Why read The Seven Sins of Memory?

Book cover of The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers

Book description

A respected expert on memory describes how the brain stores and recalls information as he describes seven key problems with memory--transience, absent-mindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence.

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Topics

Memory

Genres

Self-help

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Seven Sins of Memory as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Fergus Craik

Author

Daniel Schacter is a prominent memory theorist and cognitive neuroscientist who has written several highly successful books for the general public.

In this one he provides a framework for memory’s imperfections – the seven sins of the title! Using this framework he shows how the problems come about, and suggests ways to overcome them.

The sins in question include forgetting, absent-mindedness, temporary blocks on recalling well-known names, false memories, and the unwelcome persistence of memory for traumatic events. These everyday problems of memory are illustrated by striking examples drawn from public life, and are discussed in terms of current theories…

From Fergus' list on how your memory works – and why it often doesn't.