Moonwalking with Einstein

Author Joshua Foer
Narrator Mike Chamberlain
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date 2 February 2012
Run Time 9 hours and 33 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Cognition and cognitive psychology, Cognitivism, cognitive theory, Popular science.

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What to expect

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, Joshua Foer's part-memoir, part-guide on mastering your memory. Read by Mike Chamberlain.

On average, people squander forty days annually trying to remember things they've forgotten. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people. But after a year of training, he found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship. He also discovered a truth we too often forget: In every way, we are the sum of our memories.

In Moonwalking with Einstein Foer draws on cutting-edge research, the cultural history of memory and the techniques of 'mental atheletes' to transform our understanding of human remembering. He learns the ancient methods used by Cicero and Medieval scholars. He meets amnesiacs, neuroscientists and savants - including a man who claims to have memorized more than nine thousand books. In doing so, he reveals the hidden impact of memory on our lives, and shows how we can all dramatically improve our memories.

At a time when electronic devices have all but rendered our individual memories obsolete, Foer's book is a quest to resurrect the gift we all possess, but that too often slips our minds.

Critics Review

A marvelous overview of one of the most essential aspects of what makes us human – our memory … Witty and engaging

Dan Ariely

Memory…makes us who we are…passionate and deeply engrossing …The more we challenge ourselves, the greater our capacity. It’s a fact that every teacher, parent and student would do well to learn. The lesson is unforgettable.

Washington Post

Captivating … Engaging … Mr. Foer writes in these pages with fresh enthusiasm. His narrative is smart and funny

New York Times

[D]elightful…empathetic, thought-provoking and…memorable.

Prospect

Riotous

New York Times

[An] endearingly geeky world…witty and revelatory…[The] journey certainly demonstrates how much memory matters…Apart from anything else, filling up our mental storehouses in the right way can make life feel longer.

Guardian

In this marvelous book, Joshua Foer invents a new genre of non-fiction. This is a work of science journalism wrapped around an adventure story, a bildungsroman fused to a vivid investigation of human memory. If you want to understand how we remember, and how we can all learn to remember better, then read this book

Jonah Lehrer

One year, Joshua Foer is covering the US Memory Championships as a freelance journalist, the next he returns as a competitor – and wins it…How he pulled off this extraordinary feat forms the spine of this crisply entertaining book.

Sunday Times

Combines erudite analysis, historical context, a mind-bending adventure and extremely suggestive sex – some of it involving Foer’s grandmother.

Sunday Times

A labyrinthine personal journey that explains how our author ended up in the finals of the US Memory Championship – a compelling story arc from sceptical journalist to dedicated participant. I can’t remember when I last found a science book so intriguing.

Literary Review

[A] charming book…interwoven with informed exposition about the psychological science of memory.

Nature

A fascinating, engaging and very well-written book.

Science Focus

Addictive and fascinating…extraordinary. [Foer] attended the US Memory Championship as a journalist and returned the next year as a competitor and won…It is Foer’s gifts as a teacher and a storyteller that make this book essential reading.

Scottish Sunday Express

Take, for example, the emergence of Downing Street as a salon for intellectuals from around the world, and not only economists and political scientists. Under David Cameron-or, more accurately, Steve Hilton, the prime minister’s most influential adviser-the thinkers invited to hold court there often have little to say about policy per se. Joshua Foer, a young American who has written an acclaimed book about how memory works, was a recent guest. Mr Hilton’s rationale is that governments have more to learn from fields of research that investigate how humans behave, such as neuroscience and social psychology, than from conventional technocrats. There is now a policy team devoted to “behaviourial insight” in the Cabinet Office.

Bagehot, The Economist

Foer’s book is great fun and hugely readable, not least because the author is a likeable sort of Everyman-science nerd whom we want to become a memory champion. Always fascinating and frequently mind-boggling, Moonwalking with Einstein is a book worth remembering.

The Independent

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