The best books on how your memory works – and why it often does not

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 and the brain mechanisms involved.

This is an informed and informative account of human memory by an expert in the field.

This bestselling book is not so much about your memory as how to implant lasting memories in others.

How is it that some events and pieces of information are amazingly memorable, whereas others are lost as soon as our mental backs are turned? In a series of entertaining real-life examples, the authors propose and illustrate ways in which information can be “made to stick.” These include some obvious ones like getting people’s attention and building on their existing knowledge – stuff they are interested in.

Other factors are less obvious; set up an intriguing puzzle, provide some really unexpected information, especially of an emotional kind, embed the new information in an attention-grabbing story. Of course knowing how to teach effectively also reveals much about how memory works!

Despite its title, this engaging book is actually about memory, especially “autobiographical memory” – memories of our own personal experiences.

The chapters describe some classical cases of memory excellence and memory failure, and provide thoughtful discussions of many topics that puzzle readers.

These include the power of smell to evoke past experiences, the astonishing memories of chess and draughts grandmasters, the downside of remembering everything, the highly specific memories of some people with savant syndrome, and indeed why life seems to speed up as we get older – the relationship between memory and time.

If you are really serious about reading up on current research on human memory, then you can do no better than to dive into this excellent textbook written by three prominent British researchers.

The material probably takes more effort to master than the facts and ideas presented in other books on this list, but the reward is an up-to-date understanding of theories and findings in this fast-moving research field, including many studies of how memories are represented in the brain.

The book is lavishly illustrated, and contains many references to real-life situations, thereby relating the theoretical ideas to everyday life. The book is authoritative yet very accessible and entertaining. Highly recommended!

This classic book, unlike others in the list, is not so much about memory, as a collection of the author’s memories of his childhood and early years.

Nabokov was born into a wealthy family in pre-Revolutionary Russia in 1899. His childhood in St. Petersburg and at the family’s country estate are described in loving detail, as are aspects of later years in England, Germany, and France. Nabokov was one of the great writers of the 20th Century, and the memories are recounted in his glowing and evocative prose.

His writing is nostalgic, but also wryly humorous, aware that many aspects of his early life are gone forever. Many of the chapters first appeared as articles in The New Yorker; all are eminently readable.