The Perpetual Motion Machine

WINNER — 2017 RED HEN PRESS NONFICTION AWARDSHORTLISTED —2018 AMERICAN BEST BOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHYSHORTLISTED — 2019 RUBERY INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD NONFICTIONInspired by a brother’s high school science project—a perpetual motion machine that could save the world— The Perpetual Motion Machine is a memoir in essays that attempts to save a sibling by depicting the visceral pain that accompanies longing for some past impossibility. The collection has been a science project in its study of memory in the calculation and plotting of the moments that make up a childhood. The preparation has been “in the field” in that it is built upon the gathering of lived experience; the evidence is photo albums family interviews and anecdotes from friends. The project has been one giant experiment—to see if they can all make it out alive.