Moonwalking with Einstein

“Moonwalking with Einstein” is a very fascinating book. It is written like a documentary, with an amazing narrative; followes the author, a journalist, as he decides to enter the world of Memory Championships and how he goes on to win one of them. And it has a lot to say about Memory and Learning.

At its core the book is not about memory competitions or to teaching you quick ways to memorize the digits of pi; it is about the intricate relationship between memory, learning and creativity. It tries to answer hard questions about how our brains work, encountering scientists, memory champions, self help gurus, The rainman, and “savants”. We go through the history of memory, and how its used, from rabis to ancient Greeks.

Halfway through the book, memory champion, Ed Cooke (the author’s coach, now CEO of Memrise) presents an argument to make our life memorable(planned craziness) so that we could remember more of it.

“If remembering is to be human then remembering more is to be more human.”

This is where I had a mini existential crisis. For the past month or so, I was in a mindset where trying to get in a regular routine was my only goal. A regular boring routine is the exact opposite of memorable. I felt maybe I going about it in the wrong way. I soon realized that both things had merit, and here I was generalizing the argument a bit too much. But this is why the book is special because it makes you question your beliefs, and widely held beliefs that we collectively have. It talks about how we are flooded with so much information and remember so little of it, and how removing classroom rote memorization, turn kids stupid in unexpected ways.

The author, also plays the role of a skeptic, and regularly examines, critiques the ideas presented. This book is also special in the sense, that doesn’t try very hard to sell you the idea of memorizing more, and remains nuetral; in an ironical way, it presents these “brainiac” characters who talk about the benefits of memorization, but aren’t really doing anything with their lives (other than competing in championships).

There are plenty of things that I learned from this book. I’ll summarize them in a list:

• our brains are very good at associative memory; remembering things in context. But for that to work, you need to have the basic facts, the building blocks on which other facts, or knowledge builds.
• our brains are good at remembering visual imagery and spatial navigation. To remember, code that information into visual imagery and use Spatial navigation to remember order.
• The Imagery needs to be powerful - the more outrageous, the more memorable.
• Major system that is used convert number to words to imagery.
• PAO technique to chunk info together and convert to imagery.
• The memory palace technique to embed imagery into a familiar space.
• How experts learn and stages of learning - overcoming the ok plateau
• How to learn effectively - deliberate practice, getting immediate feedback and analyzing mistakes.

I would say, this was the right book at the right time. I had been having similar thoughts and had been wanting to get my learning techniques right; therefore it was immensely interesting to me, and I finished it in 2 days. I am slightly embarassed, being unaware of works like this (how our brain works, and how to improve yourself in smart ways), and will be making sure I to read more.