one of your best moments as a kid or the most embarrassing
1:17.5	thing that ever happened to you. Easy, right? A memory is a memory is memory. Well, I'm sure
1:24.0	you've heard it's more complicated that recollections can be manipulated by bias or time or stress,
1:30.7	or perhaps by technology?
1:33.2	That is a question at the center of the novel, The Mechanics of Memory.
1:37.2	It's a psychological thriller by Audrey Lee.
1:40.1	And here's a clip from the audiobook.
	...

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