Memory is the core of identity and intellectual skills. It constructs us, because it is an amazing reservoir of knowledge and of personal memories, which allow us to act on ourselves and on the world.

And yet, memory cannot be taken for granted. It is intangible. It is neither indelible nor infallible: it is alive and it follows its own specific evolution, whose progress can be likened to that of the seasons.

Bernard Croisile explains here the major phases of our memory cycle (which is none other than the life cycle): development and functional organisation of memory in childhood; confident and almost natural use in adulthood; appearance of the first failings; repeated memory lapses, mistakes, amnesia; and Alzheimer's disease.

The author tells us everything we should know in order to understand a fascinating lifelong process: how memories are born, how they develop and then die. He shows us how to distinguish between normal, natural rhythms of memory and real dysfunction, which may be cause for serious concern. And he tells us what can be done to improve memory and slow down the ravages of time.

A neurologist and neuroscientist, Bernard Croisile heads the department of neuro-psychology at the Neurological Hospital of Lyon, where he leads a special “memory consultation” whose goal is to evaluate perceived loss of memory and memory disorders and to provide an early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. He is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Association France Alzheimer-Rhône and teaches at Claude Bernard-Lyon-I and Lumière-Lyon-II Universities.