Why do we remember certain things but forget others?

Shortlisted for the Royal Society Winton Prize 2013 and the 2013 Best Book of Ideas Prize. Memory is an essential part of who we are. But what are memories, and how are they created? A new consensus is emerging among cognitive scientists: rather than possessing a particular memory from our past, like a snapshot, we construct it anew each time we are called upon to remember. Remembering is an act of narrative as much as it is the product of a neurological process. Pieces of Light illuminates this theory through a collection of human stories, each illustrating a facet of memory's complex synergy of cognitive and neurological functions. Drawing on case studies, personal experience and the latest research, Charles Fernyhough delves into the memories of the very young and very old, and explores how amnesia and trauma can affect how we view the past. Exquisitely written and meticulously researched, Pieces of Light blends science and literature, the ordinary and the extraordinary, to illuminate the way we remember and forget.

"Outstanding...draws on both science and art to marvellous effect" - Observer

"A captivating journey into the mind...told with great style" - Telegraph

"An immense pleasure" - New Scientist

"Exhilarating...a compelling case" - TLS

"A gifted writer" - FT

"A sophisticated blend of findings from science and ideas from literature...at times moving and very rewarding" - Times Higher Education

"A captivating journey into the mind" - Daily Telegraph

"As absorbing as it is thought-provoking" - Sunday Business Post