I just finished reading Moonwalking with Einstein by Josh Foer. I found out about the book after reading Saj Karsan’s review. Its a good book, I’d recommend it. My biggest complaint was it really digs into the history and science of memory. I get that Foer is helping you understand how the brain works but I didn’t want to read a research report, I just wanted to improve my memory. I really think think Foer could have shaved off 75 pages and focused a lot more on the actual techniques.
Does it work?
Yes, absolutely. I just finished the book yesterday but I’ve already memorized all of the Canadian Prime Ministers and all the US presidents in order. It took about 20 minutes. It’s only been a day but I still remember them clearly and I feel pretty confident that I’ll remember them in a week and most likely much longer. I’ll update the post as time passes.
That being said, you have to want to remember something and be willing to put in the effort, it’s not like you become rainman over night. Even the author admits he still takes notes when conducting interviews and why bother to memorize phone numbers when you can store them in your cell phone. But like Saj Karsan said in his review, I wish I had known about these techniques in high school!