Metaphors of Memory
A History of Ideas About the Mind
How every age has described memory in the technology of its day, from wax tablets to the computer.
Draaisma traces how each era has described memory in the technology of its day, from wax tablet and palace and theatre to photograph, phonograph and computer, and what each metaphor made thinkable and unthinkable. A history of psychology told through its own figures of speech.
Recommended by 1 Person
Joshua Foer
This is a book that should be more widely known. Draaisma is a Dutch historian of psychology and ideas who has written a couple of books about the mind that are filled with wonderfully weird anecdotes and terrific insights. Metaphors of Memory is a history of how we’ve talked about memory over time. Today, we talk about photographic memory or digital memory; we analogise our memories to the technologies of our era.
Interview · October 2012
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