Moonwalking with Einstein Book Summary
The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
Book by Joshua Foer
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Summary
Joshua Foer chronicles his journey from covering the U.S. Memory Championship as a journalist to becoming a competitor and ultimately winning the event himself, all while exploring the history, science, and techniques of memory training and the untapped potential of the human mind.
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The Smartest Man is Hard to Find
In the introduction, Joshua Foer attends the 2005 U.S. Memory Championship as a journalist and is amazed by the feats of memorization he witnesses. He gets the idea to spend a year training his own memory and write about the experience. Foer cites a quote that anyone could do what the mental athletes do, it's simply a matter of learning techniques.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
The Man Who Remembered Too Much
Chapter 1 introduces the story of a Russian journalist named S who showed up at psychologist A.R. Luria's office in 1928 claiming to have an abnormally powerful memory. Luria studied S for 30 years and wrote a book about him, finding S's memory was virtually limitless. However, S was crippled by his inability to forget anything. His mind was constantly cluttered with trivial details and sensations.
While S's memory was seemingly sui generis, Foer suggests it may be possible for anyone to attain similar memorization abilities through training. He cites a study comparing the brains of mental athletes to a control group that found no neuroanatomical differences - only that the mental athletes were engaging different brain regions related to spatial memory and navigation. This suggests their skills were achieved through practice rather than innate ability.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
The Expert's Expert
Chapter 2 introduces Anders Ericsson, a professor at Florida State University and the world's leading expert on expertise. Ericsson has spent decades studying expert performers, from mental athletes to chess grandmasters to virtuoso violinists, in order to understand how they achieve their incredible skills. His core finding is that expertise comes through a very specific type of practice he terms "deliberate practice" - focused, goal-directed training performed with full concentration and immediate feedback, consistently pushing past one's comfort zone. Innate talent is less important than the right kind of training.
Section: 1, Chapter: 2
The Most Forgetful Man in the World
In contrast to S's incredible memory, consider the story of EP, a man with one of the most severe cases of amnesia ever documented. After a bout with herpes simplex encephalitis, EP was left with extensive damage to his hippocampus and medial temporal lobes, wiping out his ability to form new long-term memories. Trapped in an eternal present, EP is a profound case study in the importance of memory to identity, relationships, and one's ability to function in the world.
Tying into EP's story, Foer makes the point that our sense of time and our very identities are structured by our memories of events. The more memories we create, the more "chronological landmarks" we build into our mental model of the past, helping us organize our experience. People with Alzheimer's and severe memory loss don't just lose their pasts - they lose their ability to imagine the future too.
This insight suggests an actionable lesson we can all apply: Be mindful about creating lots of memorable experiences in your life. Seek out new adventures, visit new places, learn new things.
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
The Memory Palace Technique
Foer lays out the basic technique for memorizing used by mental athletes: the "memory palace." Invented in ancient Greece, this powerful method exploits our brain's natural spatial memory abilities. To use it:
- Visualize a familiar physical space, like the layout of your house.
- Mentally place the items you want to memorize throughout the rooms, creating an associative link between each item and a specific location.
- To recall, simply retrace your steps through the memory palace. The distinctive items and images you placed will spring back to mind.
By tying information we want to remember to places and images, we take advantage of how the human brain evolved to work - not as a filing cabinet for abstract symbols, but as a way of navigating the world and remembering what's important. Even the most mundane facts can be made memorable with enough creativity in transforming them into strange, lewd, funny, or bizarre mental images and scenes.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Ancient Orators Used the Memory Palace
In the ancient world, before books were common, orators would use the method of loci to prepare for speeches. The Roman rhetorician Cicero was said to practice by memorizing the physical locations of his speeches, placing the topics he planned to discuss into the courtrooms, auditoriums, and amphitheaters where he would be speaking.
This allowed him to deliver long, complex addresses without notes, moving from point to point in his mind as he moved from place to place in the physical location. Using associative imagery allowed him to speak naturally and fluidly, without pausing to consciously recall the next set of facts from rote memory.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
The Link Method
Another powerful technique is the "link method":
- Take the items to be memorized (like a series of numbers).
- Transform each one into an image.
- Create a scene or story linking the image.
- To recall, simply follow the chain of images.
For example, to memorize a shopping list with milk, eggs, and butter:
- Picture a giant milk carton.
- Imagine the milk carton opening, and a dozen eggs spilling out.
- The eggs crack open, and gallons of melted butter come pouring out.
By vividly linking images together, vast amounts of mundane data can be made unforgettable in creative ways, allowing mental athletes to perform staggering feats of memorization like reciting thousands of digits of pi.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Memory Training Transforms Thinking
While researching memory techniques, Foer discovered an unexpected benefit beyond just memorization skill: Forcing his brain to operate differently changed the very way he perceived and processed new information in his daily life.
As he practiced visualizing information spatially and associatively rather than just verbally and linearly, his whole way of thinking shifted. Poetry became richer and more evocative as he pictured the scenes described vividly in his mind. Conversations became more memorable as he automatically noted interesting imagery and analogies. Even his appreciation of art took on new dimensions as he immersed in the details of paintings and sculptures.
