37 37 39 40 33 34 35 27 28 29 30 31 22 22 23 24 25 26 1 2 3 Contents INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE How Memory Works CHAPTER FOUR Flashbulb Memories Sharp and Bright Where Were You Remembering Events That Matter to Us Learning of a Tragic Explosion Warning What Comes Next Is Pretty Technical Some Words Worth Remembering Memories That Stick 8 CHAPTER FIVE There's Something about That Smell CHAPTER TWO Meet Brenda Milner Memory Expert 10 Sniffing Around Inside the Brain Curiosity Rules 11 Our Noses Help Us Survive Memory Expert's Earliest Memories 11 Skunks and Asphalt You Can't Trust It Odors and Illness 12 CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER THREE Objects That Help Us Remember 14 Working Memory A Way to Remember Happy Times 14 Objects That Help Us Get Through Hard Times Sticky Notes Inside the Brain Tricks to Boost Your Working Memory 16 My Mom's Childhood Dress 16 CHAPTER SEVEN Museums Help Us Remember 18 Memorize This Remembering the Tragedy of 9/11 20 What's the Point of Memorizing Stuff A Pair of Two Dollar Bills Tells a Remarkable Story All Part of a Day's Work 21 Memorizing Has an Upside
52 52 54 54.56 82 85 86 87 CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER TWELVE Memory Superheroes 41 History and Collective Memory 66 Say Cheese 41 Shared Memories 66 Meet Some Memory Superheroes 42 Reminders to Remember 68 Total Recall 44 Winning Design 68 Recent Controversies about Long Standing CHAPTER NINE Reliving Good Memories and Haunted By Bad Ones 46 Memorials 71 Bearing Witness to the Past 73 Looking Back and Moving Forward 47 Memories We'd Rather Forget Can Also Be Helpful 49 New Approach to Bad Memories 51 CHAPTER TEN Let's Get This Right Why Memories Are Inaccurate Don't Be So Sure You're Remembering Right If You Build It Can Memories Lie Mostly in the Movies CHAPTER THIRTEEN 74 Memory A Source of Inspiration Make Room for Memory in Your Toolbox 75 Inventor's Ideas Grow Like Mushrooms 75 Getting Personal on the Page 76 Stirring Up Controversy 76 I'm a Writer You're A Writer 77 Good Can Come out of Bad 79 Courage to Question 80 The Gift of Memory 81 GLOSSARY CHAPTER ELEVEN Alzheimer's when Forgetting Isn't Normal 57 What's That Word Again 57 Forgetting Serves a Purpose 58 Where Did I Put My Keys 59 When Memory Loss Gets Serious 60 Testing for MCI 62 Losing Memories 63 Still the Same Person 64 RESOURCES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INDEX
1 INTRODUCTION Close your eyes What do you see Perhaps you're thinking back to something that happened this morning how your dog jumped on your bed and licked your face or how your brother hogged the bathroom when you needed to get in Or maybe you're remembering something that happened in the more distant past the fun you had on a family trip or how sad you felt at your great- grandmother's funeral Memories are like houseguests They turn up sometimes uninvited And like houseguests some memories are fun to have around Then there are others we can't wait to get rid of How does memory work What is happening inside your brain when you are remembering Why do we remember some things and forget others Perhaps you and your best friend have entirely different memo- ries of the day you met why is that and whose memory is right Why does your grandfather forget the way back to the house he's lived in for 50 years Are there tricks to help you memorize the math formulas for next week's test Is there such a thing as photographic memory So many questions Most people associate memory with being grown up or downright old But kids have memories too And as you will learn in this book memories can be an important source of creative inspiration All kinds of artists including authors filmmakers and even chefs often get ideas from their memories Here's hoping that by reading this book you'll learn how memory works tricks for improving memory to help you on that math test and perhaps even ways to use your own memories as a basis for a work of art perhaps a story video or meal
