For readers of Atul Gawande, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Henry Marsh, a riveting, gorgeously written biography of one of history's most fascinating and confounding diseases -- Alzheimer's -- from its discovery more than 100 years ago to today's race towards a cure. Alzheimer's is the great global epidemic of our time, affecting millions worldwide -- there are more than 5 million people diagnosed in the US alone. And as our population ages, scientists are working against the clock to find a cure. Neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli is among them. His beloved grandfather had Alzheimer's and now he's written the book he needed then -- a very human history of this frightening disease. But In Pursuit of Memory is also a thrilling scientific detective story that takes you behind the headlines. Jebelli's quest takes us from nineteenth-century Germany and post-war England, to the jungles of Papua New Guinea and the technological proving grounds of Japan; through America, India, China, Iceland, Sweden, and Colombia. Its heroes are scientists from around the world -- many of whom he's worked with -- and the brave patients and families who have changed the way that researchers think about the disease. This compelling insider's account shows vividly why Jebelli feels so hopeful about a cure, but also why our best defense in the meantime is to understand the disease. In Pursuit of Memory is a clever, moving, eye-opening guide to the threat one in three of us faces now.

Wulf Kansteiner shows that the interpretations of Germany's past proposed by historians, politicians, and television makers reflect political and generational divisions and an extraordinary concern for Germany's perception abroad.

Recent advances in techniques available to memory researchers have led to a rapid expansion in the field of cognitive neuroscience of memory. This book provides accessible coverage of four key areas of recent advance, including research on functional imaging, electrophysiological and lesion studies, and developments from the computational modelling approach. The first section reviews functional imaging studies in humans, with particular emphasis on how imaging methods have clarified the cortical areas involved in memory formation and retrieval. The second section describes electrophysiological and lesion research in monkeys, where lesion and disconnection studies are rapidly adding to our knowledge of both information processing and modulatory aspects of memory formation. In the third section, electrophysiological and lesion studies in rats are reviewed allowing for a detailed study of the role of novelty and exploration in memory formation. The final section reviews current research in computational modelling which has allowed the development of new theoretical and experimental approaches to the study of memory encoding and retrieval. This volume draws together the current developments in each field, allowing the synthesis of ideas and providing converging evidence from a range of sources. It will be a useful resource for both advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of psychology, as well as researchers in the field and anyone with an interest in cognitive neuroscience.

He contrasts the commonly-held perception that the pace of technology is accelerating with the historical record. He highlights the people and the organizations which are responsible for America's technological largesse. The book "follows the money" to uncover the underlying trends. The beginning of a decline in technology development is detected using indirect indicators for clues. Impacts on the formation of companies, employment and productivity provide sobering reasons to enlighten others and demand a change in course. After considering the possibilities, the book proposes several constructive actions which avoid the proverbial tendency to "throw more money at the problem." The goal of the book is to provoke discussion and promote action where appropriate. Americans' standard of living is at stake. Tech-savvy readers will want to understand this issue so as to influence others. Long-range thinkers will want to factor these considerations into their prognostications. The titans of the technology-based companies can develop new and improved strategies based on the findings of this book. And, our elected officials may want to act before a catastrophic disaster confronts the nation. This book will strike a chord with everyone who is interested in America's future economic health. Specific audience groups include scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, employees in technology based companies, government and corporate policymakers deciding the future of research and development (R&D) programs, government workers involved in the execution of government R&D programs and those thinking about a career in R&D. It is complementary to such works as Politics and Economics in America: The Way We Came to Be, by Richard E. Carmichael (Krieger Publishing Company, 1998), which explores political and economic history in order to explain the emergence of the United States' world economic dominance. Carmichael's book makes recommendations on how government could assist America's businesses in maintaining our economic leadership, but it does not address any aspects of technology development and associated issues. Closing the Innovation Gap by Judy Estrin (McGraw Hill, 2009), provides business leaders with concepts for leading their organizations so as to close the innovation gap with competitors. It focuses on the innovation environment within the organization, whereas Dr. Gref addresses the complete technology development cycle, its financing, America's rise to global dominance, and the specter of a national decline.

This book examines some of the oldest preserved texts on dreams, such as Artemidorus' Oneirocritica, Sigmund Freud's favourite ancient dream theorist, and dream books by Aristotle, the grandfather of modern dream theory.

This book examines the nature and causal antecedents of superior memory performance. The main theme is that such performance may depend on either specific memory techniques or natural superiority in the efficiency of one or more memory processes. Chapter 2 surveys current views about the structure of memory and discusses whether common processes can be identified which might underlie general variation in memory ability, or whether distinct memory subsystems exist, the efficiency of which varies independently of each other. Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive survey of existing evidence on superior memory performance. It examines techniques which underlie many examples of unusual memory performance, and concludes that not all this evidence is explicable in terms of such techniques. Relations between memory ability and other cognitive processes are also discussed. The remainder of the book describes the authors' own studies of a dozen memory experts, employing a wide variety of short- and long-term memory tasks. These studies provide a much larger body of data than previously available from studies of single individuals, usually restricted to a narrow range of tasks and rarely involving any systematic study of long-term retention. The authors argue that in some cases unusual memory ability is not dependent on the use of special techniques. They develop some objective criteria for distinguishing between subjects who demonstrate "natural" superiority and those "strategists" who depend on techniques. Natural superiority was characterised by superior performance on a wider range of tasks and better long-term retention. The existence of a general memory ability was further supported by a factor analysis of data from all subjects, omitting those who described highly-practised techniques. This analysis also demonstrated the independence of initial encoding and retention processes. The monograph raises many interesting questions concerning the existence and nature of individual differences in memory ability (a previously neglected topic), their relation to other cognitive processes and implications for theories concerning the structure of memory.

