The 24 Best Memory Improvement Books to Read in 2024

In this list, you’ll discover the best memory improvement books; but first, let’s talk for a few short minutes about memory in general so that you can choose easier what is the perfect fit (book) for your particular needs.

Start with your reason for searching a book that can teach you how to improve your memory:

Possible motive #1

Would you like to discover how to improve your memory for learning purposes? (e.g., mastering a new skill, career advancement, school)

If that’s true, choosing the right books for you is straightforward because you’re not searching to solve an issue but how to rewire and train your brain to achieve a particular goal. (You can find best books on memory training from the book #1 to #4.)

Possible motive #2

Do you have the feeling you’re losing your memory?

From young to old, I hear this complaint quite often, and people get frightened by the prospect of not remembering what is happening in their life. They fear they’re already experiencing memory loss.

Rightly so, because memories give us the sense of self; we believe we are who we are due to our memories; we feel we are shaped as an individual by our recollection of the past.

If you believe and feel like that too, you’re not far from the truth. Your personality is chiseled, bit by bit, to become a masterpiece mostly by the events in your life.

There are many reasons why you might fail to remember certain things.

The most significant reason (and this happens most often) is that you don’t pay too much attention to what is happening when it happens.

Then, as time is passing, you can’t remember what you didn’t store in your memory in the first place. That’s like searching for potatoes in your pantry even though you didn’t store there any potatoes.

The second significant reason is that, when certain things happen, you don’t have any (or not strong enough) emotions connected to them.

That is why (among other things), most times we don’t remember people’s names from the first encounter – there are no emotions connected to those people; they feel insignificant to occupy a place in our storage space.

When things and people become significantly emotional to us, we remember. The stronger the emotion, the more details you remember.

A few days ago I was talking (on the phone) with a high school friend. In the middle of the conversation, I started having hiccups.

“Are you drinking sparkling water or fizzy drinks?” she asked me.

“Yes. How do you know?”

“You always had this issue; sparkling water – hiccups.”

I didn’t remember that. I just knew that, for more than 20 years, I avoided drinking sparkly water or fizzy drinks; but I had no idea why; I thought I just don’t like the sensation.

I didn’t remember the hiccups because it was a thing void of emotions. Yet, for some reason, my friend has some emotions about me having hiccups.

There are no emotions about where you left your keys… you get emotional (angry) that you didn’t leave them in the usual spot. That emotion (feeling angry) makes you remember the fact that you’re misplacing your keys and you might draw the conclusion you’re a forgetful person. You can miss the point: the issue is not that you don’t remember, but leaving your keys randomly.

The third significant reason why you might feel you’re losing your memory is that you have an expectation about how you should remember things.

Most of us expect to remember in pictures, but for (+-) 40% of people memories are feelings (sensations), tastes, smells, sounds, with occasionally faded or distorted images. You might not remember how it looks like a childhood friend, but you might remember how you felt when you saw that person.

The fourth significant reason why you might have memory gaps is that your unconscious mind selects what feels relevant to be stored.

For example:

When you count, you must remember the last number you say and what follows; what’s before that, it’s irrelevant.

Most skills you don’t practice become irrelevant to remember. That’s why we say “[…]it’s like riding a bike” when we refer to skills you might remember even if you don’t practice them – they are an exception from the rule (what you don’t use, you forget).

The fifth significant reason why you might forget is the fear of forgetting things might cause you to stress that is more powerful emotionally than the event in itself. You remember more how much you wanted to remember (the desire to remember), and the event becomes a bit fuzzy.

Do you have the feeling you’re losing your memory? Check out the following best memory improvement books and discover tools that will improve your overall brain health through memory exercises, brain training, and so much more.

This book is a great tool to improve your memory from both perspectives we spoke today: learning something new or remembering the events in your day to day life.

You’ll discover in this book a ten steps system to improve your memory using visualization and hearing (not the usual tedious repetition).

Learn how you can remember almost effortless:

• People’s faces and names
• Where you put things
• Give a presentation without notes
• Your to-do lists and schedule, appointments, meetings, important dates
• New words

This book contains a lot of exercises to train your memory, learn faster, and expand your knowledge.

Discover in this book:

• Memory principles and techniques
• How to make a plan for the things you want to remember
• The difference between every day and study memory
• How to apply the memory techniques in your presentations, learning a new language, and whatever else you want to remember
• Ways to practice your memory and make an improvement

Even though the title says that you’ll learn “Almost anything in 24 hours”, that might be true only after you master the memory techniques presented in the book. However, the title is not necessarily misleading because you must become skilled in those techniques only once, and then, use them over and over for whatever you want to learn.

This book is a tool that gives you the secrets of learning more effectively (math and science).

Discover in this book:

• Why trying too hard can lead to a disaster
• How to use your creativity in learning and how can learning improve your creativity
• Techniques to use in learning to improve your memory
  Memory tips
• Getting advantage of your talents and how to achieve your memory potential

This book helps you learn faster and improve your memory more than you ever thought it’s possible.

You’ll discover in this book, eight little-known learning techniques that use the visual memory, the Link system, the consonant number system.

If you’re a student and you’d like to increase your performance this book is for you.

Whatever is the area of your life for which you want to improve your memory, this book will help you do it.

Discover in this book how to use:

• Creativity to improve your memory
• Associations and dimensions to remember more details
• The Link and the Journey methods
• Simple ways to train your mind
• Exercises to keep your mind young and healthy

Memorization is more of a skill than innate talent. Because of that fact (being a skill), you can learn how to memorize and remember what’s important to you.

