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Audiobook9 hours
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
Written by Joshua Foer
Narrated by Mike Chamberlain
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
The blockbuster phenomenon that charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memory
An instant bestseller that is poised to become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top "mental athletes." He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human memory. From the United States Memory Championship to deep within the author's own mind, this is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
An instant bestseller that is poised to become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top "mental athletes." He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human memory. From the United States Memory Championship to deep within the author's own mind, this is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Author
Joshua Foer
Joshua Foer is the cofounder and chairman of Atlas Obscura. He is also the author of Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, a bestseller published in 33 languages, and a forthcoming book about the world's last hunter-gatherers.
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Reviews for Moonwalking with Einstein
Rating: 3.9664014436781616 out of 5 stars
4/5
1,131 ratings97 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5picked up this book during a layover, started reading, and missed my connecting flight. Foer, a budding journalist at the start of the book, is writing about the Memory Championship. As he gets to know some of the competitors, they convince him that anyone can improve their memory. Foer starts training to participate in the next year's competition. Very little of the book is actually about his own training - mentions are made here and there, but it is mostly about the strange, savant people he encounters during his year of training.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This is not really a book to improve your memory (although there are a few tips sprinkled throughout) this is more of a book about other people's memory abilities or disabilities in some cases. The audio listen didn't fully hold my attention. Not sure if it was the subject matter, the writing or the narrator.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Mildly interesting.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascinating stuff about the history of memory and its relationship to the written word. The case studies alone make it worth reading.
It won't teach you how to remember, but the bibliography has a nice list of books to choose from. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascinating, and (I can't resist...) memorable. Begun out of curiosity and engaging enough to make me want to look into some things, I am honest enough with myself to know that I will never choose to commit the time and effort that Foer did. Less a book about remembering and more a narrative of a fringe competitive world and a journalistic look at memory phenomena, it still is an interesting read. I did pause in the reading to teach myself how to calculate days of the week for given dates (I was always fascinated with those who I knew could do it - one is autistic). It only took about an hour and then practice to reinforce the calcs, but now that I know a method, I just have to keep practicing to retain the skill. That will be my commitment. But back to Foer...his achievement, however obscure, is still an achievement and the book invites the interested to read further.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I won a copy from @thebookmaven on Twitter (who if you don't follow, you should!) during a Twitter chat with the Mr. Foer. Thanks again Penguin and @thebookmaven.I don't normally read very fast, but I polished this off in a day. Foer has written an easy to read, engaging and fun story.As has been written in other reviews, the book is part investigative journalism, part memoir -- and I would add part memory techniques, part history of memory, part science of memory, part short vignettes on people with extraordinary memories or medical memory problems.If anything negative can be said, it's that the book tries to do too much in too small a package. I would replace "too much" with "a lot." I probably wouldn't have missed any of the subjects had Foer decided to abandon one, but I enjoyed everything included. Even when he was only skimming the surface topic, everything included made the book stronger.I have often claimed to have a horrible horrible memory, especially for someone my (relatively) young age. Although, the kind of memory exercises and techniques introduced in this book have a very limited use, they are exciting and effective for what they purport to do. Five days later, I can still remember the list of random items introduced in one chapter of the book.That said, the title is misleading. This book will not teach you how to "remember everything." It is not a guide. It is first about Foer's transition from covering memory competitions to training and participating in them, and second about his quest and research to better understand memory. If you are interested in the subject of memory, about reading about how Foer -- who claimed he could barely remember his anniversary -- leared to memorize a deck of playing cards in less than 2 minutes; interested in meeting some medical subjects who have baffled scientists; and other topics, then you will enjoy this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book narrates the story of a journalist exploring the various area of memory research and competition, to becoming a competitor, and both parts are really fascinating. The various people that Joshua meets and interviews through the story, including memory champions and competitors, memory self-help gurus, and those who have physical conditions that have drastic effects on the their memories. There are some really interesting perspectives that are drawn out from the different people Joshua speaks with and really question the framework and understanding of the human mind.Equally interesting, is the story of Joshua training for the championships himself. Though not outlined in great detail, being introduced to various memory techniques used by these competitors is very interesting and outlines the power and complexity of the human mind. It is also engaging to be along for the ride as Joshua becomes more of a part of the memory circuit community. A lot of the players are really interesting people and make for a really entertaining story.All in all, this is a great book that introduces the history and ideas behind memory training and the study of memory without reading like a textbook or a self-help book. The narrative is interesting and engaging and really takes the reader on a fun ride.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is one of the most interesting books that I have read in the last several months. The flow of the story, the insights shared by the author, even the epilogue I enjoyed greatly. More than worth the time. I enjoyed the audible version and purchased a print version of this great read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absoluting fascinating. It was not only informative on memory, but it was an interesting story as well!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great listening to remind myself about the importance of using our minds.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excelente libro que habla sobre los alcnaces de la memoria, de algunos consejos de como utilizar mapas mentales, así como la preparación para participar en un campeonato del mundo de memoria, deja al aire preguntas interesantes
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great book to find out about memory techniques or the art of memory
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Being a person that has historically epic bad memory, this book is a revelation. That journey that the author took, wow, what a journey. Thoroughly enjoyed and my thoughts of the human mind, changed forever.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascinating book about memory. You really dvell into how human brain works and how to see the world with a different eye.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5wow ! This book is awesome. read and listen simultaneously.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A journey into a guy obsessed with memory and how he can through it and beating the US record, but you can't wonder, what's the point of remembering a full deck of cards in order? What does that bring you?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's about memory. The author spends a year learning how to compete in the United States memory championship, tells the history of great memorizers from ancient times and shares funny stories about how this subculture works. Pretty entertaining and very geeky.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good for a background on memory training and theory. He refers to other texts like Ericsson's Peak about expertise, as well as the history of memory training in ancient Greece and in cultures which pass down oral history. Not an instruction manual on how to use these techniques though, so look elsewhere for exact steps on how to memorize decks of cards etc.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this at the same time I was reading "Wolf Hall", the story of Henry VIII's adviser Thomas Cromwell. Relevance: in the novel, Cromwell relied on many of the classical mnemonic systems that Foer describes here. Excellent.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An enjoyable memoir of the author's year covering, and then participating, in memory sports. Not that book to read if you're looking for useful details about the techniques he employs, but there's still a good deal of interesting information and a fun story to hang it on. The audiobook, a few mispronunciations aside, is well-read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The amazing story of memory throughout history and the techniques developed to improve it. A journalist investigates the American and international memory circuits to learn about how the masters do it. After a year of putting their techniques into practice the journalist returns to the competition to test his own skills.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascinating book about the methods used to train for memory championships. The guy covered it for a publication one year and won it the next!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this book. It helped me understand and be kind to my mind, and find ways to really improve my memory in certain areas.
