Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold On to What Matters
Charan Ranganath
Doubleday (February 2024)

Why do we remember? 

Charan Ranganath explains how and why “the story of why we remember is the story of humanity.”

Various choices are routinely influenced and sometimes completely determined by memory. “To paraphrase Nobel-winning psychologist Danny Kahneman, your ‘experiencing self’ does the living, but your ‘remembering self’ makes the choices…happiness and satisfaction you gain from the outcomes of your decisions [begin italics] do not come from what you experience, but rather from what you remember [end italics].”

Ranganath adds, “In short, your remembering self is constantly — and profoundly — shaping your present and your future, by influencing just about every decision you make. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean we need to understand the remembering self, and the mechanisms of its far-reaching influence.”

The material is presented in three Parts. First, Ranganath introduces his reader to the basics; then he probes much deeper into”hidden forces” of memory; finally, he explains how to adapt to changes, including how our memories are intertwined with others’.

More specifically, here are ten of the subject areas on which he focuses:

o Why we remember some things and forget others
o How remembering takes us back to a place and time
o How we remember more [and more accurately] by memorizing less
o Why remembering is inextricably linked with imagination
o Why our memories are different from the feelings we have about them
o How we learn, even when we don’t remember
o How memory orients us to what is new and unexpected
o How remembering changes our memories
o Why we can learn more when we make mistakes
o How memories are shaped by our social interactions

I commend Charan Ranganath on his annotated “Notes” (Pages  199-237) that help to enrich a context, a frame of reference, for each of his key insights.  The material is research-driven, as the Bibliography (239-280) clearly indicates. I wish more authors would follow his example.

These are among his concluding thoughts: “Only when we start to peek behind the veil of the ‘remembering self’ do we get a glimpse of the pervasive role memory plays in every aspect of the human experience and recognize it as a powerful force that can shape everything from our perceptions of reality to the choices and plans we make, to the people we interact with, and even to our identity. When we get to know the remembering self, we can seize the opportunity to play an active role in our remembering, freeing ourselves from the shackles of the past, and instead using the past to guide us toward a better future.” (Page 194)

Why We Remember is a brilliant achievement of incalculable practical value. Bravo!

* * *

In school, college, and then graduate school, I learned more and learned it faster when I discussed material in a group with 3-5 others taking the same course. I also recorded key Q&As on 3×5 file cards (based on course material, whatever the subject) with a Q on one side and the A on the other, held together by a thick rubber band. I carried them with me and reviewed the content whenever I had a few minutes to kill.

Here are two other suggestions to keep in mind while reading Why We Remember: Highlight key passages, and, perhaps in a lined notebook kept near- at-hand —  record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines), page references, and lessons you have learned as well as your responses to key points posed within the narrative. Also record your responses to specific questions posed, especially at the conclusion of chapters.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent reviews of key material later.