Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Written by Joshua Foer

Narrated by Mike Chamberlain

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin UK Audio
• Release date: Feb 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781846146824

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.

Reviews for Moonwalking with Einstein

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

picked 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.

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mildly 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.

[dandiercks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting explanation of memory and how to make yours better. And it works.

[benkline · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting, fascinating, look at memory, and how we use it, construct it, manipulate it, and how it changes, and becomes altered through time. A journalistic journey through the competition of the memory championship (primarily the US championship, though he does discuss -- briefly -- his loss at the world championship). Much of the novel is in the vein of 'journalist finds weird subgroup and joins and undergoes a journey through their realm for a year and emerges victorious' and part of the novel is 'historic/history overview of memory and its relationship with us'.

The memory palace thing is nothing new to me (and nothing new to anyone whose read Cicero or the Hannibal [Hannibal the Cannibal, not the general] series). It's basically a construct we create in our mind so we can store more information than typically available. You can assign digits (binary codes like they do in the competitions - 10101111010010101, etc.) names/places, faces, decks of cards, etc. -- you just create an image per number/card/face/location/event/etc. and then assign it a place in your memory palace. Ex. King of Clubs could be Einstein, and you place him in the kitchen of the house you grew up in. To further quicken it, you can create combo's. So King of Clubs followed by Queen of Spades, you could create the mental image of Einstein (King of Clubs) dancing with Hillary Clinton (Queen of Spades) in the kitchen of your house, and then the next two cards would be placed in the next spot of your house as if you were walking through it.

An interesting look at memory. The book was a bit dry in places, but overall Joshua Foer is a good writer with a wry and witty side to him, self-deprecating in a few ways, that makes it a fun read, even if dry in spots. Definitely worth checking out.

[razinha-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating, 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.

[jaredorlando-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating.

[alliebadger · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like the premise, but the author spends very little of the book on his experience with improving his memory. He gets bogged down in the history; almost like he did way more research than was necessary but still wanted to share what he learned. I would have liked to hear more about his year of training, with the history scattered throughout.

[kathl33n-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This 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.

[bobholt-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A book seemingly about memory that turns out to be about that nature of expertise and deliberate practice in the hands of a focused individual.

[clmerle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating 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.

[nmele_4 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Mildly interesting.

[jfieds_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I 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.

[ngeunit1_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The 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.

[Harm Hotke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and educative. Quite an eye opener and I wish I read this book before my studies

[formerenglishteacher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting explanation of memory and how to make yours better. And it works.

[hmskip · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It'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.

[stretch_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Moonwalking with Einstein a memoir about the Foer's dive into the world of competitive memory competitions. Centering on the methods that these contestants used to visualize incredibly long lists of words or three shuffled decks of playing cards, etc. and then repeat them back in timed competitions. The author himself found this so intriguing that he took a year or more to train himself and become a contestant in a major competition. Near the end of the book that these training methods are mostly useless to those of us who just wish to better our memories. Theses are really only suited to competitions. The usefulness of keeping facts and dates in our brain is of some use for sure but a pencil and paperwork just fine for me. Honestly, I can't remember why I had this book on my shelf. Ironic that.

[arthurnoerve · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After having done some research into memory and memory training I went out looking for books on the topic. Crawling the internet quickly yielded many results, amidst them Foer's book; "Moonwalking with Einstein". It didn't take long before I had the book in my hands, and I immediately started reding it. I found the book to be a great read full of nice pieces of information, and good stories. The book is mainly written based on Foer's experiences but he wraps it nicely in some general science and scientific research done on the topic. It is surprisingly full of knowledge, but still highly readable for your average person; Foer makes it entertaining but at the same time educating to read.

All over a very good read :) 5 stars from me!

[jlford3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good 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.

[byrondb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I 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.

[szarka_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An 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.

[juva_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The 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.

[kapheine-780159 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was a great mixture of the science behind memorization and the story of the author entering a memory competition.