Reminded me a lot of Stephan Fatsis "Word Freaks" as it features a similar group of notable, slightly off-beat characters engaged in the pursuit of mental perfection, even as their interpersonal relationships are often lacking or non-existent.
I especially liked the historical overview of written vs. oral transmission of facts and dates.
The one element of the book that made me a wee bit uncomfortable was his questioning of the legitimacy of Daniel Tammet, author of Born on a Blue Day. I so want to believe he is legitimate. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pros:
Well written and enjoyable even thought the main character, narrator and author at once kind of bugged me in a way that is hard to express.
I've actually enjoyed the fact that while the book contains many interesting characters with various, often contradictory, views on memory, learning etc. it tries to be objective and there is no subjective opinion of the author to be found. Its simply a collection of many facts, stories and views on a certain matter without providing reader with a opinion that he should accept (as I see often in this kind of literature).
The book mixes well raw information, stories of interesting characters and biographical element and the fact that author underwent a journey into the heart of a matter that he writes about makes it a very compelling read.
Cons:
Quite a lot of material is covered in many other books such, sometimes whole chapters are a condense version of different books, such as Mind of a Mnemonist.
I've personally find it somewhat odd that author focused wholeheartedly on the competitive element and absolutely did not try to apply these methods to his own life, job, learning process etc.
While I liked the objectivity of the book, I also felt like that the author did not delve deep enough to provide some unique insight about the matter, but I guess that it is just not that sort of a book and I respect it. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this book. It was funny and inspirational. Learned a lot about what the human mind is capable of doing.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Interesting explanation of memory and how to make yours better. And it works.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mildly interesting - there was a lot about the memory championships and about the standard memory palace methods, enough to try it if you wanted to. However, I found the methods very inappropriate for me - a) for men (put in sexy women to remember better!) and b) for people who can remember faces (use lots of actors/actresses. I can recognize very few "famous" people...). That's purely personal, but when four or five chapters are discussing these methods in detail, it makes the book rather dull. Then he veered off from the pure memory palaces and started discussing _why_ bother to improve memory, and the book became far more interesting - to improve memory, improve perception, which improves your life - no gliding through without paying attention to things. It did end with competition, but more about the people than the methods there. I'm amused that he got as far as he did (which he explicitly mentions) mostly because of others' errors. I found the philosophy more interesting than the how-to, but overall I'm glad I read the book.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredible. This book opened my eyes to a whole new world of things my brain can do. These techniques really work! If only I had learned them while I was still in school...
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I became interested in reading this book for two reasons. One is that my younger son, a total non-reader, discovered this book and read it cover-to-cover and then recommended it to me. The second reason was that I saw Joshua Foer speak about this book in person at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC. At that time, I was highly amused to learn that the author won the very contest that he was simply researching as a topic of investigative journalism. Foer was also very engaging and entertaining speaker.I liked that Foer explored all the nooks and crannies of the topic of memory...from the history of memory, to the current practice of memory, to teaching memory techniques, to his personal involvement in a prestigious memory contest. What I've learned mostly from this book is that we've only begun to explore the topic of memory and how it works.One aspect of this book that I found especially interesting was Foer's questioning of the innate abilities of savant Daniel Tammet, whose memoir Born on a Blue Day described his synesthesia, a condition in which numbers take on a distinctive shape, color, texture, and emotional "tone". I would never have thought to disbelieve in any way Daniel's abilities, but Foer approached this issue from the perspective of a trained mental athlete plus he discovered a part of Daniel in which that savant needed money so was kind of forced to market himself. For those who enjoy reading nonfiction, this is quite an interesting book with a practical value as well. I've started using some of the memory techniques described in this book, and they really work!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An interesting look at memory in the United States and abroad. Full of useful information, memory tricks and explanations that can help all of us find ways to use our memory more effectively. Quite entertaining!