Moonwalking With Einstein, Joshua Foer
Rating: ★★★★½
When I think about getting back to my book at night during the daytime I know I’m onto something good. I couldn’t put this one down. Foer was a freelance journalist covering the U.S. Memory Championshp one year when one of the onlookers mentioned to him that anyone can train their memory to perform like the competitors. Foer doubted the statement, but the next year found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship after a year of dedicated training. Moonwalking With Einstein chronicles Foer’s year of training, interwoven with characters from the upper echelons of the world memory circuit and also a colorful dose of the history of human memory. A great first book, I hope Foer follows it up!
Amazon: Moonwalking with Einstein follows Joshua Foer’s compelling journey as a participant in the U.S. Memory Championship. As a science journalist covering the competition, Foer became captivated by the secrets of the competitors, like how the current world memory champion, Ben Pridmore, could memorize the exact order of 1,528 digits in an hour. He met with individuals whose memories are truly unique—from one man whose memory only extends back to his most recent thought, to another who can memorize complex mathematical formulas without knowing any math. Brains remember visual imagery but have a harder time with other information, like lists, and so with the help of experts, Foer learned how to transform the kinds of memories he forgot into the kind his brain remembered naturally. The techniques he mastered made it easier to remember information, and Foer’s story demonstrates that the tricks of the masters are accessible to anyone.