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Faber has won a ten-way auction for "a radical examination of memory" by neuroscientist and memory researcher Dr Charan Ranganath.
Associate publisher Laura Hassan acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Why We Remember: The Science of Memory and How it Shapes Us from Idea Architects via Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein. Faber will publish the book as a superlead title on 14th March 2024 and publication will be supported by an "ingenious, ambitious and myth-busting" campaign.
The synopsis says: "We often think about memory as a record of the past, but here’s a surprising twist: we aren’t supposed to remember everything. Over the course of 25 years, Dr Charan Ranganath has studied the flawed, incomplete and purposefully inaccurate nature of remembering to find that our brains haven’t evolved to hold every detail, but to extract the information needed to guide our present and future.
"Drawing from fascinating case studies, cutting-edge science and Ranganath’s own life, Why We Remember unveils the principles behind what (and why) we forget. By shining new light on the silent, pervasive influence of memory on how we learn, heal and make decisions, and the role intention, imagination and emotion play in the storage of memories, it provides a vital user’s guide to remembering what we hold most dear."
Hassan said: "This is such an enjoyable, humane and truly mind-altering book on the most puzzling and familiar phenomenon. Ranganath will shift how we see ourselves, how we learn, how we heal.
"And even better, the message is cheering: we can stop feeling inadequate when we forget and focus instead on how we hold on to the things we want to remember."
Ranganath is the director of the memory and plasticity programme and a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California at Davis. He is also the director of the University of California at Davis’ research laboratory, Dynamic Memory Lab.
The author is described as "a pioneer" in the use of brain imaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the mechanisms in the brain responsible for memory. His work has been recognised with numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Leverhulme Professorship at the University of Cambridge.
He said: "I am thrilled to announce that Faber will be publishing my new book. Based on my experiences on the front lines of neuroscience research over the past 25 years, this book will explain why we forget and how to remember what matters most. More importantly, the book will explain how memory works behind the scenes, determining our beliefs, decisions, and our very sense of identity."