Committed to Memory: How We Remember and Why We Forget - Hardcover

Rupp, Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517703211 ISBN 13: 9780517703212

Publisher: Crown, 1997

Synopsis

Fascinating science blends with engaging prose in this highly entertaining exploration of how memory works-- and how to make it work better.

In this extraordinary book, scientist Rebecca Rupp explains how and why memory works the way it does. What are the chemical processes that occur in the brain when we remember--and how do they account for the "absentminded" or "steel trap" qualities in an individual? Rupp also tackles topics that have been the subject of intense public debate. She examines the concepts of repressed and fantasized memories, such as ones of alien
abduction: are they the result of horrifying experiences that have been shunted off into the depths of the unconscious? Or are they fantastic constructs of the human mind?

Memory decays with awful rapidity, and a vital aspect of the study of memory is its loss. Why does memory change as we grow older? How can we improve our ability to remember, and how can we keep forgetfulness at bay? Committed to Memory features useful memory-improving techniques and tricks to remember essential information. Learn to defeat that common bugbear of memory, the forgetting of proper names; pick up a quick trick for remembering telephone numbers; and find out how to enrich your mind (and impress your friends and colleagues) by memorizing lengthy poems. Tips like these lend a practical edge to this illuminating voyage through a largely uncharted realm.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED . . .
¸         Why you can remember your first date but not what you had for lunch last Tuesday?
¸         What slugs, bugs, and squirrels have to tell us about human memory?
¸         Why we can't remember people's names?
¸         How the smell of pine trees or buttered popcorn can help you remember?
¸         Why dieting may make you forget?
¸         Why practice makes perfect?
¸         How a spell of the moody blues can affect your memory?
¸         Why dreaming may help us to remember?

About this title

About the Author

REBECCA RUPP has a Ph.D. in cell biology, has written for many professional journals and national magazines, and has published several books. She lives in Vermont with her husband and three sons, with whom she shares a tractor, a telescope, and a toboggan. Alliteration helps her remember, though mostly she forgets things unless she writes them down.

From Kirkus Reviews

A scientist with the knack of transforming the complex and abstract into the simple and concrete engagingly explains what science now knows about memory. Rupp, who has a doctorate in cell biology and biochemistry, is also no stranger to world literature. She draws on anyone who suits her purposes, spiking her text with quotes from Cervantes and George Carlin, Machiavelli and Agatha Christie. And she has a creative touch with chapter titles, too. Who can resist such provocative ones as ``Isaac Newton's Dinner and 15,000 Chinese Telephone Numbers'' or ``Monsters in the Lime Tea''? Rupp is clearly thoroughly at home with her subject, and she seems to delight in making the reader share her interest. First she tackles what memory is and the various kinds of memory, taking the reader on a quick tour of the brain to show where memory resides and how it is processed. She deftly summarizes the work of numerous researchers on both animal and human subjects and touches briefly on that most controversial of subjects, recovered memories. Here the good news is that objective analysis with PET scans may one day be able to separate false memory from the true. Rupp's consideration of the intriguing flip side of memory-- forgetting--leads her naturally to a discussion of ways to counteract forgetfulness. Memory strategies can be learned, she notes, and her final chapters offer techniques for remembering numbers, facts, and peoples' names. Some of the mnemonic devices she describes seem more work than the subject matter warrants (to recall the names of the Seven Dwarfs, recite the sentence ``Big Dogs Dine Greedily on Ham Sandwiches and Soup''), but the entertainment level remains high throughout. A veritable textbook thoroughly disguised as a diversion. (8 b&w illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0517703211
• ISBN 13: 9780517703212
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 331