Summary of Moonwalking with Einstein: by Joshua Foer - Includes Analysis

by Instaread Summaries

Summary of Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer | Includes Analysis

Preview:

Moonwalking with Einstein recounts author Joshua Foer’s yearlong journey from participant-journalist covering the national memory championships to becoming the 2006 USA World Memory Champion. Other segments offer a journalistic history of the human relationship with memory, addressing its failings, its successes, and its limitations.

Most people operate according to a series of misconceptions about human memory. Above all, many believe that they have an average brain and are therefore incapable of performing mental feats such as swiftly memorizing a deck of playing cards shuffled into random order. This belief, however, is false. Memory champions are no smarter than anyone else and have unremarkable brains from a biological standpoint. The difference is in how memory champions use their brain. They employ techniques and training to overcome shortcomings that are hard-wired into the human brain anatomy. Even those who appear to possess a photographic memory likely do not and are instead employing other memorization techniques…

 

PLEASE NOTE: This is key takeaways and analysis of the book and NOT the original book.

 

Inside this Instaread Summary of  Moonwalking with Einstein:

 

·        Overview of the Book

·        Important People

·        Key Takeaways

·        Analysis of Key Takeaways

 

About the Author

With Instaread, you can get the key takeaways, summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

32 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2016

About the author

With Instaread, you can get the summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, summarize and analyze it for your convenience.

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a different twist in that the journalist covering an event becomes the topic as well as the main participant in the event. The story opens with Foer being a journalist covering the world memory championships. While interviewing the contestants, he is struck by how ordinary they are in their memory abilities outside of the competition. After this revelation, Foer then goes into training and becomes the 2006 USA World Memory Champion.
The main point of the book is that memorization capability of this magnitude is not innate, but is a learned condition. By applying proven techniques for memorizing, it is possible for nearly everyone to develop a prodigious memory. Rather amusingly, Foer describes incidents after his training where he experiences some serious brain cramps.
A secondary point of the book is the role of memorization through history. Before the mass production of books and universal literacy, knowledge was passed on verbally, so people needed to remember things. Stories were told and retold in order for knowledge to be retained. There is mention of the collapse of the educational system in Europe in the Middle Ages, where literacy was almost non-existent. With the advent of the smartphone, people no longer remember phone numbers and addresses as well as other basic information.
Another secondary point is that there is no conclusive evidence for a photographic memory, in fact there is evidence against it. There are instances of people that suffered a head injury that led to dramatic memory abilities, but not as a skill that a certain percentage of people have.
This summary adequately covers the wide spectrum of topics secondary to the act of Foer winning a memory championship. Most of it is a repeat of the line of self-help claims of “improve your memory” that tout the dramatic improvements that are possible. Yet, there is enough auxiliary content to make the book interesting as an examination of how the role of memorization has changed in society over the years. It made me wonder if the widespread use of smartphones has led to a collapse of the “improve your memory” section of the self-help industry.

This book was made available for free for review purposes.

[Charles Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most people believe that they possess an average brain, and can, therefore, not perform such mental feats as memorizing long strings of numbers or other information. Journalist Joshua Foer has shown, through his own achievements, however, that this is not so. Even the average person, with the right amount of effort, can duplicate the feats of the savants, many of whom have achieved that status the very same way.
Summary of Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer by Instaread analyzes Foer’s story of how, after covering a Memory Champion Event, he became interested enough to try to improve his own memory and ended up becoming a Memory Champion in 2006. He outlines the methods that can be used to improve your ability to recall almost anything, even if you only have an average IQ.
This short analysis, which can be read in 15 minutes or less, gives a comprehensive look inside Foer’s book, and is a great resource that will aid you in your search for that next book to buy.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

[Brandon Dillard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read

Too short and not enough detail to get much out of the summary . This is the first summary I have read

[Bob]

Memories