Amazon.com Review
Dr. Gordon is head of cognitive neurology at Johns Hopkins, a specialist in memory and language disorders. His book gives an account of the state of scientific knowledge on how memory works, and why it often fails. He emphasizes the regular unexceptional processes of remembering and forgetting, rather than the controversial area of memory repressed through traumatic abuse. He deals, for example, with the effects on memory of aging, and discusses gender differences in the ability to recall. Meaning and purpose emerge as the most significant factors in recall and recognition.
From Library Journal
Gordon, a specialist in memory and language disorders, heads the division of cognitive neurology at Johns Hopkins. Here he presents a readable account of how we remember and forget, by weaving practical exercises and case histories into a scientific web of data, touching on subjects such as recognition, recall, memory blocks, and the effects of drugs. Unconscious memory connections create neural pathways through closeness in time and proximity in space, but meaning and purpose emerge as the most significant factors in remembering, according to the author. He points out that women remember names and faces better, whereas males recall locations in space more accurately than females. Entertaining and informative, the book, although not as poetic, compares with Philip Hilts's Memory's Ghost (LJ 7/95). Recommended.
Dennis G. Twiggs, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Dennis G. Twiggs, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
