Shelly's Book Journal

I loved this book. It's trying my favorite type - memoir with some good old educational research thrown in for fun.Josh Foer is a reporter. One year he was asked to cover the U.S. Memory Championship, and became facinated with memory training. After hobnobbing with other "Memory Athletes", he decides to train for the US Championships.This is Josh's story, but it is also the history of memory use. Did you every think about ancient times predating paper and pen and computer and cell phone? People were required to use their memories and trained themselves to make mental lists, memorize literature and keep track of their day to days. There were few external memory techniques, so people needed good internal memory just for pure survival. Foer's charts some of the history - and notes the current techniques vs. ancient ones.In his year of training, Foer also researches and interviews many memory subjects - those who have trained their memory, and those seemingly gifted with an abundant memory. He provides lots of interesting antidotes on these people and meetings and shares how he incorporates certain things into his training techniques.Very good story, and a lot to learn here about what we can do with our minds. Highly recommend, especially if you are a Memoir Geek like me!