I just started reading “Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything” by Joshua Foer. First of all, I want to say that seeing advertisement over and over works: it wasn’t until I saw an article about the book and an interview with the author that I decided to buy it. Second, I’m really happy to be reading books again – I haven’t read any since the New Year holidays.

I don’t have a review yet, but I have decided to take up a challenge in my spare time: memorize the map of the world using the techniques described in the book. Just country names for now, then maybe capitals. My geography is terrible. I could tell you which countries I can’t find on a map and you would be shocked, but I’m afraid to put anything that embarrassing down in writing.

I’ve tried using the techniques I’ve read about so far and it’s working amazingly well. I memorized a random shopping list from the book and hours later, I can still recite it in the right order (pickled garlic, cottage cheese, peat-smoked salmon, six bottles of white wine, three pairs of socks, three hula hoops, a snorkeling mask, etc…). I remember the locations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (those are all grouped together), Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and a few others. I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

FYI, the book is not really a how-to book. It’s a lot more exciting than that  so far 🙂 .