How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist's Quest to Alter the Past by Steve Ramirez is shortlisted for the 2026 Royal Society Science Book Prize, supported by the Trivedi Family Foundation.
About the book
As a graduate student at MIT, Steve Ramirez successfully created false memories in the lab. Now, as a neuroscientist working at the frontiers of brain science, he foresees a future where we can replace our negative memories with positive ones. In How to Change a Memory, Ramirez draws on his own memories of friendship, family, loss and recovery to reveal how memory can be turned on and off like a switch, edited and even constructed from nothing.
Ramirez explores how scientists discovered that memories are fluid – they change over time, can be erased, reactivated and even falsely implanted in the lab. Reflecting on his own path as a scientist, he examines how memory manipulation shapes our imagination and sense of self. If we can erase a deeply traumatic memory, would it change who we are? And what would that change mean anyway? Throughout, Ramirez carefully considers the ethics of artificially controlling memory, exploring how we might use this tool responsibly – for both personal healing and the greater good.
A blend of memoir and cutting-edge science, How to Change a Memory explores how neuroscience has reached a critical juncture, where scientists can see the potential of memory manipulation to help people suffering from the debilitating effects of PTSD, anxiety, Alzheimer’s, addiction and a host of other neurological and behavioural disorders.
About the author
Steve Ramirez has been featured on CNN, NPR and the BBC and in leading publications such as The New York Times, National Geographic, Wired, Forbes, the Guardian, The Economist and Nature. An award-winning neuroscientist who has given TED talks on his groundbreaking work on memory manipulation, he is associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University.
