Mapping the Memory: Understanding Your Brain to Improve Your Memory [Paperback]

Rita Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 12, 2006

What is known about the workings of the human brain has increased immeasurably in recent times. Drawing on the latest discoveries, Mapping the Memory offers readers a unique scientific approach to improve their memory.
Presenting a wealth of information in a highly accessible format, Mapping the Memory explains the different types of memory: episodic (what happened), semantic (facts), procedural (how to do things), and working (everyday routines). It then details which parts of the brain govern memory and how memory loss can be controlled. Self-assessment questionnaires, memory exercises, case studies, therapies, tips, and tricks are all included to help readers reach a higher level of understanding about memory and how they can improve the working of their own brain function in this area.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Ulysses Press (July 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569755558
• ISBN-13: 978-1569755556
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,183,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wrong Turn in this Map, May 29, 2007

By 

J. Whitlow (Camden, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mapping the Memory: Understanding Your Brain to Improve Your Memory (Paperback)

After reading her two excellent books on the interface of mental matters and neuroscience, "Mapping the Mind" and "Consciousness", I had high expectations for "Mapping the Memory", but was very disappointed. This book provides a spare summary of standard views of memory and little more. There is nothing wrong with having such a summary, but there's nothing particularly distinctive about it either.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hope for the best, eat right, excercise, and do the crossword puzzles, February 25, 2007

By 

Ellie "Eilean Siar" (North Shore of Boston, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mapping the Memory: Understanding Your Brain to Improve Your Memory (Paperback)

Just understanding elements of current knowledge of the brain will not necessarily improve your IQ or decrease you chances of facing cognitive decline. However, Rita Carter is one of the most informed and effective science writers on neurology topics I have found so far. This is less comprehensive than some of her other excellent books, e.g. Mapping The Mind, a tour de force that will astonish you.

This book is designed to be informative and encouraging reading for baby boomers anxious about "going gently into that good night" as the poet put it. The last chapters are the "how to" on keeping your marbles as you age. The earlier chapters are Carter's usual excellent presentation of what is unavoidably difficult subject. Using our brain to understand the brain is the ultimate oxymoron.

Nonetheless, we are making progress. Someday, the disquiet of a non-optimal brain function will be quite treatable. And we can get on with our lives, without thinking about it anxiously.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reader-friendly, down-to-earth discussion, March 4, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mapping the Memory: Understanding Your Brain to Improve Your Memory (Paperback)

Mapping the Memory: Understanding Your Brain to Improve Your Memory is a one-of-a-kind informational book about improving one's memory through understanding basic neuroscience and skillfully applying tools such as mnemonics (such as "homes" for remembering the Great Lakes - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). Chapters discuss the neuroscience of making memories, common memory problems, causes and cures of memory ills, and tips, tricks, and techniques to improve one's memory. A reader-friendly, down-to-earth discussion of the practical realities and benefits gleaned from modern scientific research, Mapping the Memory is especially recommended for students, knowledge-skill professionals, and anyone else whose expertise and success depends heavily on maximizing their memory capacity. Highly recommended, as is author Rita Carter's previous book, "Mapping the Mind".