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How to Change a Memory

Science and Nature

,

Mature

Audio only

How to Change a Memory

One Neuroscientist's Quest to Alter the PastBy Steve RamirezNarrated by Steve Ramirez

How to Change a Memory

Length7h 54m

About this audiobook

This audiobook narrated by Steve Ramirez shares his disarmingly personal account of the new science of memory manipulation As a graduate student at MIT, Steve Ramirez successfully created false memories in the lab. Now, as a neuroscientist working at the frontiers of brain science, he foresees a future where we can replace our negative memories with positive ones. In How to Change a Memory, Ramirez draws on his own memories—of friendship, family, loss, and recovery—to reveal how memory can be turned on and off like a switch, edited, and even constructed from nothing. A future in which we can change our memories of the past may seem improbable, but in fact, the everyday act of remembering is one of transformation. Intentionally editing memory to improve our lives takes advantage of the brain's natural capacity for change. In How to Change a Memory, Ramirez explores how scientists discovered that memories are fluid—they change over time, can be erased, reactivated, and even falsely implanted in the lab. Reflecting on his own path as a scientist, he examines how memory manipulation shapes our imagination and sense of self. If we can erase a deeply traumatic memory, would it change who we are? And what would that change mean anyway? Throughout, Ramirez carefully considers the ethics of artificially controlling memory, exploring how we might use this tool responsibly—for both personal healing and the greater good. A masterful blend of memoir and cutting-edge science, How to Change a Memory explores how neuroscience has reached a critical juncture, where scientists can see the potential of memory manipulation to help people suffering from the debilitating effects of PTSD, anxiety, Alzheimer's, addiction, and a host of other neurological and behavioral disorders.

Genetic Engineering

Audiobook details

GenreScience and Nature, Psychology

Length7 hrs 54 mins

Narrated bySteve Ramirez

FormatAudiobook

Publish dateNov 4, 2025

LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Opening Credit

7Chapter 5 - The Antidote from Within

2Introduction - A Memory of a Memory

8Part 2, Chapter 6 - A Second and Forever

3Part 1, Chapter 1 - The Hundred-Year Quest for the Engram

9Chapter 7 - You Are What You Remember

4Chapter 2 - The Shape-Shifter

10Chapter 8 - So Long Lives This, and This Gives Life to Memory

5Chapter 3 - Do You Want a Spotless Mind

11Acknowledgments

Show all chaptersShow less

6Chapter 4 - More to Remembering Than Truth

12End Credits

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