Moonwalking with Einstein

The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

By: Joshua Foer

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

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)

Entertaining and fascinating

Not an actual how-to memory book. Rather a journalist's full immersion into the arcane world of competitive memory. As much neuroscience exploration as personal memoir. Loved it.

if only they would teach memorization in school.

I loved the possibilities that open before you in this book. My largest opening is that if you don't live life and go places and meet people and tell the stories then you don't fellowship
develop the memories that make life, life.

Fantastic and entertaining

I wish it could have been longer. the narrator was perfect for the story. I loved every moment of it. and I particularly enjoyed the autobiographical, research, and entertaining anecdotal confluence that represents the entire work. I cannot say enough!

Not what I was looking for

Entertaining at times, but it did not provide the practical memory techniques I was looking for to use in my daily life.

This is a fine book

I have to admit the this book was going to be more about the technics and less about everything else but about halfway through I began to gasp the idea behind the story. I really enjoyed it and I can’t deny that I learned q
One or teo good memory techniques.

Quite inspiring

It gives enough inspiration to people to go and find out more about brain and memory

Good Read

As someone who's always been considered to have a pretty bad memory, this idea of this book certainly intrigued me before reading it. It's both an interesting look into the world of competitive memorization, and helpful in understanding more about how memory functions. In terms of trying to improve my memory personally, I've walked away from the book with some insights into how to more memorably associate things that I try to remember so they'll stick. While that's true, don't go into this book expecting to come away with some secret that's going to improve your day-to-day memory instantly - I'm glad I didn't, because that's not the book's intent. The narration is well done, and I enjoyed Foer's style of writing.

Amazing!

Absolutely fantastic. The techniques I picked up here I tried and got immediate results. Love this book :D
And very entertaining imagery lol

Rating: 3.5; An interesting read

An interesting read into the competitions, history, and quirky characters of memory athletes.
Not more than that. The author tries to come up with a practical conclusion for the book he has written, but with little conviction or persuarsion.

I wish I had read this in Jr. High

I’ve been looking into memory training and so many other professionals in the field keep bringing up this book, and often citing it as the book that sparked their own interest in memory training. I can see why. What a great journey through the history of memory training, including an inspiring perspective on the philosophy and importance of practicing memory skills. I recommend it very highly to anyone interested in improving in the art of learning or just enjoys the topics of learning, memory and cognition in general.