Moonwalking with Einstein – Book Review

In brief, this book is about how Joshua Foer, a journalist with average memory, went on to win the U.S. Memory Championship.

Before I get into details, let me say Moonwalking with Einstein is a superbly written book and I highly recommend it. I hand it to Joshua Foer for turning a boring subject like memory into a splendidly entertaining adventure.

I normally take weeks to finish a book. I read this in about a week, often staying up past my bed time as the book is hard to put down.

I want to thank TLC Book Tours for reaching out and providing a review copy of the book. I am glad to have read this book, as I would normally have never picked up a book about memory.

My initial skepticism

For most of my schooling, I was fascinated with memorizing facts. It was a big advantage to know dates for History, multiplication tables for Math, and vocabulary for English. I loved watching Jeopardy, and in high school I was captain of the quiz bowl team.

That perception changed in college. I soon began to realize that memorized facts were less important. A lot of what I had learned was useless, and so were my memory techniques. In my college classes, many professors offered open book exams, saying they were not testing us on facts, but rather how well we could reason. The brain is not made for memory. The brain is made for thinking.

So naturally I was skeptical about this book on memory. Messages about how we forget things and how computers have ruined our memory seem quaint to me, a romanticizing about an ancient time and an old style of learning.

But while some parts of the book contain this message, that is not by and large what the book is about.

It is a fun book, and let me explain some of the things I loved about it.

5 reasons I enjoyed this book

1. Great storytelling

While the main subject of the book is memory, the real subject is Joshua Foer, a young journalist who was living in his parents house when the book begins.

The narrative covers about a one year period in which Foer became interested in memory competitions, trained with daily exercises, and finally competed in the U.S. Memory Championship.

During that time, Foer seems to be traveling constantly, one day consulting with his memory coach in Europe, and another day meeting with Kim Peek, the person who inspired Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man

When Foer gets stuck at one point in his training, he asks for help from K. Anders Ericsson, a psychology professor in Florida whose research is about how people get expertise (he contributed to the idea about needing at least 10,000 hours of practice to attain world-class status).

There are so many fascinating stories in the book, all captured with colorful descriptions.

2. Lots of research

There are over 200 footnotes in the book, with references to academic papers and the important tomes of memory tricks.

Foer does a great job of balancing the topics covered with the depth it covers them.

The book does not linger about a specific memory technique and drills. The techniques are explained, and then they are put in context of how to use them.

The section explaining memory palaces, an important technique, is a good example. It is first explained why the technique works. Then, it is put to practice. A list of 15 strange and unusual items is given as a shopping list, and then the technique is tested to show how you can memorize the items. I worked through the exercise, and I was amazed at how great it worked.

The book is not a handbook about increasing your memory. The memory topics are mostly covered as part of how Foer transforms his average memory into one that can memorize a deck of cards in under two minutes.

3. It’s funny

There are two main components to the book’s humor.

First are the people. Memory athletes are a generally eccentric and obsessive group of people. Foer describes his own transformation into that arena as he tries to work on his memory techniques. At one point he is using industrial ear muffs and huge black safety goggles with just a pinpoint of sight so he can block out distractions. It is amazing to read how far people will go to push their limits for competition.

The second part is the imagery for memory tricks. It is a principle that lewd and strange images are easier to remember. In one part, Foer describes how he is memorizing a deck of cards, and one of the images he comes up with is “a midget jockey in a sombrero parachuted from an airplane with an umbrella.”

This is just a sampling, and I do not want to spoil the fun by sharing some of the more amusing antics. But I’ll just say it gets pretty funny when these memory athletes go out to the bars.

4. Honesty

While the book is about memory and why it is important to increase memory, I felt there was a good balance of honesty. It is admitted when memory tricks are not practical for daily use.

Foer also does a great job of calling out people who make outrageous claims and are often trying to sell memory techniques for profit. He has the guts to question them in person, and to express his opinions in the book, like any good journalist should.

This is partly why I think it is tolerable that he praises ancient memory techniques and the “old” way of learning facts in school. I think he is honest to put that in perspective with living in the modern age.

5. The writing style

The book was a pleasure to read. It was most similar to reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell in how it mixed research with interviews and fun stories.

The book has a very casual tone that invites you to keep reading.

Go and get this book

It is a wonderful read, and between Joshua Foer’s stories and discussions about memory research, you will definitely find something interesting!

So check it out:

Moonwalking with Einstein

Joshua Foer’s Tour Stops

You can also check out other reviews of this book, from these fine websites that are part of the TLC Book Tour for Moonwalking with Einstein.

Wednesday, February 23rd: Nonsuch Book

Thursday, February 24th: Debbie’s World of Books

Friday, February 25th: Book Club Classics!

Wednesday, March 2nd: Ken Jennings

Friday, March 4th: Eclectic/Eccentric

Monday, March 7th: Man of La Book

Wednesday, March 9th: Sophisticated Dorkiness

Tuesday, March 15th: Mnemotechnics.org

Thursday, March 17th: this review at Mind Your Decisions

Monday, March 28th: Amy Reads

Wednesday, March 30th: In the Next Room

Thursday, March 31st: Luxury Reading