Moonwalking with Einstein
-
-
3.9 • 15 Ratings
-
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, Joshua Foer's part-memoir, part-guide on mastering your memory. Read by Mike Chamberlain.
On average, people squander forty days annually trying to remember things they've forgotten. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people. But after a year of training, he found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship. He also discovered a truth we too often forget: In every way, we are the sum of our memories.
In Moonwalking with Einstein Foer draws on cutting-edge research, the cultural history of memory and the techniques of 'mental atheletes' to transform our understanding of human remembering. He learns the ancient methods used by Cicero and Medieval scholars. He meets amnesiacs, neuroscientists and savants - including a man who claims to have memorized more than nine thousand books. In doing so, he reveals the hidden impact of memory on our lives, and shows how we can all dramatically improve our memories.
At a time when electronic devices have all but rendered our individual memories obsolete, Foer's book is a quest to resurrect the gift we all possess, but that too often slips our minds.
Customer Reviews
Made a Fool of School
Foer not only encourages us with his own story of his journey to the US Memory Championship, but he truly covers all bases, expounding on everything related to memory, learning, education and the human brain. This is done with wonderful attention to detail, which sits right in line with the message of the book.
Several conceptions about the mechanics of memory are brought to light and questioned, including the idea of photographic memory, synesthesia, and the use of rote learning in schools. I have been compelled to question the entirety of my 12 years of primary and secondary education, from which I graduated not two years ago. Halfway into the book I had made noticeable improvements in university, including encoding an entire semester of content into a five minute mnemonic narrative. Does this make me a genius? Maybe. But only in the sense that we are all geniuses, whose true intellectual potential has been abused and forgotten.
Foer’s success in the memory games is probably the coolest proof of concept I have seen. As if his endless exploration into the amazing capacity of memory was not convincing enough, he will drive his point home by actually doing the work.
I appreciate this about journalists - they are hands on and they follow every lead, and they know (most of them) how to be objective. All things considered, Moonwalking with Einstein made for one of my favourite reads.