Why We Remember

Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

By: Charan Ranganath PhD

Narrated by: Mark Deakins, Charan Ranganath PhD

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • Memory is far more than a record of the past. In this groundbreaking tour of the mind and brain, one of the world’s top memory researchers reveals the powerful role memory plays in nearly every aspect of our lives, from recalling faces and names, to learning, decision-making, trauma and healing.

A BEST SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR: Financial Times, Smithsonian Magazine, The Telegraph, Waterstones, The Times, Marie Claire, Greater Good Magazine, Bookshop.org

"Why We Remember offers a radically new and engaging explanation of how and why we remember."—Dr. Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep

"Prominent neuroscientist and Guggenheim Fellow Charan Ranganath guides us through the science of our memories with incredible insight and clear science. He combines fascinating tales of the peculiarities of memory with practical, actionable steps. Not only will every reader remember better afterward, they’ll also never forget this life-changing book.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of Maladies and Gene

A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember, pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist Charan Ranganath radically reframes the way we think about the everyday act of remembering. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past and how we use that information to understand who we are in the present, and to imagine and plan for the future.

Memory, Dr. Ranganath shows, is a highly transformative force that shapes how we experience the world in often invisible and sometimes destructive ways. Knowing this can help us with daily remembering tasks, like finding our keys, and with the challenge of memory loss as we age. What’s more, when we work with the brain’s ability to learn and reinterpret past events, we can heal trauma, shed our biases, learn faster, and grow in self-awareness.

Including fascinating studies and examples from pop culture, and drawing on Ranganath’s life as a scientist, father, and child of immigrants, Why We Remember is a captivating story that unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives. When we understand its power—and its quirks—we can cut through the clutter and remember the things we want to remember. We can make freer choices and plan a happier future.

©2024 Charan Ranganath (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“This is popular science at its best: entertaining, thought-provoking and an encouragement to the reader to keep an open mind."—The Financial Times

"Clever, insightful and humorous...The most significant lesson is that we need not be prisoners to our incompletely remembered past."—The Wall Street Journal

"It has never been easier to fact-check our memories against an external record and find ourselves lacking, but Ranganath is intent on giving us a new way of understanding memory."—The New Yorker

Critical Memory

Excellent Subject; relevant research; easy to understand; narrative had great flow and comparable analysis. Thank you!

What a fantastically written book!

I throughly enjoyed this book. I think you accomplished your goal, if your goal was to explain to the reader "why we remember”. Well done

Reserearch, storytelling

Excellent work! Makes cognitive science accessible through personal stories, and cites relevant research to help you dive deeper when necessary. Strong recommend.

Good on Two Levels

Ranganath does a good job of laying out the differing but complementary roles of the Cortex and Hippocampus, though sometimes he dives a little more deeply into the research underlying his explanation.

For the layman like myself the areas he illuminated best were the degradation of memories over time, False Memories, the impact of memory on Learning, and Social Media’s effect on Memory. His conversational approach and use of storytelling made for an easy read.

Four stars. ****

Extremely informative

If you are interested in neuroscience or scientific literature, this book is just perfect for you. It has great humor and shows what a true through and through scientific understanding is capable of. A great book if you like cutting-edge science.

great new ideas

very useful. intriguing. I recommended this highl5. gear for review of all other pursuits of learning

Explains why we “remember” the way we do

Very informative. Helps me to understand that our memories are not just an autobiographical story that is true and absolute. Suggestions on how to improve the retention of memories and why it works are interesting.

It’s also interesting how memory is a living experience that can be manipulated by bad actors in some cases. Those who speak first, speak loudest or feed into our fears and stereotypes can influence our “memories” and beliefs.

Timely, well integrated.

Loaded with information from manu sources and ages. I am applying things learned here now and no doubt for a long time to come.

I liked very much the narration and the authors touch on human brain structure

Very interesting topic. It is good to be familiarized with a complex dynamic mechanism like the brain and all its components. I think the length is perfect since it could be a bit tedious at times (I waited to get the point and had to listen through repetitive summaries about the brain).

Outstanding read. Deeply informative and helpful for self-improvement, child rearing and teaching.

Outstanding read. Deeply informative and helpful for self-improvement, child rearing and teaching. Outstanding read. Deeply informative and helpful for self-improvement, child rearing and teaching.