Moonwalking with Einstein

"The previous book we talked about was really about scientists and how they do their work. This book focuses not so much on the scientists but more on the consequence and meaning of memory for the rest of us. Within the framework of a memory championship, Foer looks at this almost obsessive interest in learning, how to remember everything. He asks the really interesting philosophical question, which is, are we defined by what we remember? Yes. In fact, my scientist father now has memory issues. I was talking to him a few weeks ago about this event earlier in my life, which he had helped rescue me from. It was always one of those points in time that I considered to be really important as a moment in my relationship with my father. But now he doesn’t remember it. Yes! Too bad he didn’t remember to do that. I realised that this lost moment in his memory made me feel that my father is forgetting me along with so much else and it made me recognise that we are affected not only by our own memories but those of people around us as well. Any scientist will tell you that your brain has to change for you to remember something. Memory tells us something about the basic neurochemical processes in the brain. So there are big defining moments in history, like in the States when JFK was shot and, for many people, 9/11 . There is this idea there’s a kind of chemical etching, a change in your brain in response to huge events like that. So a good memory saves what is important to us and lets go of what isn’t. The problem with the memorisation techniques in this book is that you can end up remembering everything. I followed an exercise to help me remember a list that was in the book – you physically map out the grocery list. For example, you have the pickles at the end of the driveway and cottage cheese in a swimming pool and I can still remember the pickles and the cottage cheese even though I don’t want to!"

"LB : The book opens with Josh Foer covering the USA Memory Championships as a journalist. When he interviews the winner, he asks: ‘When did you realize you had this great memory?’ And the winner is like, ‘I don’t.’ Well, he just won the championship. Of course he does. But he says, ‘no, I have the right techniques.’ As a hook for students, that’s a great story. Every year, I tell my class about how Josh Foer then trains for the memory championships, and wins the card placements category. He’s a national champion after that. I love the quirky descriptions about him wearing blinders so he can’t get distracted, and studying in his parents’ basement. There are limits on mnemonic devices and memory palaces. Josh Foer describes going to dinner in New York City after he placed first in one category. He drove to dinner and took the subway home, completely forgetting that he had driven in the first place—so even as a memory champion, he is not immune to memory errors! It’s not this magic cure-all for all aspects of your life, but it can be really great for going to the grocery store. It can be really great for remembering, I don’t know, what to pack for a trip. “Even as a memory champion, he is not immune to memory errors” We can share these tools with students—without overstating the use of mnemonic devices. I think he does a beautiful job with that in his book. Plus, for teenagers or even university students, the writing is really accessible. It’s so story-like, and Josh Foer is such an engaging writer that it really appeals to that age group. Jessica Flitter : I start my class with the memory unit and love this book. Josh Foer’s story is a perfect hook for students and makes psychology accessible to them. While they may not be training for memory championships in the near future, many feel like they are preparing for a mini version while tackling their class load. In the first days of class I create a memory palace for a list of foods around my house that sticks with the students throughout the year. After they realize the power of method of loci, I use the mnemonic to help them remember famous psychologists associated with locations in their school. They are always amazed when they can recall the material months later. LB : We recommend a book on the blog called Head in the Cloud that deals with exactly that. The influence of technology on cognition was newly integrated into the IB psychology course last year. (I was living in Switzerland; I’m back in the US now.) I asked students to read the book Head in the Cloud because it talks about how, when you know something’s going to be remembered for you, you don’t make an effort because you know you can just retrieve that later. That also poses, I think, a really interesting ethical dilemma for educators: what can we let go of, and what are the non-negotiables? I’ve given up teaching proper APA citations because they can be done online, and maybe that space could be used to teach something else. But I don’t know what the answer is. Head in the Clouds made me think. It brought up more questions than answers, for me. It’s something that’s ongoing and ever-evolving that we’ll have to continue to deal with."