Moonwalking with Einstein, By Joshua Foe

 

Arifa Akbar
Thursday 19 January 2012 20:00 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

When Joshua Foer first mentions the ancient "art of memory", it sounds pretentious in an age when our brains are fit to bursting with information overload. Surely the Internet can do our remembering for us? It doesn't take Foer long to convince us otherwise.

A science journalist who became so interested by memory that he ended up in the USA Memory Championship, Foer combines conversations with memory nerds with fascinating philosophical and neurological theories.

By losing our memories, we lose more than mere information, and when years appear slip by, it is because we have remembered less. To expand subjective time, we need to revisit the "art of memory" and sharpen up our grey matter.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in