Name: Engin Arslan's review of Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
Item: Moonwalking with Einstein
Rating: 5
Author: Engin Arslan

Joshua Foer

Citing costly memory-related inconveniences suffered by average individuals, a science journalist chronicles his own struggles with chronic forgetfulness and his life-changing year in memory training, in a guide that shares historical lore and ancient memory techniques.

The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Moonwalking with Einstein

Engin Arslan

Timeo Williams

The book is more of a novel than anactual how to book. But regardless, it was a highly enjoyable, very descriptive and fun read.

Stef Hite

Very worth reading ... a blog post: http://stefhite.edublogs.org/2011/05/...

Tanner Christensen

What the book provides in regards to insight and how human memory works, it obfuscates through unnecessary and often blatantly immature material. There are a lot of good, helpful points hidden in this book. You just have to get through all the gunk to find them. But maybe that's the point?

matej yangwao

** spoiler alert **
           Need for remembering has declined due technology deflation -- however I don't see it as issue.

Book incl few memorizing strategies, one need to try them:)

>Things were written mainly to help the writer memorize them. Reading was totally useless if you didn't already know what you're reading.

>Once we could store information externally, the need to remember things declined significantly.

>The basic idea of the memory palace is to use your exquisite spatial memory to structure and store information whose order comes less naturally.

Rohit Arondekar

Awesome book about the authors quest that begins at trying to find a mental athlete, leading to finding memory competitions and ultimately learning about and winning American national memory championship. Little practical knowledge or such but still a great read.

Sarah Schumacher

This is not a how-to book. It is a fascinating journalistic memoir, and you will learn a few things. If you enjoy Charles Duhigg definitely check it out.

Wynter

I picked up Joshua Foer’s intriguing study of memory and memory champions out of sheer curiosity. You see I am a big language enthusiast. At one point or another you can find me studying French, Japanese, or Swedish, and as many language students will tell you, learning that pesky grammar or vocabulary can be exhausting. You can be drilling the same set of words entire night, remember them for the next morning’s test, and then forget them completely by suppertime. To our great frustration, human brains are built to form only the fun, unique experiences into long-term memories, and to toss the mundane, boring, rarely-used stuff into the pits of obscurity. If you’ve seen Pixar’s Inside Out, you actually have a pretty good idea about the inner workings of human thought processes.

Wouldn’t it be nice to find a book that would unlock the secrets of long-term memorization?

Well, Moonwalking with Einstein is not.... [read more at Chaika Books]

Matt Stein

My review: https://mattstein.com/books/moonwalking-with-einstein

Alex 

I can't say that this book was a life changer, however after finishing it my reading will be divided to before and after. And for a good reason. "Moonwalking with Einstein" is a rarity, written in a most entertaining way a study of human brain and generally human ability when set out to accomplish something told by the author from his own one year of training for USA memory Championship experience. This is an adventure and it is somewhere in the middle of fiction and non-fiction, which is what makes it unique above all.

Raihan Khan

Let me make something clear. If anyone of you intends to read this book and expect that it will teach you some skills for improving your memory, then don't fall into the trap. Not at all.
 
The book's title is quite promising.
One can get the impression that it's full of scientific procedures for mastering one's memory. But that's not the case.
 
 
The book is about the author's journey of how he won the US Memory Championship.
 
If you are familiar with the "Mind palace technique", "Mnemonic major system", and "Mind mapping", then you don't have to read this book at all, and Even if you are not familiar with these terms, still there is no need to read it.
Just Google them.😉😊
 
 
Nevertheless, it is a good Memoir, with some Memory techniques and psychological facts sprinkled here And there.
 
The book wasn't what I expected, and I didn't learn anything new from it, yet I don't want to discredit the book by rating it lower than 3. For a Memoir, it did well.

Jk Jensen

I can’t quite remember what it was about but I liked it.

jack morris

“Moonwalking With Einstein” is a book about how memory champions around the world expand their memories and demonstrate superhuman abilities at inane memorization tasks. Who knew somebody could memorize the order of a deck of cards in 30s? (Wikipedia tells me that, since the book came out, American “memory athlete” Alex Mullen has brought the record down below 10s.) The idea of the “memory palace,” a concept dating back to the Romans, is fascinating. Memorization is a lost art, the author argues, and is an inherently human endeavor. Besides the concept of memorization itself, the memory athletes are quirky and interesting. The author’s memory coach, Ed, is a larger-than-life character and worth reading about in his own right.


But this book goes beyond a rote description of memorization as a sport when the author decided to train for the memory circuit himself. It’s an exercise in participatory journalism that produces such wonderful results that you can’t help but want to practice diligently for something yourself. If not the memory circuit, maybe an athletic or scholastic competition. After all, if Joshua Foer can practice for less than a year and learn to memorize with the best of the best, why can’t you complete an Iron Man?

This book starts as a lens into an unknown and fascinating world and careens into a story so inspiring that this almost fits into the “self-help” category. But it’s not cheesy— it’s entirely self-aware, and complete with a wonderful (but realistic) ending. Top it all off with one of the best Oh-that’s-where-the-title-comes-from moments I’ve ever experienced, and you end up with one of the best books I’ve read in 2020!

