Memories Are Made of This (Maps of the Mind) - Hardcover

Rusiko Bourtchouladze

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297643282 ISBN 13: 9780297643289

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002

Synopsis

Memory is what defines who we are and who others are in our minds. It shapes our moral and intellectual personality, and the way we think and behave. Indeed, it would be impossible to live as one person, with an individual history or consciousness, without the memory threads that constantly link our present to our past and future. But why are memories so complex and mysterious? We remember things every instant, but how are memories formed? And why, if remembering is so ordinary, do our memories fail so often? What is happening in the brain when we recall a face, reconstruct the image of a place, or struggle to find an answer that we think we know? Does storage imply that memories are fixed in particular chunks of brain tissue, or is it a dynamic, biologically creative process that involves many different parts of the brain? How long do different memories last? What do genes have to do with memory? And, finally, are we the only creatures that remember and forget, and, if not, are there commonalties in the memories of different species? This is a fascinating work of popularisation that attempts to answer all these questions and more, deftly weaving the history of ideas about memory with cutting-edge science and psychology.

About this title

About the Author:

Rusiko Bourtchouladze was formerly at Columbia University, and is now Director of Model Systems at Helicon Therapeutics Inc., as well as visiting Staff Scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York. She has been involved in memory research for more than twenty years and has published numerous papers and articles on the topic.

From Booklist:

Bourtchouladze's major scientific work so far has demonstrated that short-term and long-term memories are separate systems. The path to that discovery was technical, but she describes it lucidly, writing considerably more smoothly and thoughtfully than many other scientists who write for general readers, conveying the excitement of science, and in her historical accounts of related fields, bringing researchers and their work to life. Protein synthesis, genes, and many other factors impinging upon memory are there to be discovered: most of her readers will aquire a much better understanding of how the field got to this point. Much is still to be discovered about the workings of the many types of memory, however, and Bourtchouladze points out gaps in our knowledge as she proceeds. Toward the end of this engaging book, she observes that "memory is what makes it possible for us to live but not to exist." Meanwhile, she has made us appreciate what the lives of some scientists are all about. William Beatty
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About this edition

• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0297643282
• ISBN 13: 9780297643289
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192