From Abracadabra to Zombies Searching for Memory the brain, the
mind, and the past by Daniel Schacter New York: Basic Books,
1996 There is scarcely a human activity that is not affected by
memory. To overestimate the importance of studies on memory
seems impossible. Yet, all too often, we take memory for granted
and make assumptions about memory without knowing whether our
beliefs are based on fact or myth. Most of us can be excused for
our ignorance, since studies of memory rarely attract the
attention of the mass media. There are some notable exceptions,
such as the "Memory Wars", as Schacter refers to the battle over
recovered repressed memories of alien abductions or of childhood
abuse and murder. Daniel Schacter makes accessible to the
general reader the background information necessary to make
sense of the "Memory Wars." (He devotes an entire chapter to the
issue.) He provides an invaluable map of where we are in the
quest to understand one of the most fundamental properties of
the human mind. And he di