by Joshua Foer
Moonwalking with Einstein is about the author’s journey from knowing nothing about memorization to becoming a World Champion of Memory. Joshua creates weird images in his head to help him remember what something is, where and when. He wrote things such as Einstein karate kicked five times to the groin, which helped him remember the 5 of spades.
Some of the vivid images Joshua used included “Michael Jackson defeated the salmon sandwich with three punches.” I enjoyed reading that and picturing it in my head because you wouldn’t see that in this world. It’s out of the ordinary. I like unusual things that you don’t come across often. That makes it unique and memorable.
Another part I liked was the introduction. It said, “On average people squander forty days annually compensating for the things they’ve forgot. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people.” I think it’s motivating because later in the book, after one year of training he ended up as the Memory Champion. That means I could train for one year and become a champion, too.
I thought it was boring that Joshua spent 30 pages talking about an 84-year-old retired lab technician (E.P.). Joshua explained that whenever EP went on walks, he would go the same way each time, but if he turned the wrong way, he would be completely lost. He used the example to show that people have different kinds of memory. E.P. has dementia. Even though one part of his brain shut down, the other parts are still working with intact spatial memory. There was a lot of repetition in this chapter. It would have been fine if it took just 10 pages.
Overall, this book was interesting in exploring the unusual and weird ways our mind works and how they can be useful in boosting memory abilities. But it felt boring when the same technical points are repeated over and over again, which I thought was excessive.