Discover in this book how to:

• Remember names and faces
• Organize yourself better so that remembering things comes more naturally and easy
• Store in your memory phone numbers, appointments, and data in a way that you can access them fast and effortless

This book is a three-week program that can help you regain your clarity of mind, focus, and restore the balance of your brain chemistry so that you can learn faster, increase your memory, and live with joy.

The book is not explicitly designed just for improving your memory but for improving the way you think and nourish your brain.

It can be quite frustrating to be approached by people that seem to know you, but you have no idea who they are. There are only that many apologies you can stand to offer; I guess, you’d like to overcome forgetting the face and the name of the people you meet.

Having the ability to remember people’s names and faces gives you so many benefits, starting from self-preservation and protection, and finishing with increased power to influence others.

If you’d like to know:

• How your memory works
• How it can happen to you to develop a false memory
• Recover from trauma and let go of the past

If you would like to know all of that and more, this book is for you.

Mastering the art of mind maps will help you:

• Organise yourself better
• Be more creative
• Keep your focus and concentration
• Improve your memory and communication skills
• Learn faster

Mind mapping has various applications; from goal setting to designing your projects, from remembering essential things to finding easier your way to success.

Yes, our age can influence our memory. However, it doesn’t influence it to the extent we are made to believe.

Discover in this book how to keep your memory pristine, year of the year; improving your confidence by memorizing to-do lists, quotations, and presentations no matter your age.

Getting older is the natural progression of things, but losing your memory is not.

This book is for you if you’d like to know how to:

• Remember your past and important dates in your life
• Learn a foreign language
• Master the Dominic system
• Remember jokes and stories
• Become a human calculator and calendar
• Impress your friends with your history and geography knowledge

No matter what is your trade, you know how vital is to:

• Remember the faces and names of those you have to deal with
• Be able to speak and present your ideas with confidence
• Memorize certain things word for word
• Store information in your mind and recollect later

This book can be your tool on how to improve your memory to achieve the things above and more.

This book contains all the information you might want about memory.

Discover in this book:

• How memory works
• Why you forget things
• The differences between remembering pictures opposite words
• The basic principles for improving your memory
• Enhance your learning ability (strategies for faster learning)
• Mental filing systems

Improve your Mnemonics knowledge with the help of this book.

Did you notice you can read from memory a sentence you’ve seen only for a second? Or that you remember what you’ve been thinking (when someone interrupts you) if you look at the things you saw when you started thinking?

Even if your primary system of storing memories is not visual (as in my case) improving your photographic memory can make a lot of difference in your memory skills.

Discover in this book how to expand your memory capacity, use your emotions to remember information and events easily, tricks to remember faces and names.

Others might judge your intelligence by the size of your waistline. However, as we progress in life, our physical appearance becomes less and less relevant. When you’ll be older, no one will care how good you look; but we care a great deal about how coherent, articulate, logical, and sane we are.

Discover in this book how to improve and keep your memory and your brain functioning at optimum capacity for the rest of your life.

Apart from the quality of your thoughts, what has the most significant impact on your brain function, is the quality of the food you’re using to nourish your brain every day.

This book is a complete program for enhancing your brain capabilities, improving brain functions (e.g., memory, creativity, focus, and comprehension).

The book is based on the latest neuroscience research and gives you actionable advice concerning your brain cognitive functions and memory.

Discover what’s the connection between living a healthy life and the health of your brain.

Discover in this book tips and tricks to remember what you learn and the events in your life so that you feel you’re living life to the fullest. Know how and where are your days going.

Most people who are afraid of getting older, do so because they don’t remember what happened in their life so far.

Join the club of those who can say proudly and unapologetic their age because they know how beautiful their life so far has been.

Probably you’ve noticed how certain foods make you feel lethargic, forgetful, and kill your enthusiasm and interest in most things around you.

Your brain runs faster when your legs are moving. However, your legs standstill if there is no proper fuel.

Discover in this book how to properly nourish your brain and body for a happy, long, healthy, and joyful life.

This book is a comprehensive tool for improving your memory.

Discover in this book:

• How to improve your long and short-term memory
• Tips on how to use various memory techniques (e.g., association, visualization, chunking, rhyming)
• Information on proper nutrition for your memory and healthy brain

Discover in this book clear, detailed and actionable techniques to improve your memory.

The book is full of exercises and examples that help you change the way you learn and become a sponge of knowledge.

If you’re searching for ways to improve your memory, become more skilled, and learn smarter, this book is for you.

There is nothing in this world that can fool you as you are fooling yourself (sometimes).

We have this perception that what we remember must be the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth. Yet, it happens more often than you might think to remember “creations” of your imagination rather than actual facts.

Discover in this book:

• How to understand and deal with false memories
• Things that can lead to false memories
• How is your perception changing your memories
• The reasons why no one remembers everything precisely as it happened

This book is written by tree memory experts and is based on scientific research.

Discover in this book:

• Techniques, maps, and models for improving your memory
• The biases of your recollection for the events in your life
• How to improve your long and short-term memory
• Tips on how to learn faster
• Factors that can encourage or discourage forgetting things
• …and much more

If you’re searching to learn more about the memory (probably), you can’t find a more in-depth book on the subject.

This book explores an understanding of an entire discipline solely dedicated to memory.

It tells the story of the now-forgotten art of memory, which was practiced during ancient times; memory palace and ordering of knowledge were commonly used in combination.

It’s an interesting read if you want to learn how our ancestors remembered vital information at a time where papyrus and sheepskin were the only things to write on.