Yip Swee Chooi apparently doesn’t use his body for storing the dictionary, but uses memory journeys through shops and other locations. Yip Swee Chooi, the effervescent Malaysian memory champ, used his own body parts as loci to help him memorize the entire 56,000-word, 1,774-page Oxford Chinese-English dictionary.Įdit: as Yan mentioned in the comments below, the above quote seems to be incorrect. The book talks about using body parts as memory palace locations on a large scale:ĭr. If you’re interested in more information about the methods, also check out our page on how to learn memory techniques from Moonwalking with Einstein.įirst, here’s a video of Joshua Foer demonstrating how to memorize pi: I’ve listed a few important quotes below. Moonwalking with Einstein isn’t a “how-to” manual, but there were many interesting techniques mentioned in passing. Near the beginning of the book, Foer writes:Įd had explained to me that the competitors saw themselves as “participants in an amateur research program” whose aim was to rescue a long-lost tradition of memory training that had disappeared centuries ago. It’s an unfortunate phase you’re just going to have to pass through.” “I have to warn you,” Ed said, as he delicately seated himself crosslegged, “you are shortly going to go from having an awed respect for people with a good memory to saying,’ Oh, it’s all a stupid trick.‘” He paused and cocked his head, as if to see if that would in fact be my response. The book explores many fascinating aspects of human memory as Foer meets with well-known savants and brain researchers as he trains for the 2006 USA Memory Championship.įoer’s memory training is assisted by Grand Master of Memory, Ed Cooke, who appears throughout the book:

How the brain structure of London taxi drivers is physically different from most other people.Solomon Shereshevsky - the mnemonist known as “S” who was studied by Alexander Luria in the early part of the 20th century.Simonides of Ceos - the Roman myth about the origins of the method of loci.The early part of the book covers stories that most mnemonists will be familiar with like: If you’re interested in the modern version of memory competitions, be sure to also try our free online memory competition platform. It doesn’t cover how to use the techniques, but our website can help you with that part. Moonwalking with Einstein is an ideal book for people who want to learn about the memory sports scene. The book describes the journey of the author as he goes from a journalist who is writing an article about memory competitions, to a mental athlete, obsessed with the sport, who eventually wins the 2006 USA Memory Championship. Moonwalking with Einstein is a book by Joshua Foer that looks at the modern revival of the ancient craft of memory.

Book review the other einstein