From the author of the bestselling Still Alice novel, is this fascinating look in to memory, why we forget and what we can do to protect our memories.

Lisa Genova is a Neuroscientist as well as a successful novelist and that is clear from the first page – it is really easy to read and well written with lots of useful information and science based information. It expertly explains how the brain processes information, what gets stored, what doesn’t and why. While she does use scientific terms, it definitely doesn’t read like a text book.

As someone in their 40s who quite often gets the names of my children the wrong way round, this book is really reassuring. I am definitely going to recommend it to a lot of my friends who ask ‘is this normal’ about their memory decline, and according to the book, it is! It is really helpful to understand the science behind why we forget what we forget – it turns out that we’re not designed to remember every name we ever hear and forgetting the name of people and places is entirely ‘normal’.

It would also be a great book for anyone who is affected by dementia as it is really useful for understanding how it impacts on memory and brain function. Genova tenderly conjures up a deeper understanding and compassion for anyone living with memory loss or Alzheimer’s Disease.

At times, it could become a little repetitive when advising how to keep up our memory function, Genova does mention ‘writing things down’ an awful lot, which did seem a bit obvious but I don’t think it detracts from the book as a whole. It’s approachable, and easy to relate to and is a definite must read for anyone who is interested in memory or is beginning to worry about their own memory function. You can purchase this book from Amazon here