{"id":141395,"date":"2025-02-11T15:31:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T19:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=141395"},"modified":"2025-02-14T16:18:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T20:18:00","slug":"why-we-forget-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why can&#8217;t you remember what you had for lunch three days ago? What makes some memories stick while others fade away?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In her book <em>Remember<\/em>, Lisa Genova explains why we forget things and how memory failures are often a normal part of brain function. She asserts that our brains evolved to be selective, holding onto meaningful information while letting go of unnecessary details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to discover the fascinating science behind memory\u2014and learn why forgetting isn&#8217;t always a bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-we-forget-things\">Why We Forget Things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Forgetfulness is a common experience. Do you ever wonder <em>why<\/em> we forget things? Experiencing a memory \u201cfailure\u201d can be both frustrating and frightening, as we sometimes perceive it as a sign that our memories are degrading. Many view it as a sign of impending Alzheimer\u2019s disease, especially those in older age groups.<strong> However, Genova explains that our brains are highly efficient, and they evolved to remember meaningful things and forget the meaningless.<\/strong> Much of what we forget\u2014such as routine daily activities or minor details\u2014isn\u2019t actually problematic, nor is it a sign of Alzheimer\u2019s or dementia. Sometimes though, we forget things we care about, not because our memory is failing but because we haven\u2019t provided our brains with the necessary inputs for memory creation and retrieval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>According to Genova, our episodic memories are fundamentally unreliable and prone to distortion.<\/strong> This unreliability begins at the encoding stage, as we can only remember what we notice and pay attention to in the first place, meaning our memories are inherently incomplete from the start. Distortion often happens at the consolidation stage: During this period, memories can be altered by imagination, beliefs, biases, dreams, other people\u2019s memories, and various other influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even after memories are stored, explains Genova, they remain susceptible to change. <strong>Over time, the neural networks that store a particular memory can weaken or go away entirely, which can weaken or delete that memory.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, memories can also be distorted during retrieval, says Genova. Every time we retrieve a memory, we\u2019re not playing back a recording but rather reconstructing the event. <strong>This reconstruction process often involves filling in gaps, reinterpreting details, and incorporating new information or perspectives.<\/strong> When we store the memory again after recall, we save this altered version, canceling out the original. This process means that frequently recalled memories, such as stories we tell often, can become increasingly distant from what actually occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Memory \u201cSins\u201d and Constructive Memory Theory<\/strong><br><br>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/distorted-memories\/\">unreliability of memory<\/a> is well-established in psychology. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apa.org\/monitor\/oct03\/sins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Author and psychologist Daniel Schacter identified seven \u201csins\u201d of memory<\/a>, or specific ways in which memory can fail. The first of these seven are related to omission and include transience (our memories become weaker as we age), absent-mindedness (attentional lapses and minor forgetting), and blocking or tip-of-the-tongue syndrome.<br><br>The other four memory sins are related to commission and include suggestibility (the tendency of our memories to change or distort in response to things such as leading questions or lies), bias (implicit beliefs or knowledge that can distort our memories), persistence (being unable to forget something you want to forget, such as a traumatic experience), and misattribution (thinking you\u2019ve seen or heard something that you didn\u2019t).<br><br>And, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/memory-distortions\/\">memory distortions<\/a> and failures may seem like major flaws, <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC2429996\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">constructive memory theory argues that they\u2019re actually adaptive<\/a>\u2014they evolved for a functional purpose to aid our survival. According to this theory, one of the main functions of memory is to help us <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-plan-for-the-future-2\/\">plan for future<\/a> events, and because the future doesn\u2019t perfectly repeat what\u2019s happened before, our memories adapted to flexibly alter our memories to better simulate and predict potential future occurrences.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-we-need-to-forget\">Why We Need to Forget<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While normal memory loss can be frustrating, it also serves an important purpose. If we remembered everything in perfect detail, our brains would become crowded with information, making reasoning and remembering difficult. Genova challenges the common perception of forgetting as a passive, default process that happens to us only involuntarily. <strong>Instead, she presents forgetting as an active, purposeful, and often beneficial process.<\/strong> Forgetting routine details such as what we ate for lunch yesterday or how much traffic we drove through this morning actually helps us function more effectively by clearing mental space for new, relevant information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: In addition to freeing up brain space, experts note another adaptive explanation for why we forget so much: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/defining-memories\/201706\/why-we-forget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">We didn\u2019t evolve to remember the world, but rather to understand it<\/a>. While memory serves a vital function in our cognitive processing, remembering isn\u2019t the brain\u2019s primary goal; instead, the goal is to experience the world in the moment and use it to plan future actions. So a memory that won\u2019t enhance our understanding of the world or help us make decisions about what to do next will likely be quickly forgotten.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why can&#8217;t you remember what you had for lunch three days ago? What makes some memories stick while others fade away? In her book Remember, Lisa Genova explains why we forget things and how memory failures are often a normal part of brain function. She asserts that our brains evolved to be selective, holding onto meaningful information while letting go of unnecessary details. Keep reading to discover the fascinating science behind memory\u2014and learn why forgetting isn&#8217;t always a bad thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":141409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[1743],"class_list":["post-141395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-remember","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Memory failures are often a normal part of brain function. Learn why we forget things\u2014and why forgetting isn&#039;t always a bad thing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Memory failures are often a normal part of brain function. Learn why we forget things\u2014and why forgetting isn&#039;t always a bad thing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-11T19:31:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-14T20:18:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"616\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-11T19:31:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-14T20:18:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/\"},\"wordCount\":824,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Remember\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/\",\"name\":\"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-11T19:31:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-14T20:18:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Memory failures are often a normal part of brain function. Learn why we forget things\u2014and why forgetting isn't always a bad thing.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":616,\"caption\":\"A man holding his head and looking down while papers fly all around illustrates why we forget things (memory failures)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures - Shortform Books","description":"Memory failures are often a normal part of brain function. Learn why we forget things\u2014and why forgetting isn't always a bad thing.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures","og_description":"Memory failures are often a normal part of brain function. Learn why we forget things\u2014and why forgetting isn't always a bad thing.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2025-02-11T19:31:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-14T20:18:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":616,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures","datePublished":"2025-02-11T19:31:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-14T20:18:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/"},"wordCount":824,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp","keywords":["Remember"],"articleSection":["Science"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/","name":"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp","datePublished":"2025-02-11T19:31:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-14T20:18:00+00:00","description":"Memory failures are often a normal part of brain function. Learn why we forget things\u2014and why forgetting isn't always a bad thing.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp","width":1100,"height":616,"caption":"A man holding his head and looking down while papers fly all around illustrates why we forget things (memory failures)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-we-forget-things\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why We Forget Things: Lisa Genova Explains Memory Failures"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/man-holding-head-papers-flying.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141395"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141429,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141395\/revisions\/141429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}