I’ve been reading a good book…
I know, I know. I start a lot of my emails like this. But there are so many good books out there! I know you are busy, so this is my way of giving you a preview to see if this is a book you may want to read. If not, I’ll give you some of the juicy parts!
The title of the book caught my eye – Moonwalking with Einstein. Anything with Einstein grabs me. He is the poster child for anything related to genius, and I’m all about realizing genius.
And moonwalking? I had to find out what he was talking about.
The subtitle is “The Art and Science of Remembering Everything.” Joshua Foer, the author, is a journalist. Evidently, he stumbled upon a memory competition one day, and he decided to take a deeper look into it. He got in so deep he ended up competing in the same competition the next year.
He says at the beginning that the book isn’t a self-help book. It isn’t something that is a straightforward guide on how to remember things better. But it has a TON of helpful information in it! It led me down so many interesting rabbit holes!
Did you know that the art and science of memorization are still based on the works of people in Ancient Greece?
The basic idea of a “mind palace” came to the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos after disaster struck. He was called out of a building seconds before it collapsed. He was able to help the families of the victims find their remains by visualizing the scene right before he left it.
If you were to imagine a mind palace, you could purposefully “put” things in it to help you remember them. As you wander around this palace in your mind, you will see everything you need to remember.
One of the most fascinating things to me was that these memory techniques used to be taught in schools. Way back in history, they understood that acquiring knowledge allows you to be more capable, but they also realized that they had to teach not only what to know but HOW to remember it.
While telling about how he improved his memory so he could compete, Foer also shared a lot of information about the research that has been done and the people that are a part of it.
He shared stories about people that could remember everything and people that could remember nothing, as well as the challenges that are involved with each.
Joshua Foer’s mentor, that helped him prepare for the memory championship, felt strongly about teaching these techniques to kids in schools. In fact, that was one reason he was willing to help Foer. He figured it would get more publicity.
I agree!