• Moonwalking with Einstein

  • The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
  • By: Joshua Foer
  • Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
  • Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (5,861 ratings)

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Moonwalking with Einstein

By: Joshua Foer
Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
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Editorial reviews

Your body may be a temple, but your mind, memory experts say, is a palace, or should be, to master remembering. The Memory Palace is one of the notions that Joshua Foer explores in Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, his entertaining and enlightening account of competing in the U.S. Memory Championships.

Narrated by Mike Chamberlain, who genuinely conveys the author’s nerdy and playful persona, Moonwalking began in 2005 when Foer, a 20-something fledging journalist living in his parents’ basement, covered the New York-based championships and met Ed Cooke, a memory Grand Master and delightfully eccentric brainiac. Cooke convinced Foer to become a contender in the contest, becoming his guru and guide over his year of training. In addition, Foer broadened his training by meeting with memory experts and athletes like Cooke’s European colleagues, who, Foer says, make their American counterparts seem like Jamaican bobsledders in the Olympics. While Chamberlain’s curiously random use of accents is a minor distraction, his interpretation of the group’s pub games getting and memorizing women’s phone numbers and stealing kisses against the clock is plenty funny.

Foer focuses first on the construction basics of The Memory Palace, a technique derived from the ancient Greek poet Simonides that takes advantage of the mind’s visual and spatial bent. A physical structure, a childhood home say, is selected from memory and filled, room by room, with the numbers, names, concepts, etc., to be memorized. One has to prepare the items previously, however, by charging them with the most vivid, better yet, erotic and bizarre personal associations possible. Using the PAO (Person Action Object) technique, one can also consolidate and compound the associations, thus producing a moonwalking Einstein, not to mention, Foer writes, the “indecent acts my own grandmother had to commit in the service of my remembering the eight of hearts”. It’s a nutty business inside and out, which Chamberlain as Foer conveys drily, none more so than when, working at his desk in anti-distraction earmuffs and goggles, he looks up to find his father staring at him.

While the narrative follows the calendar leading up to the competition, relevant digressions include looks at the clinical and other literature about mnemonists, plus visits with living examples. Tony Bouzon, a memory entrepreneur; ‘savants’ like 'Rainman' Kim Peek and 'pi' reciter Daniel Tammet; and memory researchers are interviewed, which raises issues and controversies related to autism, intelligence, and photographic memory. We also grasp more of the reality of those who suffer from remembering too much or too little. Foer additionally spends time exploring cultural questions of memory and memorizing; once considered a sign of nobility, what will be its fate in our infinite, digitally preserved age?

The idea of actually “moonwalking with Einstein” encapsulates wonder and delight at the boundaries of knowledge; so does Foer’s memorable book. Elly Schull Meeks

Publisher's summary

The blockbuster phenomenon that charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memory.

An instant best seller 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.

©2011 Joshua Foer (P)2011 Penguin

Critic reviews

“Highly entertaining.” (Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker)

“Funny, curious, erudite, and full of useful details about ancient techniques of training memory.” (The Boston Globe)

"His passionate and deeply engrossing book...is a resounding tribute to the muscularity of the mind.... In the end, Moonwalking with Einstein reminds us that though brain science is a wild frontier and the mechanics of memory little understood, our minds are capable of epic achievements." (The Washington Post)

What listeners say about Moonwalking with Einstein

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Very good

This book surprised me. I figured it would be dull, but it was not. I wanted to learn a little bit about improving memory & the memory athlete subculture. This book was really engaging, well narrated, well put together overall. It's motivational & fun. I recommend it.

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  • RF
  • 03-24-21

Memory and Learning explored with a flair

The book was fun - the simple storytelling became increasingly rich with pertinent details about both memory and learning, intelligence and stupidity.

For anyone interested in thought and the mind, this is a book that is easy to read, light, and well-worth reading.

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fun and educational

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book is a good story and makes you smarter.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

it made me say Huh. so many times.

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Great book!

Good book. The book got me really interested in memory but didn't give me any specific applications to help me improve. If your a college student like myself I would look at reading something that contained more applications. Great book though

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    5 out of 5 stars

That was life changing

Just read the book, man. It's incredible. the writer is a genius!!! AND WHAT HE DID WITH THE BOOK TITLE OMG

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The narrator is pretty good.

Loved it. Some of the time I was able to listen to it while working. Laughed so much I had to explain to a co-worker what made me laugh so much.

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Genius!

Very insightful and helpful in memory tricks that I never thought possible. Learn how to create mind palaces like Sherlock Holmes.

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Great Read

Great read overall. I think what would have been even more valuable to the reader is sharing more direct examples on how we can apply this to everyday life.

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Enjoyable read

Clever, interesting, funny. Lots of history and science regarding memory presented alongside the author’s experience to become a memory champ. Solid performance as well.

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Enjoyable

Good read. Entertaining and informative. Mr. Fort did an excellent job of explaining his experience.

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