Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older
Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older
AUD$22.68
exc GSTEntertaining and educational, Douwe Draaisma's Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older raises almost as many questions as it answers. Draaisma applies a blend of scholarship, poetic sensibility and keen observation in exploring the nature of autobiographical memory, covering subjects such as déjà -vu, near death experiences and the effect of severe trauma on memory recall, as well as human perceptions of time at different stages in life. A highly accessible and personal read, this book will not fail to touch or provoke thought in its readers.
- Explores the nature of autobiographical memory covering everything from first memories, traumatic memories, extraordinary feats of memory to smell, déjà-vu and flashbulb memories
- Draws on a unique combination of historical scholarship, scientific research and everyday experience
- Written in an accessible, original and engaging style
Reviews & endorsements
'… fascinating.' The Independent
'… one finishes the book with a heightened awareness of the complexity and the fickleness of human memory, and a genuine sense of pleasure at having encountered such a subtle, entertaining, and illuminating guide to the territory.' The Times Literary Supplement
Product details
March 2012Paperback
9781107646261
288 pages
215 × 138 × 15 mm
0.41kg
25 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. 'Memory is like a dog that lies down where it pleases'
- 2. Flashes in the dark: first memories
- 3. Smell and memory
- 4. Yesterday's record
- 5. The inner flashbulb
- 6. 'Why do we remember forwards and not backwards?'
- 7. The absolute memories of Funes and Sherashevsky
- 8. The advantages of a defect: the savant syndrome
- 9. The memory of a grandmaster: a conversation with Ton Sijbrands
- 10. Trauma and memory: the Demjanjuk case
- 11. Richard and Anna Wagner: forty-five years of married life
- 12. 'In oval mirrors we drive around': on experiencing a sense of déjà vu
- 13. Reminiscences
- 14. Why life speeds up as you get older
- 15. Forgetting
- 16. 'I saw my life flash before me'
- 17. From memory – portrait with still life.
