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)

Great narration, subject, story-- Loved This

I am not one to write reviews, and when I do they are usually to highlight what is wrong with a book. However, I can't say enough good things about this book. The writing is really funny and well done. The author seamlessly weaves between understanding of memory and cognition and the amazingly entertaining storyline of him being coached to enter the US Memory Championships-- challenging "mental athletes'" claim that "anyone can do this". The book blew my mind. Part anthropology, part brain science, part Toad's Wild Ride, I could easily listen to this book again just for the sheer pleasure. You won't be disappointed with this.

Entertaining enough

Mainly a story of the author's personal experiences. If you are hoping to learn to improve your memory, this will not help at all - one of the key lessons is that memorizing things for a competition is a very narrow skill that doesn't really help in everyday life. I never got bored listening, though.

Interesting but . . .

This was a fun and interesting book to read. The author is a journalist and decided to prepare for and participate in the USA memory competition - and won it. This book walks us through his 1 -year journey of what it took to prepare for the competition, and, in the process, we get to see how one memorizes things. I've tried the "memory palace" a long time ago before reading this book and it really does work. But I would say that this book is more about the journey the author took than about teaching you how to have a great memory - although he does tell you about the "tricks" used for memorizing. Overall, I liked it more as fun read than anything else.

Enjoyable

Although this went off on a further tanger than I had been expecting I did enjoy listening to this book and would recommend it to others.

insightful

very insightful and informative
the story telling is a great method to motivate and inspire people
to get involved in memory training and learn the techniques but......


here's the flip side

1st off the book doesn't really get into the technicalities
and dwelve into details of training luckily for me I was reading


Harry loraynes "page a minute" when not reading this which is very little storytelling and very focus on the techniques

and last the author really gives an honest conclusion to
whether or not the time invested is really worth it as far as having practical use in everyday life

Loved it and have read many times!

Joshua Foer turned me on to memory sport and the techniques which make a memory great and was the first step down the rabbit hole of seeking to have a better memory.

Amazing story

I love it. I have actually read the book and thought it would be a new experience listening to it and I was not disappointed. narrator did an amazing job highly recommend reading it though so you can go along with the little exercises. overall amazing

Great book!

Very inspirational! I enjoyed this very much. And would recommend to anyone. It really shows you can improve your memory at any age.

It's ok.

The preformance is so great, it involve you in a suspence, however the story or autobiography is far of what I expected, is more focus in how the author achived his goals. Is a good introduction of how memory works.

it is OK as it indulges you of ones journey

I loved reading. try it if you have the time to read a book. a good story.