'Be prepared to be amazed' Guardian Can anyone get a perfect memory? Joshua Foer used to be like most of us, forgetting phone numbers and mislaying keys. Then he learnt the art of memory training, and a year later found himself in the finals of the US Memory Championship. He also discovered a truth we often forget: that, even in an age of technology, memory is the key to everything we are. In Moonwalking with Einstein he takes us on an astonishing journey through the mind, from ancient 'memory palace' techniques to neuroscience, from the man who can recall nine thousand books to another who constantly forgets who he is. In doing so, Foer shows how we can all improve our memories. 'Captivating ... engaging ... smart and funny' The New York Times 'Delightful ... uplifting ... it shows that our minds can do extraordinary things' Wall Street Journal 'Great fun ... a book worth remembering' Independent 'A lovely exploration of the ways that we preserve our lives and our world in the golden amber of human memory' New Scientist

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

Entretenido e interesante. Con todos los libros que he leído sobre memoria, es super interesante lo que se expone, ademas porque el hilo conductor es la experiencia del autor, lo cual le da una seguridad, que transmite claramente en el texto.

Cindy Lieberman

3.75. Interesting book recounting Foer's visits to -- then participation in -- the national and world memory championships. A few detours into the science of memory and discussions of the various methods to improve ones own. But this isn't a "how-to" book. It did have me thinking about my memory (or lack thereof) and our reliance on all things digital. Including lists of books we've read or want to read....

Udit Desai

Great read and mix of storytelling and non-fiction which makes the book more interested to read.

ANDREW BRYK

Quick read. Interesting anecdotes but get repetitive at times. Very cool insights into memory training

Chris Aldrich

An excellent non-fiction read! A great story intertwined with history, theory, science, and philosophy. 

I had learned the major system in my youth after reading Furst's work and used it to memorize multiple decks of cards as well as the first 5,000 digits of pi. Now that I know the POA system exists, perhaps I'll have to improve upon the compression in it and dip my toe back in to the world of memory improvement?

I'm terrifically shocked to realize that in 1990, I was practiced enough that I could have rivaled the US memory champ of 2006! Sadly I haven't practiced in years, so I'd have some significant ground to make up to get back there. Hmmm....

Jeni Enjaian

This book was not what I thought it was when I first put it on the list but I'm glad that it wasn't. I absolutely loved this book.Here are my thoughts in no particular order. First, I am fascinated by the topic driven by my own desire for the ability to know and retain more aka improve my memory. Second, even though the chronology felt just a tad muddled, I didn't mind because of the first point. Third, this book is more like a series of consecutive, closely linked essays. Fourth, Foer's narrative is easy to read yet not dumbed down at all; it's quite engaging. Fifth, reading this book makes me want to investigate the methods Foer discussed. Sixth and lastly, I found the ending (aka epilogue) a bit anti-climactic, almost too personal. I still love this book and highly recommend it. In fact, I've already added it to my amazon wishlist.

Marie Rogowski

Important to know: this is NOT a book that teaches you memory techniques! This is a documentation of the authors journey in becoming the U.S. National Memory Champion.
On his journey he researches techniques, meets fascinating people and gives great insights into his personal experiences. It is a well written, well researched story that motivates to try out mnemonic techniques and provides a great deal of information on how our brain works. 
Really enjoyed and would definitely recommend it!

'If you want to understand how we remember, and how we can all learn to remember better, then read this book' Jonah Lehrer Can anyone get a perfect memory? Joshua Foer used to be like most of us, forgetting phone numbers and mislaying keys. Then he learnt the art of memory training, and a year later found himself in the finals of the US Memory Championship. He also discovered a truth we often forget: that, even in an age of technology, memory is the key to everything we are. In Moonwalking with Einstein he takes us on an astonishing journey through the mind, from ancient 'memory palace' techniques to neuroscience, from the man who can recall nine thousand books to another who constantly forgets who he is. In doing so, Foer shows how we can all improve our memories. 'The most entertaining science book of the year' Sunday Times, Books of the Year 'Captivating . . . engaging . . . smart and funny' The New York Times 'Delightful . . . uplifting . . . it shows that our minds can do extraordinary things' Wall Street Journal 'A lovely exploration of the ways that we preserve our lives and our world in the golden amber of human memory' New Scientist

Adam

I've never considered myself to have a good memory. I'll remember places, directions and programming concepts, but can't remember a phone number of the name of someone I just met. This look into the competitive memory circuit around the world helped me put an image in my head of not just what's possible, but how people actually go about remembering 10,000 digits of pi. While I don't plan to exercise this muscle to the extent of people in this book, I do want to try using some of these concepts to put a few names to faces.

Ben Blumenrose

Great storytelling and lots of insight into memory...

Pim Van

Michael Hessling

Not bad. Made me feel a bit better about not remembering every detail of the books I read. But also made me *not* want to invest the time and energy into beefing up my memory--having to store every detail into loci in my mind is probably exhausting! And for what end?

Includes a very controversial chapter on Daniel Tammet (Born on a Blue Day). Basically, Foer doesn't think Tammet is anything other than an ordinary guy with awesome memorization skills.

Engin Arslan &
Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

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