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.

A future in which we can change our memories of the past may seem improbable, but in fact, the everyday act of remembering is one of transformation. Intentionally editing memory to improve our lives takes advantage of the brain's natural capacity for change.

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 masterful 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 behavioral disorders.

In Casting Forward, naturalist, educator, and writer Steve Ramirez takes the reader on a year-long journey fly-fishing all of the major rivers of the Texas Hill Country. This is a story of the resilience of nature and the best of human nature. It is the story of a living, breathing place where the footprints of dinosaurs, conquistadors, and Comanches have mingled just beneath the clear spring-fed waters. This book is an impassioned plea for the survival of this landscape and its biodiversity, and for a new ethic in how we treat fish, nature, and each other.

In Casting Seaward, author, naturalist, and educator Steve Ramirez expands beyond the geographical scope of his first two books by traveling thousands of miles by plane, motor vehicle, boat, and foot pursuing the native gamefish of North America's salt and brackish water habitats. This journey includes following anadromous fish like salmon from the ocean's depth to the shallowest tributaries of Alaskan rivers, and following rivers and streams from their freshwater sources to their brackish water deltas. In the course of this journey, Ramirez explores and fishes portions of the entire American coastline from the Northern Atlantic coast to the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and up the Pacific coast from California to Alaska. The entirety of this sojourn was written while traveling through the COVID-19 pandemic, and it touches on the lessons that challenges such as global pandemics, global ecological and sociological disruption, and global opportunities for positive learning and change can teach us about nature and human nature. Most of all, Casting Seaward is a celebration of the bounty and beauty of our water-covered planet, and a recognition of its increasingly rarefied qualities. Each story is told in part through the eyes of the people who have lived alongside, and come to love, these waters and fish. Woven throughout these adventures are the stories of the people he meets and befriends while pursuing a mutual love of nature and the best of human nature, as the first criterion for finding common ground. Casting Seaward is an enthralling exploration, an insightful warning and call to action, and an exceedingly hopeful story in an all-too-often seemingly hopeless time. It is a story of fishing and friendship. It is a story of humanity's impact on nature, and nature's impact on humanity. It is our story, in this pivotal moment in the history of humanity and the living blue planet we call home.

In writing this book, author Steve Ramirez traveled thousands of miles by plane, motor vehicle, boat, and foot. Each chapter includes his fishing with a notable person in the worlds of fishing and conservation. His fishing partners in this book include Bob White, Chris Wood, Kirk Deeter (and many other leaders within Trout Unlimited), Ted Williams, Matthew Miller, and John Karges of The Nature Conservancy, and many more. In the course of this journey, Ramirez explores and fishes mountain streams, alpine lakes, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, desert canyons, brackish water estuaries, and the rolling ocean off the coast of Cape Cod. About half of this book was written while traveling through the COVID-19 pandemic and it touches on the lessons that COVID can teach us about nature and human nature. The primary focus was the author's extension of Casting Forward by fishing for native fish within their original habitats, and telling the story in part through the eyes of the people who have lived alongside, and come to love, these waters and fish. The secondary story is about the people he meets and befriends while pursuing a mutual love of nature and the best of human nature as the first criterion for finding common ground. This is a hopeful story, in an all-too-often seemingly hopeless time. It is a story of fishing and friendship. It is a story of humanity's impact on nature, and nature's impact on humanity.

In Casting Forward, naturalist, educator, and writer Steve Ramirez takes the reader on a year-long journey fly-fishing all of the major rivers of the Texas Hill Country. This is a story of the resilience of nature and the best of human nature. It is the story of a living, breathing place where the footprints of dinosaurs, conquistadors, and Comanches have mingled just beneath the clear spring-fed waters. This book is an impassioned plea for the survival of this landscape and its biodiversity, and for a new ethic in how we treat fish, nature, and each other.

In Casting Iconic Waters, writer, naturalist, and educator Steve Ramirez takes the reader on a physical and philosophical journey to some of the most legendary rivers and wild landscapes in America. Imbued with fly-fishing throughout, this journey will seek to explore what makes certain places feel magical and meaningful. How do we define “iconic” when considering wild places that have seemingly held the ability to restore our souls and fill them with feelings of peace, belonging, awe, and gratitude? Each of these chosen regions has been considered an iconic destination for anyone who yearns for the wild places that are distinctly American. From the songbird-filled hardwoods of New England to the jack-pine Northwoods where wolves still sing in the night. From the Yellowstone Valley where bison feed next to tumbling trout streams to Bristol Bay where brown bears compete with anglers for salmon, steelhead, and leopard spotted rainbow trout. And each of these destinations has served as the birthplaces of American literature that is intrinsically connected to the landscape and inspired by a love of the outdoors. In Casting Iconic Waters, these legendary places will give us new stories – the stories of this century that are yet untold. .