Talks & Entertainment

On average, people squander 40 days a year compensating for things they’ve forgotten. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people, but after a year of memory training, he found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship. Even more important, Foer found a vital truth we often forget: In every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of memory, and venerable tricks of the mentalist’s trade to transform our understanding of human remembering. Using methods that have been largely forgotten, Foer discovers that we can all dramatically improve our memories. At a time when electronic devices have all but rendered our individual memories obsolete, Foer’s call to resurrect the forgotten art of remembering becomes an urgent quest.

Foer is the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura and Sukkah City. He has written for National Geographic, Esquire, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Slate.