Charan Ranganath

Memory is far more than a record of the past—in this groundbreaking tour of the mind and brain, one of the world's top memory researchers reveals the powerful role memory plays in nearly every aspect of our lives, from learning and decision-making to trauma and healing, and helps us take control of our unconscious mind to live happier, more deliberate lives. A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In short, the memory is not what we think it is—a repository of the past that we tap into as we wish. It is actually a highly transformative power, active at all times, that shapes our present in often secretive and sometimes destructive ways. We are in many ways creatures of memory and only when we understand the mechanisms of memory can we truly understand ourselves and our motivations, and use our knowledge of those mechanisms to our advantage while avoiding their pitfalls. Why We Remember teaches the principles behind memory storage and retrieval and explains how our memories are always changing. It reveals how these processes affect what we think we know about ourselves and how we make decisions. It shows that the real power of psychotherapy isn't to remember what happened, but to change our interpretations of those events, so we can heal and grow. Memory is designed to be selective, meaningful and malleable. When we understand how memory works, we can cut through the clutter and remember the things we want to remember. We can not only remember more—we can remember better.

Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

Why We Remember

Cassandra Tang

Memory is much, much more than an archive of the past; it is the prism through which we see ourselves, others and the world.

There is no such thing as multitasking, you just end up alternating between doing different tasks badly.

Experience doesn’t just change what you see, it changes what you look for.

At each stage, memory is doing exactly what it has evolved to do, and in the process, it connects us with one another, grounding us in the social world.

Why We Remember quotes

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