Bill Gates reviews “Moonwalking with Einstein”

Sometimes people have suggested that I’ve got a “photographic memory,” particularly when I’m talking about topics that interest me, like science and business. It’s a nice compliment, but it’s not really true. Not even close. For example, my friend Mike is so much better than I am at remembering movie facts – what actor was in which movie and when it was made. I can’t do that.

I do still remember every line of the first complex software program I ever wrote. Because I spend a lot of time thinking about science and business, I have a structure or a context that the facts can fit into. Like, “Oh, this company is like that one, but different in this way." I think most people have good memory for things in the domains they’re really interested in.

I never thought much about whether I could improve my memory across a wider set of domains, but now I think I could, after reading Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, by a young science writer, Joshua Foer. It’s absolutely phenomenal, one of the most interesting books I’ve read this summer.

……………….

Book: Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Related previous posts:

TED Talk - Joshua Foer: Feats of memory anyone can do

Joshua Foer: Moonwalking with Einstein

The Secret of Memory