The Memory Palace

True Short Stories of the Past

By: Nate DiMeo

Narrated by: Nate DiMeo, Jad Abumrad, Daniel Alarcón, Betsy Brandt, Carrie Coon, Hrishikesh Hirway, Dominic Hoffman, Rebecca Lowman, Roman Mars, Robin Miles, Ryan Reynolds, Kai Ryssdal, Lili Taylor, Full Cast

Incredible true stories reveal strange new magic in American history in this wondrous first book from the creator of the award-winning podcast The Memory Palace.

“One doesn’t often find the words imagination and history in the same sentence. Nate DiMeo has forever woven them together. The Memory Palace wants you to linger, to stay awhile, and find a deeper meaning both in the stories of the past and perhaps in your own life as well.”—Ken Burns

The Memory Palace is a collection of crystalline historical tales that read like luminous short fiction and, like Nate DiMeo’s acclaimed podcast of the same name, conjure lost moments and forgotten figures who are calling out across time to be remembered.

Space capsules filled with fruit flies and future senators. A socialite scientist who gives up her glamorous life to follow love and the elusive prairie chicken. A boy genius on a path to change the world who gets lost in the theoretical possibilities of streetcar transfers. An enslaved man who steals a boat and charts a course that leads him to freedom, war, and Congress. A farmer’s wife who puts down her butter churn, picks up the butter, and becomes an international art star. An amusement park glowing at the water’s edge when electric lights are a brand-new thing. This cabinet of curiosities teems with wonder.

For fifteen years, Nate DiMeo has turned to the past to make sense of the way we live today, finding beauty and meaning in history’s dustier corners, holding things up to the light and weaving facts, keen insight, wit, and poignant observation into unforgettable tales. With new stories and treasured favorites from the beloved podcast, enchantment awaits you.

Great stories

Loved it all…the fascinating stories, the narrators, Nate DiMeo and the Memory Palace podcast is one of my favorites. And his book was equally wonderful.

Nate Dimeo's best of, and new stories, very well done

This is a very good book, I have enjoyed all the stories, some of the stories I have heard on his podcast by the same name, Also some new stories, worth the time!

Best that audiobooks can be

I’ve read the paper book and this audiobook gives me all of the same wonderful story but adds so much with the cast and the music and the performances. I’m glad I’ve experienced both.

Simply superb

Nate DiMeo is the contemporary writer most likely to give me goosebumps by how much I relate to his work. To say these are stories about history is to do them and injustice because they are really stories about humanity.

Performance made the story come alive

Captivating, gives a sense of wonder in being human. Needs longer breaks between stories to be prepared for the next.