Joshua Foer at The Booksmith

On Monday night, author Joshua Foer appeared at The Booksmith on Haight to talk about Moonwalking with Einstein, his account of how he 1st attended the 2005 USA Memory Championship as a reporter, then spent the next year training for it. To his surprise, he became US Champion, setting a record for memorizing a deck of cards in 1 minute, 40 seconds. Along the way, he researched the history of memorization techniques, going back to ancient Rome. He explained how he was delivering his talk without notes by using a memory palace to remind him what to talk about next. The real lesson of his experience is that we constantly need to choose to be attentive. He ended by telling us, "To live a memorable life, you have to be a person who remembers to remember."

Around 40 people attended the event, & many seemed to have read the book already.  Mr. Foer is a friendly & conversational story teller, & he displays a healthy skepticism. He sees humans continually outsourcing their memories, first with pictures & writing, & soon with augmented reality & implantable Google chips. We're in the midst of a shift in the meaning of what it is to be human, & he wishes that the people leading the way were humanists rather than technologists.

§ JOSHUA FOER / Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
Mar 5 2012 7:30 pm
The Booksmith