Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of ForgettingNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A fascinating exploration of the intricacies of how we remember, why we forget, and what we can do to protect our memories, from the Harvard-trained neuroscientist and bestselling author of Still Alice. “Using her expertise as a neuroscientist and her gifts as a storyteller, Lisa Genova explains the nuances of human memory”—Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of How the Mind Works Have you ever felt a crushing wave of panic when you can't for the life of you remember the name of that actor in the movie you saw last week, or you walk into a room only to forget why you went there in the first place? If you're over forty, you're probably not laughing. You might even be worried that these lapses in memory could be an early sign of Alzheimer's or dementia. In reality, for the vast majority of us, these examples of forgetting are completely normal. Why? Because while memory is amazing, it is far from perfect. Our brains aren't designed to remember every name we hear, plan we make, or day we experience. Just because your memory sometimes fails doesn't mean it's broken or succumbing to disease. Forgetting is actually part of being human. In Remember, neuroscientist and acclaimed novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them. You'll learn whether forgotten memories are temporarily inaccessible or erased forever and why some memories are built to exist for only a few seconds (like a passcode) while others can last a lifetime (your wedding day). You'll come to appreciate the clear distinction between normal forgetting (where you parked your car) and forgetting due to Alzheimer's (that you own a car). And you'll see how memory is profoundly impacted by meaning, emotion, sleep, stress, and context. Once you understand the language of memory and how it functions, its incredible strengths and maddening weaknesses, its natural vulnerabilities and potential superpowers, you can both vastly improve your ability to remember and feel less rattled when you inevitably forget. You can set educated expectations for your memory, and in doing so, create a better relationship with it. You don't have to fear it anymore. And that can be life-changing. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
PART | 11 |
Making Memories 101 2 4 235 63 | 13 |
Pay Attention | 25 |
In the Moment | 37 |
Muscle Memory | 51 |
Your Brains Wikipedia | 63 |
What Happened | 64 |
Fuggedaboutit | 155 |
Normal Aging | 165 |
Alzheimers | 175 |
Put It in Context | 189 |
Stressed | 197 |
Go to Sleep | 207 |
Alzheimers Prevention | 217 |
The Memory Paradox | 227 |
Your Memories For What | 99 |
Tip of the Tongue | 117 |
Dont Forget to Remember | 131 |
This Too Shall Pass | 145 |
What to Do About It | 233 |
Suggested Reading | 247 |
Acknowledgments | 255 |
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Common terms and phrases
ability to remember activation Akira Haraguchi Alzheimer's disease amygdala answer asked baker become brain chronic stress cognitive consciously consolidated context cortex cortisol create cues dementia dinner emotional encode episodic memories event example experience experienced feel flashbulb memory folks forget forgetting curve forgotten going Google Greg happened Here's hippocampus HSAM improve Joshua Foer kind of memory kitchen later learned long-term memories looking Marilu meaning meaningful movie muscle memory Netflix neurons never night normal parked password pay attention penny percent person phone number play probably prospective memory Psychology recall rehearsing repetition retrieve risk of Alzheimer's self-testing semantic memory sleep smartphone someone story stuff superpower synapses things thirty seconds tion tomorrow Tony Soprano trigger trying to remember visual week what's words Yo-Yo Ma