The Memory Illusion
Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory
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3.8 • 8 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
'Truly fascinating.' Steve Wright, BBC Radio 2
- Have you ever forgotten the name of someone you’ve met dozens of times?
- Or discovered that your memory of an important event was completely different from everyone else’s?
- Or vividly recalled being in a particular place at a particular time, only to discover later that you couldn’t possibly have been?
We rely on our memories every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is, they are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr Julia Shaw draws on the latest research to show why our memories so often play tricks on us – and how, if we understand their fallibility, we can actually improve their accuracy. The result is an exploration of our minds that both fascinating and unnerving, and that will make you question how much you can ever truly know about yourself. Think you have a good memory? Think again.
'A spryly paced, fun, sometimes frightening exploration of how we remember – and why everyone remembers things that never truly happened.' Pacific Standard
Customer Reviews
Fascinating, informative, important
This book it's NOT written for professionals. It's for anyone who is curious about what and how we remember things.
We think we can rely on our memories. This is a fascinating book filled with research that made me marvel. For instance, one of the reasons we feel we've done more of the chores than our partners is down to how memories are made. Because we didn't actually DO the chore we are less likely to remember it. So we land up with a biased view of who did what. There is also important research into how we remember events in our own lives and why we make such bad witnesses to crimes. I'm a clinical psychologist and I really loved this book. I highly recommend it to anyone with a curiosity about how we tick.