The Book of Memory: How We Become Who We Are [Hardcover]

A brilliant journey through the nature of memory, helping us understand how what is lost—and what is remembered—shapes who we are.

In this revelatory and intimate exploration of the way memory works, Mark Rowlands, author ofThe Philosopher and the Wolf,reveals how memories aren’t fixed. They soften and consolidate—and are distorted—each time we revisit them, even those memories most deeply ingrained. The way we call on memory is closer to a negotiation with the past.

From episodic memories like shining islands in dark waters and forgotten Rilkean memories that underpin our personalities and essential style to the memories we might hold that have been authored by others close to us,The Book of Memorydraws on philosophical argument, a range of writers and thinkers, the latest neurological research, and psychology experiments to chart how memories are made, lost and remembered, with important consequences for how we understand ourselves.Mark Rowlandsis the author ofThe Philosopher and the Wolf, which was translated into fifteen languages. He is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami."Mark Rowlands reveals how porous the boundaries are among types of memories and how much we unwittingly distort our memories in the act of retrieving them. Rowlands writes in a wry, amicable style, skillfully layering on his chosen leitmotifs.”"An expansive look at how memory shapes identity. Throughout, Rowlands provides perceptive insights into how the brain negotiates the past, how memory shapes the self, and how identity is therefore best understood as a complex, shifting entity that exists beyond “the spatial boundaries of your body” and experience. A mind-expanding meditation on what humans recall and why.”"A concise yet profound examination of the nature of memory and its role in shaping who we are. It is both scientific and wonderflÓD