Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer - 9781594202292

Foer's unlikely journey from chronically forgetful science journalist to U.S. Memory Champion frames a revelatory exploration of the vast, hidden impact of memory on every aspect of our lives.

On average, people squander forty days annually compensating for things they've forgotten. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people. But after a year of memory training, he found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship. Even more important, Foer found a vital truth we too often forget: In every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.

Moonwalking with Einstein draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of memory, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human remembering. Under the tutelage of top "mental athletes," he learns ancient techniques once employed by Cicero to memorize his speeches and by Medieval scholars to memorize entire books. Using methods that have been largely forgotten, Foer discovers that we can all dramatically improve our memories.

Immersing himself obsessively in a quirky subculture of competitive memorizers, Foer learns to apply techniques that call on imagination as much as determination-showing that memorization can be anything but rote. From the PAO system, which converts numbers into lurid images, to the memory palace, in which memories are stored in the rooms of imaginary structures, Foer's experience shows that the World Memory Championships are less a test of memory than of perseverance and creativity.

Foer takes his inquiry well beyond the arena of mental athletes-across the country and deep into his own mind. In San Diego, he meets an affable old man with one of the most severe case of amnesia on record, where he learns that memory is at once more elusive and more reliable than we might think. In Salt Lake City, he swaps secrets with a savant who claims to have memorized more than nine thousand books. At a high school in the South Bronx, he finds a history teacher using twenty- five-hundred-year-old memory techniques to give his students an edge in the state Regents exam.

At a time when electronic devices have all but rendered our individual memories obsolete, Foer's bid to resurrect the forgotten art of remembering becomes an urgent quest. Moonwalking with Einstein brings Joshua Foer to the apex of the U.S. Memory Championship and readers to a profound appreciation of a gift we all possess but that too often slips our minds.

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Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• penguin books
• penguin
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• writing
• books
• publishing
• science
• memory
• penguin press
• brain
• biography
• memoir
• social science
• autobiography
• u.s. memory championship

[gstamo01]

His story would make such a good movie imho. I'm just imagining the special effects of him building a memory palace!

[murrtownchillen]

@gstamo01

Film rights were optioned by Columbia Pictures shortly after publication.

[TexanHeat1]

Nerds of the world, unite!

[ArtemissimetrA]

Way to spoil the ending, Josh. :P

[uwait]

I think the book matches this video clip...dragging and boring.

[MistressMyrtle]

His book is so much better than this video!  (No offense!)

I'm not usually into non-fiction, but his book was a lot of fun! Very informative, good for the layman, teaches some good tricks, but not a self help book...

[paloskie]

Great story and great book, better then all of the self help books.

[KatManuelUFCFAN1]

it was sooo cool to find videos of you on youtube and colbert report after reading the book =)

i'm a big ufc fan and love that Kenny Rice covered the memory challenge...

the book was excellent... now im going to read up on cicero and michael siffre!! =0)

[sexybritney312]

Just, I liked to feel this sensation again and I can confirm that works, is like your brain requires data all time. Do you remembre the movie? Simple it's awesome! I recommend to try it at least one time, then you will have another point of view.

memimprove(.)com

Please feedback me when you get it

[HronnEgils]

A fun reading with a much needed perspective on memory training!

[PopoZaO323]

@Johnb88x n sophia lauren lapdancing a shemale at my computer

[PopoZaO323]

@OnlyLeftName 120741, not 43... :p the chapter on CHUNKING