Memory training, he realized, doesn't just allow us to memorize facts - it can reshape our entire way of processing the world.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
How to Memorize a Poem
Foer describes his struggles to memorize his first poem using the techniques of the memory palace. He breaks the process down into steps:
- Choose a memory palace with a clear spatial layout you know well, like your childhood home.
- Read a line or short stanza of the poem, and create a memorable mental image capturing its meaning and sound.
- Place the image in a specific location along your memory palace route.
- Move on to the next line, creating a new image and placing it in the next locus.
- To recall the poem, retrace your route through the palace, using the images you placed as cues to reconstruct the lines.
The key is translating the abstract words into concrete, spatially located scenes. With practice poems can be committed to heart with ease - an invaluable skill in the ancient world before books were common.
Section: 1, Chapter: 5
The History of Memory
Chapter 6 traces the long history of memory training and how its role in Western civilization has changed over time. In the ancient world, before cheap writing materials were available, enormous value was placed on committing knowledge to memory. Orators like Cicero would memorize hours-long speeches, poets would recite epic stories passed down for generations, and scholars would memorize entire books.
Well into the Middle Ages memory skills were considered a core part of education and high culture. But with Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, books became more widespread, and the value placed on memorization gradually declined. By the 19th century, rote learning in schools was increasingly criticized as stifling to creativity.
The Romantics valued inspiration and emotion over meticulous learning. As books became cheaper, the great traditions of memory training faded into obscurity. Only in our own time, with the pioneering work of a few iconoclasts, have the ancient techniques been systematically revived.
Section: 1, Chapter: 6
The Art of Memory Becomes a Parlor Trick
the 19th century, mnemonic techniques enjoyed a brief popular resurgence not as learning tools, but as performance. Traveling "professors" of memory would put on stage shows demonstrating seemingly superhuman memorization and calculation abilities.
One of the most famous, Alphonse Loisette (real name Marcus Dwight Larrowe), charged exorbitant sums for his memory training courses and was as celebrated as he was controversial. Even Mark Twain fell under his tutelage for a time, though he would later come to regret his association with the huckster.
Figures like Loisette represented a "vulgarization" of the classical art of memory, turning it into little more than a vaudeville act. But while serious interest in mnemonics waned, these performers unintentionally kept the ancient techniques alive until their academic and practical value could be rediscovered in the late 20th century.
Section: 1, Chapter: 6
The End of Remembering in the Age of Technology
Today we live in a world of ubiquitous external memory. Books, recordings, photographs, and digital databases have made memorization effectively obsolete for most practical purposes. With smartphones and the internet, we have instant access to more information than the greatest scholars of antiquity could ever dream of. But Foer argues this comes at a cost. By outsourcing our memories to external devices, we risk diminishing our own capacity to think and engage with knowledge. We become ever more dependent on our machines, passive consumers of information rather than active rememberers and thinkers.
The solution, Foer believes, is to cultivate memory as an act of intellectual resistance in an age of forgetfulness. Even if the art of memory isn't strictly necessary today, practicing it develops our capacity for concentration, creative thinking, and deep engagement with knowledge. It keeps us cognitively fit and independent even as technology promises to do our thinking for us.
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
The Science of Expertise
In Chapter 8, Foer dives deeper into the research of Anders Ericsson on expert performance. Ericsson's core finding is the "10,000 hour rule" - the idea that true mastery in any cognitively demanding field, be it music, chess, or memory, requires roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve.
But equally important is the type of practice required. Ordinary practice, just doing the same thing over and over again, leads to minimal improvement in the long run. We quickly reach a basic level of proficiency Ericsson calls the "OK plateau," where continued experience yields diminishing returns. To keep improving, it's necessary to engage in deliberate practice - focused, goal-directed training at the edge of one's abilities, constantly reaching for challenges just beyond one's current level of competence. This kind of practice is hard work. It requires intense concentration and isn't always fun.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
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Outliers
Pushing Past the OK Plateau
The central lesson from Ericsson's research is that the right kind of practice makes perfect. If you want to get better at anything, you have to constantly push outside your comfort zone, try things that are hard for you, and critically analyze your performance for ways to improve. Some key elements of deliberate practice include:
- Set well-defined, specific goals and subgoals. Break the skill down and work on the hardest parts in isolation.
- Get immediate feedback on your performance. Don't just rely on your own subjective experience - use a coach, video yourself, or gather objective data to see what you're doing wrong.
- Concentrate deeply and actively. Mere repetition isn't enough. Stay focused and mentally engaged with the task, searching for areas of weakness and experimenting with improvements.
- Aim for challenges just beyond your current abilities. If practice becomes easy, make it harder again. The feeling of strain and mental effort is a sign you're in the zone of maximal improvement.
With this kind of practice, Ericsson and colleagues have shown that virtually anyone can achieve remarkable abilities in fields as disparate as violin, chess, gymnastics, and memory. Talent matters much less than how you train.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Overcoming the Frustration Barrier
One of the biggest barriers to success with deliberate practice is frustration. Constantly working on things you're not yet good at is hard. It takes grit and perseverance to keep at it in the face of repeated failures and setbacks.
