JOSHUA FOER / Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
In Moonwalking with Einstein, now available in paperback, Joshua Foer. explores – with humor and irresistible curiosity -- the
fascinating ways in which our brains are wired to remember, or forget, the vast array of information and experiences that make up life. “Captivating” (The New York Times) and “entertaining” (Wall Street Journal), Foer’s work charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memory.
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,” Foer immerses himself obsessively in the fascinating subculture of competitive memorizers and learns to apply techniques that call on imagination as much as determination. Using methods that have been largely forgotten, he discovers that we can all dramatically improve our memories.
Foer also takes his inquiry well beyond the arena of competitive memorization—across the country and deep into his own mind. In San Diego, he meets an affable old man with one of the most severe cases 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.
This vastly intriguing book tells the unlikely story of how Foer eventually became the United States Memory Champion, but it also marks the debut of an abundantly talented storyteller; it is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.
Joshua Foer was born in Washington, DC in 1982 and lives in New Haven, CT with his wife Dinah. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, Esquire, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, and other publications. He is the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura, an online guide to the world’s wonders and curiosities, and the co-founder of the architectural design competition, Sukkah City.
- Street:
- 1644 Haight St.
- City:
- San Francisco ,
- Province:
- California
- Postal Code:
- 94117-2816
- Country:
- United States
