A book about the mechanics of memory (written for the layman) with an interesting commentary on the philosophical aspects of human identity. Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, Director of the Centre for Systems Neuroscience at the University of Leicester, evokes (surprisingly relevant*) pop culture references and delightful passages from Borges to demystify the concepts of synapse, memory, abstraction, and self-awareness.

The book starts with a brief introduction to neurons and synapses, explaining the chemical and electrical signals between nerve cells, and the dichotomy between a vast amount of information that passes thru them, and us ultimately retaining little of it.

The book goes to cover a series of peripheral topics such as the benefits of outsourcing trivial memory tasks to technology, and certain pathologies that seem to enhance brain capabilities, while paradoxically limiting others. It also strongly debunks the pseudoscientific claims about memory enhancement with the exception of mnemonics, to which the author attributes some value due to its use of association, while questioning its practical use.

One of the major themes echoed throughout the book is that something as abstract as the firing of neurons requires interpretation and abstraction in order for us to make sense of the world. Quian Quiroga himself appears to subscribe to the dogma of scientific materialism as he views both the brain and the mind as one in the same. One represented by physical activity in the cerebral cortex and the other as both its fuel and output. All in all, the “Jeniffer Aniston” neuron ended up being the least interesting concept the author had to offer.

The book serves its readers with a plethora of scientific, sociological, and even philosophical ideas about the way in which we consume and rationalize information; and it ultimately makes us realize that we are bound to remember little, and to forget most. Coming to terms with that reality is accepting that we are merely human.