[pdcread · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating book about the methods used to train for memory championships. The guy covered it for a publication one year and won it the next!

[gittel_7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved 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.

[fm4d · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pros:
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.

[sandyamcpherson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I took several ‘runs’ at reading this book and my opinion was constantly evolving. The biggest difficulty was with redundancy and repetitive overviews. However, the discussion of neuroscience research and case studies was fascinating and balanced the shortcomings. I was rather bored with details of memory competitions since that topic didn’t appear to contribute to the book’s theme. There were many valuable insights that caught my interest: one of the best was by the author’s friend, Ed, commenting that the years seem to zoom by faster as we age because we’re less mindful of the events; that we remember significant occasions but the sameness of the daily routine makes no impression. Ed claimed (and I agree) that the more memories you pack into your lives, the slower time seems to pass . To paraphrase another valuable insight: before the advent of the printing press, people used oral tradition and recounted memories, keeping track of important knowledge and history. With the progression of owning large libraries, people became less able to remember because they relied on books. Nowadays, folks read dozens if not hundreds of books a year and can barely recall what they read a few weeks later. I recommend reading this book yourself to discover the gems that lie there. You’ll have to read with an open mind!

[tom_westlake-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and although it doesn't give a lot of specifics anybody with 1/2 a brain can find out more about the tools and more step by step instructions. So if you are looking for a “how-to” book, you probably won’t find this to be what you are looking for although you will still likely enjoy it. Like anything else, it will take practice and the ability to think outside the box to find applications for the new skills being learned. I would encourage individuals and people who are interested in stuff like this to also do their own research. I have read some Tony Buzan books, and other books which reference things like Memory Palaces and Mind Mapping. Although I personally like the IDEA and the CONCEPT behind mind mapping, the ability to do things and see things in your mind and translate them onto paper are entirely different. I found then difficult because they actually took longer to put down on paper. My mind works quickly enough that the words and images go by to fast, and I cannot hold them in my "mind’s eye" as the author puts it long enough for it to be transposed. Mind mapping alone in your head is quite applicable and similar to the memory palaces described in the book. It's about engaging all of the individual parts of your brain and not relying on any one particular part.The author does a great job of chronicling his journey from "absent minded" to "memory master" and does it in a thought provoking, genuine and captivating way. I would read this or at least listen to the audio book again if I didn't have 100's of other books to read. I think in some ways the paper book would have been a little faster to read, but the audio book made it easier to differentiate from when the author was speaking to when others were speaking. Would highly recommend this book though to anyone is interested in an introductory book on how memories are made and stored.

[ohernaes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A history of memorization and a how-to book (though for a better introduction to the techniques, I recommend Oddbjørn By's books). Draws the long historical lines of how culture used to depend only on internal memory - in people's minds, whereas today so much relies on external memory, in the form of books, etc. People forgot that after books became commonplace, to the extent that the theory that Homer's Iliad and Odysseus had the form that they did (repetitions, rhymes, etc.) because they had survived long as oral works was groundbreaking. Today it is people with memorization as a hobby who keeps that flame, calling themselves "mental athletes." I knew the basic of the person-action-object method, which is used to memorize numbers, but I learned something new about memorizing text: meaning vs. words. In real life the meaning is most important, but in memory competitions exact wording and punctuation, etc. are essential, so competitors assign each word to a route and have systems of fixed associations for common, hard-to-visualize words, and use similar-sounding words for not so common ones. The book also contains an exposé of celebrity savant Daniel Tammet, who seems to have been a quite good mental athlete with standard techniques, but who at some point switched careers (and name) to become a best-selling author and exotic savant who among other things (inconsistently) feels numbers' color, shape, etc. Recommended.

[bibleblaster · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've always been fascinated by the role memory plays in...well, being human. This book explores just that with an enjoyable mixture of history, philosophy, science, and personal experience with memory athletes (not to mention the author becoming one). Highly recommended. I'd like to say that I'll never forget this book, but, well, I know better. Good thing I will have my record of reading it stored on this "external memory system," Goodreads!