What is memory today? How can it be approached? Why does the contemporary world seem to be more and more haunted by different types of memories still asking for elaboration? Which artistic experiences have explored and defined memory in meaningful ways? How do technologies and the media have changed it? These are just some of the questions developed in this collection of essays analysing memory and memory shapes, which explores the different ways in which past time and its elaboration have been, and still are, elaborated, discussed, written or filmed, and contested, but also shared. By gathering together scholars from different fields of investigation, this book explores the cultural, social and artistic tensions in representing the past and the present, in understanding our legacies, and in approaching historical time and experience. Through the analysis of different representations of memory, and the investigation of literature, anthropology, myth and storytelling, a space of theories and discourses about the symbolic and cultural spaces of memory representation is developed.

This study examines transitions from Nazism to socialism in Brandenburg between 1945 and 1952. It explores the grassroots responses and their relative implications within the context of both punitive and rehabilitative measures implemented by the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD) and the communist Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The doctoral study is based on archival and oral history sources and addresses two main research questions: First, in what ways did people at the grassroots attempt to challenge the imposition of punitive measures, and did their responses have any effect on the manner in which these policies were implemented at a grassroots level? These punitive measures were designed to remove remnants of Nazism and included punitive Soviet practices, Soviet NKVD camps and denazification and sequestering. Second, to what extent did grassroots Brandenburgers participate in political organisations which were designed to integrate East Germans during the rehabilitative stage and what impact did these responses have on the post-war transition? This study focuses on the National Democratic Party and the Society for German-Soviet Friendship as well as examining wider factors which may have impeded and facilitated the processes of post-war transitions. Two main arguments are proposed. First, the imposition of wide-ranging punitive measures often posed an existential threat at a grassroots level, and therefore at times elicited grassroots actions, albeit severely restricted by practical and political constraints. In turn, these grassroots responses could occasionally have some local impact and somewhat affect the manner in which policies were implemented at a grassroots level in Brandenburg. Second, it is argued that the rehabilitative stage, despite some challenges, generally provided a favourable system for grassroots integration in which the needs of the policy makers and a significant proportion of grassroots individuals somewhat converged, eventually contributing to the partial stabilisation of the emerging East German socialist state. Copyright remains with the author Dr Julie Deering-Kraft Citations: Deering-Kraft, JN; (2013) Transitions from Nazism to Socialism: Grassroots Responses to Punitive and Rehabilitative Measures in Brandenburg, 1945-1952. Doctoral thesis (PhD), UCL (University College London). Available at http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1416290/

Why does technology obsessively seek to artificially enhance and expand our memory? We don’t have to accept information overload and interconnectedness as the backbones of our age. Our most trusted organizations, schools, and businesses are increasingly burdened by institutionalized storage and an accumulation of knowledge capital. As this book shows, by incorporating forgetting into their strategies for change, they can evolve within this time of radical adaptation. Our fear of forgetting may be blocking a real understanding of how innovative thought forms in our mediated capitalism. Anti-institutions can embrace the power of forgetting as a means of elevating thinking. Leading with the formulation of a new “academy”, this book will help the reader conceive of education in art and business as rooted in concepts and practices of forgetting. It shows that forgetting is an unexpected theory of organizing that can challenge ossified institutional practices.

Christy Award Hall of Fame Author After surviving a trauma several years back, Remy Reed relocated to a cottage on one of Maine’s most remote islands. She’s arranged her life just the way she wants it, spending her time working on her wood sculptures and soaking in the beauty of nature. It’s quiet and solitary—until the day she spots something bobbing in the ocean. Her binoculars reveal the “something” to be a man, and he’s struggling to keep his head above water. She races out to save him and brings him into her home. He’s injured, which doesn’t detract from his handsomeness nor make him any easier to bear. He acts like a duke who’s misplaced his dukedom . . . expensive tastes, lazy charm, bossy ideas. Remy would love nothing more than to return him to his people, but he has no recollection of his life prior to the moment she rescued him. Though she’s not interested in relationships other than the safe ones she’s already established, she begins to realize that he’s coming to depend on her. Who is he? What happened that landed him in the Atlantic Ocean? And why is she drawn to him more and more as time goes by? There’s no way to discover those answers except to walk beside him down memory lane. Travel to the rocky coast of Maine for "opposites attract" banter, witty humor, a fascinating mystery, and destiny-changing love. This sweet contemporary romance kicks off Becky Wade's new Sons of Scandal series! *Note: For a list of sensitive topics in Becky's novels, visit BeckyWade.com and click the link you'll find at the top of the "My Books" page.