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60 reviews for:
The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory
Julia Shaw
3.97 AVERAGE
60 reviews for:
The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory
Julia Shaw
3.97 AVERAGE
If you have any interest in memory, this is a great place to start. Much of what I picked up in this book five years ago still features in many of my conversations today. I recommend this book at least two or three times a year.
informative
informative
slow-paced
I think this was a good book - but am I remembering correctly? Whey! Too easy.
So yes... this is a brilliant compilation of scientific research around the field of memory. I particularly enjoyed the parts of the book around situations where we're likely to have over-confidence in our memory.
Overall, the book left me with a great sense of humility. Better knowing the limits of our memory is a great way to safeguard against spreading of false information / reduce biases in crimes / and avoid poor decision making.
Some examples seem to overlap between the different chapters - and I would have liked the book to go into a bit more detail about identity (but that's just the philosopher in me).
So yes... this is a brilliant compilation of scientific research around the field of memory. I particularly enjoyed the parts of the book around situations where we're likely to have over-confidence in our memory.
Overall, the book left me with a great sense of humility. Better knowing the limits of our memory is a great way to safeguard against spreading of false information / reduce biases in crimes / and avoid poor decision making.
Some examples seem to overlap between the different chapters - and I would have liked the book to go into a bit more detail about identity (but that's just the philosopher in me).
Amazing.... and terrifying! Julia Shaw successfully destroys our confidence in our memories. There is so much poignant and practical information in here, especially for anyone in sociology or criminology fields, or just anyone who interacts with humans. If you think you have a good memory, or that people who make up stories must be lying, or you think that eye-witness accounts are the most reliable form of evidence, this book will change your perspective. Fortunately I never had a great memory anyway.
My only gripe is that some of the studies cited seemed less than comprehensive or conclusive, but the overall message of the book was clearly supported by her supporting research.
My only gripe is that some of the studies cited seemed less than comprehensive or conclusive, but the overall message of the book was clearly supported by her supporting research.
informative
medium-paced
I absolutely loved it. One of the very few books that made me question myself and what I thought about myself. This book basically makes you look at your own memories critically, then teaches you it’s okay to have a flawed sense of what and how much you remember. The references were on point, I have actually circled some to read the actual papers later on. Loved the ending chapter, it was like a bandage over the wound the rest of the book left.
Would recommend it to anyone interested in how the human brain works (at least from a memory-forming and keeping perspective).
Would recommend it to anyone interested in how the human brain works (at least from a memory-forming and keeping perspective).
Extraordinario libro de divulgación sobre lo último que sabemos sobre cómo funciona nuestra memoria.
Hace poco terminé "Una novela criminal", y quedé muy sorprendido por los testimonios del caso, donde las personas defienden hechos que nunca pasaron. De manera que cuando descubrí en un artículo este libro no dudé en adelantarlo en mis lecturas. Y aquí la autora nos muestra lo fácil que es crear recuerdos falsos o incorrectos, y cómo nuestra memoria es demasiado falible.
El hecho es que podemos recordar nuestro pasado y crear nuestro yo a partir de los recuerdos, es gracias a la capacidad evolutiva de aprender y olvidar que nos permite sobrevivir en nuestro entorno. En otras palabras, esta capacidad la tenemos para sobrevivir, no para llevar un registro exacto de lo que hemos hecho o vivido.
Además de que los temas son muy interesantes, están platicados de forma amena y sencilla, y todos soportados por evidencias y experimentos serios.
Quizá la gran desventaja es que la visión de la autora no es 100% objetiva, y le da demasiado peso a todas las investigaciones que soportan sus propios trabajos, además de que sobre-simplifica algunos temas.
Aún así, quedé sorprendido y fascinado. Ahora entiendo que mi memoria, como la de todos los demás, es muy imperfecta, que muchas de las cosas que recuerdo son falsas, y que muchas cosas que olvido es normal que lo haga. Incluso algunos trucos que de verdad funcionan para no olvidar ciertas cosas. Ampliamente recomendable.
Hace poco terminé "Una novela criminal", y quedé muy sorprendido por los testimonios del caso, donde las personas defienden hechos que nunca pasaron. De manera que cuando descubrí en un artículo este libro no dudé en adelantarlo en mis lecturas. Y aquí la autora nos muestra lo fácil que es crear recuerdos falsos o incorrectos, y cómo nuestra memoria es demasiado falible.
El hecho es que podemos recordar nuestro pasado y crear nuestro yo a partir de los recuerdos, es gracias a la capacidad evolutiva de aprender y olvidar que nos permite sobrevivir en nuestro entorno. En otras palabras, esta capacidad la tenemos para sobrevivir, no para llevar un registro exacto de lo que hemos hecho o vivido.
Además de que los temas son muy interesantes, están platicados de forma amena y sencilla, y todos soportados por evidencias y experimentos serios.
Quizá la gran desventaja es que la visión de la autora no es 100% objetiva, y le da demasiado peso a todas las investigaciones que soportan sus propios trabajos, además de que sobre-simplifica algunos temas.
Aún así, quedé sorprendido y fascinado. Ahora entiendo que mi memoria, como la de todos los demás, es muy imperfecta, que muchas de las cosas que recuerdo son falsas, y que muchas cosas que olvido es normal que lo haga. Incluso algunos trucos que de verdad funcionan para no olvidar ciertas cosas. Ampliamente recomendable.
This is a good and fun book, but it doesn't tell us anything about human memory that poets and philosophers haven't been saying for thousands of years. Memory sometimes is a leaky vessel, one we all should view with suspicion. I, for one, have noticed with increasing frequency that memories I have of years gone by couldn't possibly be true. No, the author is right. Time makes fools and liars of us all.