{"id":17893,"date":"2012-07-08T14:05:03","date_gmt":"2012-07-08T18:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=17893"},"modified":"2014-05-15T22:32:06","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T02:32:06","slug":"moonwalking-with-einstein-the-art-and-science-of-remembering-everything-by-joshua-foer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/moonwalking-with-einstein-the-art-and-science-of-remembering-everything-by-joshua-foer\/","title":{"rendered":"Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Moonwalking<\/a>I debated for a couple of weeks over posting about this book (no, I really don’t post every<\/em> title I read) … I figured it’s already such a fabulous, internationally bestselling read that I was convinced everyone would have either read it, or read enough about it, that any more fodder out there about its merits would be just that\u00a0\u2013 mere fodder. This morning, I decided I just had<\/em> to post \u2013\u00a0not so much a review, but a most grateful testimonial.<\/p>\n

So I’m scheduled to run\u00a0Leadville 100<\/a> in about a month. Although I’ve been training for two years, I’m really really <\/em>nervous because I’m coming back (sooooo slowly!) from last month’s bum ankle (click here for the book associated with\u00a0that<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>little folly<\/a>). In preparation for next week’s training on the actual course with my\u00a0fabulous coach<\/a> (yes, he of Born to Run<\/em><\/a> fame), I’m supposed to memorize all the aid stations and their distances along the high-altitude mountainous course.<\/p>\n

As I headed out this morning at 3:00 a.m. (not a typo\u00a0\u2013 I’m gonna be doing night running so better be ready!), I glanced at the station\/mileage chart, channeled\u00a0Joshua Foer<\/a>, and built my own Deadville memory palace within a minute or two. So far, so good. Almost 12 hours later, and that palace remains solidly intact, complete with my May-baby daughter who quit piano at 13.5 and Roger Ebert who is gonna be 74 year-old, four years after I finish Deadville.<\/p>\n

Confused? Just read this book … it’s\u00a0a miraculous tool, especially for overloaded, doddering, aging brains (like mine!). In fact, a close friend who’s been noticing my rapid decline the last decade is the one who (thankfully) put the book \u2013 in CD form, read ever so smoothly by Mike Chamberlain\u00a0\u2013\u00a0in my hands!<\/p>\n

Learning to build memory palaces is merely a small portion of young Foer’s delightful read. While it’s got an element of “how-to,” it’s also quite a nail-biting memoir of a year in the life of a talented, determined young man and his training \u2013 with mental athletes from around the world\u00a0\u2013 to fulfill what begins as a rather\u00a0roundabout goal to become the next U.S. memory champion. [Major<\/em> talent runs in the family, by the way\u00a0\u2013 Foer’s oldest brother is The New<\/em> Republic<\/em>‘s editor-at-large Franklin Foer<\/a>, his other\u00a0<\/em>older brother is the wunderkind author Jonathan Safran Foer, his sister-in-law is the luminous National Book Award finalist\u00a0Nicole Krauss<\/a>!]\n

No spoilers here, but the journey is intensely mind-boggling as it is\u00a0entertaining. If you must know sooner than later, you can check out Foer’s TED talk<\/a>, but go back and read the rest of his book because you don’t want to miss chunking, what jokes and sex have to do with memory (bet you can instantly recall a dirty ditty!), “profligate fad chaser” Mark Twain, “‘person-action-object;’ or, simply PAO,” and the part I took most personally: “We value quantity of reading over quality of reading.” OUCH. Although a girl can never have too many memory palaces, right? I’ll just keep building …<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Young Adult, Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I debated for a couple of weeks over posting about this book (no, I really don’t post every title I read) … I figured it’s already such a fabulous, internationally bestselling read that I was convinced everyone would have either read it, or read enough…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,81,107,60,20,31],"tags":[6608,1540,1541,1542,364],"class_list":["post-17893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-audio","category-memoir","category-nonethnic-specific","category-nonfiction","category-young-adult-readers","tag-bookdragon","tag-joshua-foer","tag-mike-chamberlain","tag-moonwalking-with-einstein","tag-sociology"],"yoast_head":"\nMoonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/moonwalking-with-einstein-the-art-and-science-of-remembering-everything-by-joshua-foer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer - 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