Bøger af Douwe (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Draaisma

Is it true, as the novelist Cees Nooteboom once wrote, that 'Memory is like a dog that lies down where it pleases'? Where do the long, lazy summers of our childhood go? Why is it that as we grow older time seems to condense, speed up, elude us, while in old age significant events from our distant past can seem as vivid and real as what happened yesterday? In this enchanting and thoughtful book, Douwe Draaisma, author of the internationally acclaimed Metaphors of Memory, explores the nature of autobiographical memory. Applying a unique blend of scholarship, poetic sensibility and keen observation he tackles such extraordinary phenomena as deja-vu, near-death experiences, the memory feats of idiot-savants and the effects of extreme trauma on memory recall. Raising almost as many questions as it answers, this fascinating book will not fail to touch you at the same time as it educates and entertains.

A fascinating, surprising, and at the same time, touching insight into twelve psychiatrists and neurologists whose names have become synonymous with a disease, syndrome, or autistic disorder. Case studies including Alois Alzheimer, James Parkinson and Georges Gilles de la Tourette are brought to life and transformed into unforgettable tales.

What is memory? Elusive and difficult to define, philosophers and psychologists through the ages have used metaphors as a way of understanding it. First published in 2000, this fascinating book takes the reader on a guided tour of these metaphors of memory from ancient times to the present day.