Author: Joshua Foer
Before you read this book it is important to understand what it is about, or more importantly, what it is not. I read reviews from many a disappointed reader complaining about the lack of rigorous scientific treatment on how the brain "memorizes" details. There were also many rants about the lack of a "how to" on improving your memory. After reading the book, it is clear to me that the book is all about Memory championships and the memory athletes that compete in them. The interesting twist is that the author decides to take up the challenge of entering the US Memory Championship, himself, and the book details his training and the interesting characters he befriends along the way.
The book can be characterized as a memoir, but with a rather narrow scope of a couple of years when Josh trained for the US memory championship. Josh also dabbles with some detail on the history of memory and how it was a proxy for intelligence in the bygone eras. However he is quickly back to reality in observing "what was once a cornerstone of western culture is now at best a curiosity".
Towards the middle of the book, Josh includes a brief summary of some biological aspects of memory. He explains "The brain is a costly organ. Though it accounts for only 2 percent of the body's mass, it uses up a fifth of all the oxygen we breathe, and its where a quarter of all our glucose gets burned."
While the book is well written and easy to read, it is not quite fulfilling. Josh is fairly humble of his success, and you are left with a feeling that all of these techniques are not of much use in our everyday life.
Before you read this book it is important to understand what it is about, or more importantly, what it is not. I read reviews from many a disappointed reader complaining about the lack of rigorous scientific treatment on how the brain "memorizes" details. There were also many rants about the lack of a "how to" on improving your memory. After reading the book, it is clear to me that the book is all about Memory championships and the memory athletes that compete in them. The interesting twist is that the author decides to take up the challenge of entering the US Memory Championship, himself, and the book details his training and the interesting characters he befriends along the way.
The book can be characterized as a memoir, but with a rather narrow scope of a couple of years when Josh trained for the US memory championship. Josh also dabbles with some detail on the history of memory and how it was a proxy for intelligence in the bygone eras. However he is quickly back to reality in observing "what was once a cornerstone of western culture is now at best a curiosity".
Towards the middle of the book, Josh includes a brief summary of some biological aspects of memory. He explains "The brain is a costly organ. Though it accounts for only 2 percent of the body's mass, it uses up a fifth of all the oxygen we breathe, and its where a quarter of all our glucose gets burned."
While the book is well written and easy to read, it is not quite fulfilling. Josh is fairly humble of his success, and you are left with a feeling that all of these techniques are not of much use in our everyday life.
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