Book excerpt: Episodic memory is the name of the kind of memory that records personal experiences instead of the mere remembering of impersonal facts and rules. This type of memory is extremely sensitive to ageing and disease so an understanding of the mechanisms of episodic memory might lead to the development of therapies suited to improve memory in some patient populations. Episodic memory is unique in that it includes an aspect of self-awareness and helps us to remember who we are in terms of what we did and what we have been passed through and what we should do in the future. This book brings together a renowned team of contributors from the fields of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and behavioural and molecular neuroscience. It provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of recent developments in understanding human episodic memory and animal episodic-like memory in terms of concepts, methods, mechanisms, neurobiology and pathology. The work presented within this book will have a profound effect on the direction that future research in this topic will take. - The first and most current comprehensive handbook on what we know about episodic memory, the memory of events, time, place, and emotion, and a key feature of awareness and consciousness - Articles summarize our understanding of the mechanisms of episodic memory as well as surveying the neurobiology of epsidodic memory in patients, animal studies and functional imaging work - Includes 34 heavily illustrated chapters in two sections by the leading scientists in the field