Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer

This was an interesting book but it certainly was by no means a book that I would recomend. Perhaps the subject matter was not as interesting as I thought it might be, I like science books and the subject of memory is interesting.

In the book Foer tells us his experiences as he attempts to qualify for the United States Memory Championships. We learn that in past cultures to have an excellent memory was considered to be a genius. Before the printing press anything written was rare and if one was fortunate enough to read information off parchment he would not likely see it again. Therefore memory was imperative.

Foer learns about the Memory Palace technique. We learn how to place objects in places we are familiar with. I tried this method and it works. In short we need to tie items we wish to remember to items already in our long term memory. I have retraced my schools, houses, neighborhoods, and workplaces and used each for a memory palace.

The question remains though to what end. I fight a losing battle with my kids and even my educator wife about the need to have facts and figures on recall in our own mind while Google exists to answer any question in the time to type it. In fact Foer writes that we are now in an age of forgetting. We have taught ourselves to forget.

Foer also takes us to meet some memory experts and examines some savants and debates the differences. We meet the man named Daniel if whom was written the book Born on a Blue Day who claiming to be a savant has become famous and his book has been a bestseller. As Foer argues savants are people we find interesting while memory experts are thought of as tricksters with a minimum of respect. Interestingly Foer discovers that he believes that Daniel is not a savant but a memorizer. This too is a telent. But in terms of the interest of the general public it is not as interesting.

Actually in looking at this review the book must have been better than I thought. There were parts of this book that I found to be very tough slogging but there were many interesting sections.

There are methods to memory improvement that can be gained from this book and if interested in the subject one will enjoy this book.