Before We Forget

Safeguarding collective wisdom is a powerful tool for civilization to overcome the major upheavals ahead. Climate change, civil unrest, wars: How will we make it through the tough times looming before us? By remembering, Mary Soderstrom argues. Ours is not the first time in history when catastrophe has threatened societies, and using examples from China, the Roman Empire, and North American Indigenous cultures, Soderstrom shows how memory can lead the way toward the future. She begins by examining how memory works and then details how we store our collective memories in libraries and archives, as well as in the vastness of the digital universe. In part an entertaining history of knowledge and where we keep it, Before We Forget allays fears and encourages people to develop strategies for safeguarding collective and individual wisdom, which we will need to meet the challenges ahead.