This is where Foer argues that cultivating the right habits and attitude is key. Rather than just forcing yourself to work hard, the goal should be to make practice a routine, almost an automatic part of your life. Set a regular daily practice schedule and stick to it even when you don't feel motivated. Start small and gradually increase the load. Make it your default state.
Additionally, try to find ways to enjoy the process for its own sake. Take pleasure in small improvements and savor the feeling of getting better over time. With smart training habits and a growth mindset, what looks like a frustrating weakness today can become a profound strength over time.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
The Talented Tenth
Chapter 9 introduces the story of Raemon Matthews, a high school teacher in the South Bronx who uses memory techniques to help his disadvantaged students succeed. Matthews teaches at the Samuel Gompers Vocational High School, where many students come from poverty and score well below average on standardized tests.
But the group of students Matthews coaches for the memory competition, known as the "Talented Tenth," regularly win honors and go on to top colleges. The key, Matthews argues, is combining memory training with high expectations. By drilling his students on memorizing facts and figures from their textbooks using visualization and the memory palace technique, he gives them a tangible way to master academic content.
Even more important are the lessons in discipline, organization, and self-belief. By showing students they can overcome mental limitations to achieve seemingly impossible feats, Matthews convinces them they have what it takes to succeed no matter their background. Memory training instills an attitude of accomplishment that carries over to all their studies.
Section: 1, Chapter: 9
The Case For Teaching Memory Skills
The success of Raemon Matthews' students raises important questions about education. In an age of smartphones and Wikipedia, factual knowledge can seem obsolete - memorization dismissed as an archaic relic.
But cognitive scientists make a convincing case that memory is the foundation of higher thinking skills. You can't analyze what you don't know. Critical thinking depends on a rich body of memorized facts and concepts that can be fluently retrieved and combined. But many students today suffer from shockingly sparse mental models of history, science, art, and culture - crippling disadvantages in an innovation economy.
Foer argues memorization and critical thinking aren't opposites but two sides of a well-rounded mind. Just "knowing how to think" isn't enough - you need something to think about. By bringing memory training techniques into the classroom, teachers can help students quickly build the background knowledge they need to engage with complex ideas.
Section: 1, Chapter: 9
Is Daniel Tammet Really a Savant?
In Chapter 10, Foer profiles Daniel Tammet, a British savant who can recite over 22,000 digits of pi from memory, learn Icelandic in a week, and do complex arithmetic in his head. Tammet attributes his abilities to an unusual brain condition combining synesthesia (where senses are linked, i.e. numbers have colors and emotions) with Asperger syndrome (a form of autism). His feats of memory supposedly come automatically due to his unique neurology.
But as Foer investigates Tammet's background, inconsistencies emerge. Tammet had previously competed in the World Memory Championships using standard memory techniques under a different name. His descriptions of synesthetic experiences change suspiciously in retellings. Certain feats are replicated by non-savant "mental calculators" using simple mnemonic systems.
While Foer falls short of accusing Tammet of fraud, he suggests his extraordinary abilities may be more learned than innate - not so different from "normal" mental athletes who train their memories.
Section: 1, Chapter: 10
The Myth of Photographic Memory
Is it really possible to have a "photographic memory" like the famous savant S, automatically recording everything you see and hear in perfect detail? Foer argues the answer, with one notable exception, is no. The one credible case of photographic memory comes from "Elizabeth," a Harvard student studied in the 1970s who could fuse two images in her mind into a mental composite. He concludes that true photographic memory is at best exceedingly rare, and possibly nothing more than an urban legend.
If savants aren't relying on innate photographic memory, how do they perform such remarkable mental feats? Brain scans of savants like the famous Kim Peek (the inspiration for Rain Man) show unusual patterns of damage, especially to the left hemisphere, along with hyper-connectivity in other areas. This suggests savants' abilities may emerge from unique constraints that force their brains to operate differently, not inborn superiority. Foer argues this is also how memory techniques seem to work - by consciously constraining our minds to encode information in more memorable ways, while screening out distractions and irrelevant stimuli. The lesson is that incredible memory isn't just for savants.
Section: 1, Chapter: 10
The USA Memory Championships Showdown
In the climax of his year-long memory quest, Foer competes in the USA Memory Championship in New York City. Up against experienced mental athletes, Foer is a clear underdog, but his training pays off in a stunning upset. In the first event, memorizing the names of 99 strangers' faces, Foer comes in third, beating out dozens of more experienced competitors. But it's his performance in the next event, "speed cards," where he really shines.
Using the mnemonic "person-action-object" system, he was able to memorize the order of a shuffled deck of cards in just over a minute and a half - a new US record. As the day goes on, Foer continues to hold his own against the field, advancing to the final round against former champion Ram Kolli. In the ultimate showdown, a trial to see who can memorize the most from a double deck of cards, Foer emerges victorious. The former journalist had become the new US memory champion, proving just how far dedication and smart training techniques can take you.
Section: 1, Chapter: 11
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