Few things are so essential to our lives as our memories. In this book, the author draws on a lifetime of scientific research to produce an informative and wide-ranging view of the subject. He examines how memory has been investigated in the past and what modern studies of brain structure and function can tell us about it. The text also discusses short-term and working memory, the limits to and normal loss of memory, the effects of alcohol, anxiety, drugs and Alzheimer’s. While exploring future memory research, the text also addresses the age-old question of how to improve our memory and why certain people have such good memories.