AnnaMarie Houlis
If you’re in the market for a book on understanding or improving your memory, you’re in the right place.
Readers are spoiled for choice of books about memory. There’s a wealth of books about the brain and how it recalls information, as well as a gamut of books about why we remember what we do and forget what we don’t.
We’ve shortlisted the best titles on memory based on what’s most widely read, whether or not they’ve withstood the test of time, and what we at Dorothy have personally found to be the best. And then we’ve organized them into this list of 28 best books on memory, broken down into the following categories:
- Actionable books on memory – These books provide you with practical tools to learn how to enhance your memory.
- Scientific Books on Memory – This list of books is based on understanding the memory—how and why it functions the way it does—better.
- Theoretical Books on Memory – The books on this “best books” list are all about theory instead of practice.
Take a look at the best books on memory below, and find links to check them out for yourself.
Actionable Books on Memory
Here are some of the best books to improve your memory with actionable tips and tricks.
1. Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It
Fluent Forever, by Gabriel Wyner, is a national bestseller that teaches you how to learn any language—and hold onto what you learn.
2. Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, written by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool, is self-described as “the product of a collaboration between two people, a psychological scientist and a science writer” who began talking about expert performers and “deliberate practice.” Together, they wrote this book that dispels the secrets of extraordinary performers.
3. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel, looks into how we absorb and actually retain information. The book draws on recent breakthroughs in the field of cognitive psychology, as well as other related disciplines, to give readers different methods of learning more productively.
4. Memory Rescue: Supercharge Your Brain, Reverse Memory Loss, and Remember What Matters Most
Memory Rescue: Supercharge Your Brain, Reverse Memory Loss, and Remember What Matters Most, written by New York Times best-selling author and brain researcher, M.D. Daniel G. Amen,looks into brain imaging research that explains memory loss. This book gives you actionable tips on preventing and identifying memory loss, as well as recovering lost memories.
5. Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and Be More Productive
Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and Be More Productive, which was written by Kevin Horsley, gives you the tools you need to concentrate better, access intelligence and learn more efficiently.
6. The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential
This book, by Tony Buzan and Barry Buzan, helps you learn how to identify your brain’s pattern of perception and association so you can think smarter and learn more. The goal of The Mind Map Book is for you to master studying skills so you can think more productively, memorize more and expand your breadth of knowledge.
7. How to Learn Almost Anything in 48 Hours: The Skills You Need to Work Smarter, Study Faster, and Remember More!
Imagine if you could learn anything you put your mind to in just two days. With the help of Australian Memory record-breaker, Tansel Ali, you can. After all, Ali is known for memorizing two Yellow Pages phone books (over 2,300 business names and 20,000 digits) in only 24 days. Ali’s How to Learn Almost Anything in 48 Hours teaches you the same memory hacks.
8. The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play
Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas offer you a “fail-safe memory system” in The Memory Book, which boasts techniques for enhancing your memory in any environment. The book aims to help you remember everything better—even down to the little details, like friends’ birthdays and company information while networking.
9. Power Foods for the Brain: An Effective 3-Step Plan to Protect Your Mind and Strengthen Your Memory
At the end of the day, your diet dictates a lot of your brain power. Eating a nutritional and well-balanced diet is important for your brain to function properly, including the memory part of it. Power Foods for the Brain, by New York Times bestselling author Dr. Neal Barnard, gives you a food plan to boost your brain health—and even prevent memory-crushing conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.
10. Boost Your Brain: The New Art and Science Behind Enhanced Brain Performance
Sure, some people just have gifts. But everyone can improve their brain performance with effort—and the right techniques. Boost Your Brain—by Majid Fotuhi and Christina Breda Antoniades (the founder of the NeurExpand Brain Center and host of the PBS series “Fight Alzheimer’s Early”)—tells you exactly how to do it with science-backed methods of making your memory stronger.
11. Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life
Jim Kwik’s Limitless is a New York Times best seller and number one Wall Street Journal best seller—and for good reason. The book is basically his “manual for mental expansion and brain fitness,” based on proven practices for self-learning, focus, memory and more.
12. The Science of Self-Learning: How to Teach Yourself Anything, Learn More in Less Time, and Direct Your Own Education
Peter Hollins’s The Science of Self-Learning teaches you how to be both the teacher and the student. So you can learn anything, not just in a classroom or office, but in any environment.
