Forgetting, Scott A. Small
Forgetting, Scott A. Small
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Forgetting
The Benefits of Not Remembering

Author: Scott A. Small

Narrator: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Unabridged: 5 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/13/2021

Synopsis

“Fascinating and useful . . . The distinguished memory researcher Scott A. Small explains why forgetfulness is not only normal but also beneficial.”—Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs

Who wouldn’t want a better memory? Dr. Scott Small has dedicated his career to understanding why memory forsakes us. As director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia University, he focuses largely on patients who experience pathological forgetting, and it is in contrast to their suffering that normal forgetting, which we experience every day, appears in sharp relief.
 
Until recently, most everyone—memory scientists included—believed that forgetting served no purpose. But new research in psychology, neurobiology, medicine, and computer science tells a different story. Forgetting is not a failure of our minds. It’s not even a benign glitch. It is, in fact, good for us—and, alongside memory, it is a required function for our minds to work best.
 
Forgetting benefits our cognitive and creative abilities, emotional well-being, and even our personal and societal health. As frustrating as a typical lapse can be, it’s precisely what opens up our minds to making better decisions, experiencing joy and relationships, and flourishing artistically.
 
From studies of bonobos in the wild to visits with the iconic painter Jasper Johns and the renowned decision-making expert Daniel Kahneman, Small looks across disciplines to put new scientific findings into illuminating context while also revealing groundbreaking developments about Alzheimer’s disease. The next time you forget where you left your keys, remember that a little forgetting does a lot of good.

*Includes a downloadable PDF of images from the book

Cover art: © 2021 The Easton Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Reviews

Goodreads review by Gendou

I read this book but I forget what it's about. Just kidding! It's about a little-known feature of the brain: active forgetting. Our brains do this in order to generalize and heal. In telling this neurological tale, we also get a survey of the brain systems involved including the hippocampus, as well......more

Goodreads review by Paul

Forgetting brings together a variety of areas of brain research to explore the benefits of our tendency to forget. This is examined through the experience of autistic people and those with ptsd in early chapters. Both show ways that too much memory can make it difficult to function. Other chapters e......more

Goodreads review by Trish

A consideration of the research and brain science that guides our current understanding of memory and memory loss, Forgetting reads more like a yard sale of stories and information than a coherent narrative. I was interested in the book’s thesis - that forgetting is actually a good thing, an optimal......more

Goodreads review by MIKE

This book is interesting in that it introduces the idea that forgetting is not inherently bad. "Discovering that Nature granted us separate molecular toolboxes actively dedicated to memory on the one hand and forgetting on the other clearly refutes the common view that forgetting is just failing memo......more

Goodreads review by J Earl

Forgetting: The Benefits of Not Remembering by Scott A Small is a fascinating and accessible look at how forgetting works in the brain and why it is beneficial when functioning normally. While the explanations are detailed Small manages to explain neurological concepts in terms most readers can unde......more

Quotes

“Upbeat . . . Dr. Small is convincing on the value of forgetting (and also of sleep).”—The Wall Street Journal

“Eye-opening . . . accessible with an easygoing prose.”—Publishers Weekly

“In his clear-worded and compassionate book, Scott Small translates the current science of memory for the general reader and explains why the onset of forgetting may be benign or even helpful rather than the beginning of a tragedy. Forgetting is a welcome addition to the literature on human memory at a time of both solitude and hope.”—Antonio Damasio, author of The Strange Order of Things

“Scott Small has written a book that will calm the fears of anyone who has mislaid a pair of glasses or couldn’t remember the name of an acquaintance and worried they were suffering from incipient memory loss. Forgetting is the work of an accomplished neuroscientist who follows in the tradition of Oliver Sacks, illuminating the mysteries of the brain with personal stories and lively, accessible writing as he makes the case that not remembering is a crucial biological function rather than the inevitable prelude to dementia.”—Sue Halpern, author of A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home

“This book is both fascinating and useful. The distinguished memory researcher Scott Small explains why forgetfulness is not just normal but beneficial. By allowing us to see the forest as well as the trees, forgetting promotes creativity and pattern recognition. This readable book will help you understand how the right mix of forgetting and memory allows you—and our whole society—to be emotionally healthy.”­­—Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Leonardo Da Vinci and Steve Jobs

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