AWARDS
- New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, 1996
- Library Journal Best Science and Technology Books of the Year, 1996
- William James Book Award, American Psychological Association, 1997
- New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, 1996
- Library Journal Best Science and Technology Books of the Year, 1996
- William James Book Award, American Psychological Association, 1997
REVIEWS
Stuart Sutherland, New York Times Book Review
"Mr.Schacter, a professor of psychology at Harvard, gives an account of the principal work done in the last 20 years on memory disorders by the leading researchers, including himself. He skillfully puts the results together with those of experiments on normal people and those of brain scans revealing which parts of the brain are most active when the subject is pursuing a particular task. He provides a reasonably convincing and always well-argued account of the different types of memory that have recently been distinguished.
Old memories define our personalities and 'Searching for Memory' ends with a paean to them almost worthy of Thomas Moore -- 'Fond Memory brings the light/Of other days around me.' This is an excellent book on an important topic: it is exceptionally well written; its examples of defects in memory are fascinating, as are the theories based on them; and its arguments are illustrated with apposite pictures, reproduced from works by many modern artists, and passages from novels."
Larry Squire, Nature
"...a comprehensive, unique and engaging volume describing the facts and phenomena of human memory.
This is in fact a book like none other ever written about memory...The book's illustrations, except one, are reproductions of contemporary art from the author's own collection. These features bring personal meaning to the topic of memory and make the book appealing and accessible to the general reader. Yet working scientists, students and even the expert will find this book a valuable, carefully constructed and reliable resource...Both the main text and the notes are written with the even-handedness and critical eye of serious scholarship... [Schacter] is a gifted writer and a careful critic, and the nonspecialist could not find a more able guide...
Searching for Memory is an effective and enlightening celebration of the diverse phenomena of human remembering..."
Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
"Schacter, a Harvard psychology professor, has produced a full, rich picture of how human memory works, an elegant, captivating tour de force that interweaves the latest research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience with case materials and examples from everyday life. Clinical studies of brain-damaged and amnesiac patients reinforce his thesis that memory is not a single faculty, as was long assumed, but instead depends on a variety of systems, each tied to a particular network of brain structures, all acting in concert so we recognize objects, acquire habits, hold information for brief periods, retain concepts and recollect specific events...
Aided by numerous reproductions of contemporary paintings that evoke the subjective workings of memory, Schacter explores how we convert fragmentary remains of experience into autobiographical narratives. This wonderfully enlightening survey enlarges our understanding of the mind's potential."
Mark Pendergrast, Philadelphia Inquirer
"Daniel Schacter, a well-known Harvard experimental psychologist, has written a compelling, readable overview of what scientists know (or surmise) about human memory...The central importance of recall makes this book mandatory reading for anyone interested in psychology,biology, or simply the human lot."
Scientific American
"Daniel Schacter has synthesized a broad overview of the ways that our brains store and, all too often, distort the past...Schacter argues passionately for a better appreciation of both the power and the limitation of our mental records."
John Crowley, Washington Post Book World
"Schacter tells bizarre tales of harmed brains in the Oliver Sacks mode, stories that challenge our assumption that our minds are unitary wholes...His many careful distinctions in the recovered-memory controversy are both valuable and sane."
Science News
"In this cogent exploration of the way memory works, Schacter combines findings from the latest research -- including brain-imaging techniques -- with fascinating case studies and examples from everyday life...The effect of disease on memory and the role memory plays in literature and art complete this fascinating work."
John Morton, New Scientist
"...a broad and readable excursion through a range of memory phenomena, drawing extensively on [Schacter's] own work at the interface of academic and clinical interests...Schacter is unusual among leading memory workers in the US in not having aligned himself with either wing of the [recovered memories] debate, and delivers even-handed judgments which I find extremely congenial."
Maureen Zent, Memphis Commercial Appeal
"Schacter...covers vast territory, providing an engrossing and lively account of the complex interplay of physiology and psychology that supports our memory systems. Schacter draws on clinical cases, human experiences from literature, pop culture, and his life. The book dismantles many myths...a fascinating overview."
Joseph Glenmullen, Boston Globe
"Schacter...takes us on a journey ranging from the subtle biochemical probes used to decipher memory formation in sea slugs to the latest neuroimaging techniques used to light up human brains. One of Schacter's strengths is his ability to make dense technical material accessible to the general reader. Anyone interested in a summary of this burgeoning new field will be well rewarded..."
Kirkus Reviews
"This long but never dull synthesis of research on memory from the late 19th century to the present provides a host of interesting facts and insights into how are recollections are formed, maintained, retrieved, and sometimes distorted or forgotten...Schacter skillfully bridges the disciplines of cognitive neuroscience and psychology in summarizing the neurological, hormonal, and emotional bases of memory... His narrative style is superb, balancing clear scientific journalism with interesting anecdotal material. Contemporary art focusing on the themes of memory and forgetting provides a vivid counterpoint. In short, a highly readable, intellectually rich, and altogether memorable work."
The New Yorker
"Remembering how to ride a bicycle is different from remembering the date of the Magna Carta. This splendidly lucid book explains why, and describes how new technologies permit scientists to determine what brain centers control which memories. It also approaches subjects that have been sensationalized -- hypnosis, multiple personality, and 'recovered' memories of sexual abuse -- calmly, rationally, and believably."
BrainWork
"Searching for Memory is a rich and engaging account of current neuroscientific approaches to understanding human memory. The author draws on original art and everyday experience, as well as cutting-edge research, to explore a central paradox of memory: The aspects that make it fragile do not diminish its power."
"An acute and poetic observer of human nature, Daniel Schacter has brought together a powerful and original synthesis of current work on memory, and a poignant evocation of memory's 'fragile power', in a book that manages to be at once weightly and delightful. Searching for Memory ponders every aspect of memo ry: how different forms of memory may be weakened or obliterated with disease; how, far below the level of consciousness, implicit memory allows us to perceive, speak and act; how memories are transmitted, and transformed, by culture and art; how memories --and selves--are built through experience, and continually reconstructed throughout life."--Oliver Sacks , author of An Anthropologist on Mars
"Memory is an eternally gripping subject, though never so much as in recent years. Searching for Memory is an engrossing and monumental explanation of what we know about memory, written by one of the world's most distinguished scientists on the topic. Its scientific thoroughness and its pertinent references to art, literature, and current affairs make it a fascinatingand indispensable guide."--Steven Pinker, Director, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, MIT, and author of The Language Instinct
"In his comprehensive Searching for Memory, Daniel Schacter provides an authoritative synthesis of scientific findings (many from his own research), an evocative compilation of relevant works of art, and a convincing account of the human experience of memory."--Howard Gardner, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and author of Leading Minds
"If you ever have doubts about the reliability of your recollections and if you want to understand why memory can play unexpected tricks on all of us, this is the book for you. Drawing on a wealth of findings from memory research, and aided by careful scholarship and a sharp focus, Daniel Schacter convincingly undermines the myth of remembrance as the objective replica of things past. And as he does, he succeeds in illuminating the scaffolding behind the creative mental reconstructions which let us search for lost time. A notable achievement."--Antonio R. Damasio, M.D., Ph.D., M.W. Van Allen Professor of Neurology, University of Iowa and author of Descartes' Error
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