13. A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)
So you sucked at math in school. No need to worry. There are solutions for that—like this book. Barbara Oakley also failed a lot of math classes before she wrote this book. She learned over the years how to, well, learn more effectively. And then she went back to school to ultimately master math. Solving problems and memorizing mathematical equations isn’t just good for this school subject, though; it can also sharpen your brain to boost your overall memory.
Scientific Books on Memory
14. Memory: A Very Short Introduction
Jonathan K. Foster’s Memory: A Very Short Introduction, is part of a series of introductions about interesting topics written by experts. This one dives into the intricacies of the mind and, particularly, the memory. It explores why some people have stronger memories than others, how memory can be manipulated and more.
15. Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, written by neuroscientist David Eagleman, dives deep into the depths of the subconscious. It looks into a multitude of factors that affect the brain—and memory—like brain damage, drugs, synesthesia and more.
16. The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles
Bruce Lipton’s The Biology of Belief is not necessarily about memory, in particular, but it is about the inner workings of the mind, body and spirit. He spells out the neuroscience behind our beliefs—and how our thoughts and experiences (which ultimately become memories) dictate our perceptions of reality. He also talks about how you can transform both your conscious and subconscious mind.
17. How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens
Science reporter Benedict Carey’s How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens shatters all preconceived notions about learning. He questions all the ways were taught to learn (such as in dedicated quiet spaces) and, instead, sheds light on the importance of things like forgetting.
18. Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting
Forgetting isn’t necessarily a bad thing—and it doesn’t mean that your brain is broken or your memory is totally failing you. After all, brains are designed to remember and forget. This book by Lisa Genova explains why exactly we do it sometimes. Remember unpacks the variables that impact memory, like sleep (or lack thereof), stress, context and more so you can understand it better to improve it.
19. In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind
In Search of Memory, by Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel, combines cognitive psychology with neuroscience and molecular biology to paint a picture of how the brain, well, paints pictures in your memory.
20. Memory 101: Understanding the Practical Science of Memory
Daniel Reisberg’s Memory 101 shares the modern science surrounding memory—including memory functions and the various conditions and disorders that impact memory. He does this through 15 lectures that include insights from real-world experiences.
21. The New Science of Learning: How to Learn in Harmony With Your Brain
Not everyone learns the same way. This book, The New Science of Learning by Todd D. Zakrajsek, reveals the science behind how we learn so students can be more effective learners, regardless of their learning environments. It acknowledges the challenges of various learning environments, provides strategies for overcoming those challenges and even offers discussion questions at the end of each chapter.
22. How to Develop a Brilliant Memory Week by Week
This how-to guide by Dominic O’Brien lays out 52 scientifically proven techniques to help you improve your memory. You can use the program to target your specific shortcomings and apply each lesson to real-life situations.
Theoretical Books on Memory
23. Memory, History, Forgetting
Memory, History, Forgetting is all about why some major historical events are so monumental in our minds, while other ones take a back seat. Paul Ricoeur begs the question: Do we “overly remember” certain events at the expense of others?
24. Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older: How Memory Shapes our Past
Douwe Draaisma’s Why Life Speeds up As You Get Older: How Memory Shapes Our Past covers the whole gamut—from different types of memory, like autobiographical memory, to déjà-vu. Draaisma also talks about our perceptions of reality at different stages of our lives, as well as how our memories can shape our perceptions of the past.
25. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
Joshua Foer’s best-selling Moonwalking with Einstein is all about his quest to improve his memory among mental athletes. He shares his experiences at the United States Memory Championship, as well as a combination of in-depth research and his personal insights on human memory.
26. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
Joseph Murphy, author of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, spent nearly five decades teaching, lecturing and counseling others on how to change their own destiny with mind tools. While this book—a bestseller since its first publication in 1963—isn’t specifically about memory, it sheds light on the many ways our thoughts (which includes how we remember experiences) can shape our realities.
27. Human Rights and Memory
Our memories of historical events largely inform the internationalization of human rights initiatives—and can, ideally, stop history from repeating itself. This book, by Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider, traces our discourse surrounding human rights down to World War II. They reveal interesting insights about how our memories of past events, like the Holocaust, for example, have formed, and how they relate to local experiences.
28. Matter and Memory
Matter and Memory, written by French philosopher Henri Bergson in 1896, is all about how the memory is tied to the mind, body and spirit. He considers memory to be “deeply spiritual,” as “the brain merely guides memory towards actions in the present.” This book is definitely a different take on memory that’s unlike any other on this list.