“Her approach is to select a topic that is in its essence ineffable, then gather information about it from the worlds of science and evolutionary theory, literature, myth, popular culture and personal experience, and lavish her findings with elaborately worked, poetic prose. Her intention is to say the unsayable. Here, for instance, is Ackerman defining memory in her newest book, ‘An Alchemy of Mind,’ which considers the human brain and consciousness from her customarily impressionistic mix of perspectives: ‘An event is such a little piece of time and space, leaving only a mind glow behind like the tail of a shooting star. For lack of a better word, we call that scintillation memory.'” (NY Newsday )