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.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

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

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…

If you love The Seven Sins of Memory...

Ad

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Want books like The Seven Sins of Memory?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Seven Sins of Memory.

Browse books like The Seven Sins of Memory

Book cover of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Book cover of Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited
Book cover of Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older: How Memory Shapes our Past

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,278

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like The Seven Sins of Memory, you might also like...

Book cover of The Bridge: Connecting The Powers of Linear and Circular Thinking

The Bridge by Kim Hudson,

The Bridge provides a compassionate and well researched window into the worlds of linear and circular thinking. A core pattern to the inner workings of these two thinking styles is revealed, and most importantly, insight into how to cross the distance between them. Some fascinating features emerged such as, circular…

Book cover of And Then They Were Gone: Teenagers of Peoples Temple from High School to Jonestown

And Then They Were Gone by Ron Cabral,

Of the 918 Americans who died in the shocking murder-suicides of November 18, 1978, in the tiny South American country of Guyana, a third were under eighteen. More than half were in their twenties or younger.

The authors taught in a small high school in San Francisco where Reverend Jim…

5 book lists we think you will like!