Memory Image

Memory: A Very Short Introduction explores the fascinating intricacies of human memory. Is it one thing or many? How does memory change as we age? And what about so-called recovered memories - can they be relied upon as a record of what actually happened in our personal past? This book brings together our most recent knowledge to address (in a scientifically rigorous but highly accessible way) these and many other important questions about how memory works, and why we can't live without it.

Hospitalized after a liaison with another man's wife ends in violence, Paul Cole has just one goal: to rebuild his shattered life. But with his memory damaged, the police hounding him, and no way to even get home, Paul's facing steep odds - and a bleak fate if he fails. This final, never-before-published novel by three-time Edgar Award winner Donald E. Westlake is a noir masterpiece, a dark and painful portrait of a man's struggle against merciless forces that threaten to strip him of his very identity.

The name of your first-born. The face of your lover. Your age. Your address... What would happen if your memory of these began to fade? When Claire starts to write her Memory Book, she already knows that this scrapbook of mementoes will soon be all her daughters and husband have of her. But how can she hold onto the past when her future is slipping through her fingers...?

If you've ever struggled to memorize the order of a randomized deck of cards, then this may be the most important book you'll ever read. Although you may be skeptical, you've heard about the memory techniques that allow people to memorize the order of 52 cards in under a minute. And you want that skill. Badly. The good news is that this technique works gangbusters!