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By jamie, May 6, 2011 2:27 pm

I love technology. I like to do multiple tasks all at the same time on my computer, and am super excited to get my new computer that Geek Boy and Little Mama ordered me for Mother’s Day (it won’t be here for a week). I enjoy making spreadsheets to keep track of things.

I finished the book, and I loved it even though it didn’t teach me how to memorize everything I read. In the end, Foer does not throw out his gadgets in favor of keeping everything stored in his brain. If he trained for an entire year and still embraces technology, I’m not going to feel bad about keeping everything written down.

The main takeaway for me is that our brains are capable of a great deal more than we think they are. It all depends on how much time we are willing to devote to our goals, how much practice we are willing to put in. I can learn Spanish (I guess I just haven’t put enough effort toward this goal in the past). I can be a yogini. I can conduct meaningful research, write a dissertation, get a black belt in karate, read two books a week. The possibilities are endless. What to do first?

The final chapter details Joshua Foer’s big memory championship. I won’t elaborate here – it was entertaining to read, and I was surprised when it made me tear up a little.

He does tell us how to clean out a memory palace (kind of). You just go through each room in your head and mentally “erase” everything you put there. You have to make sure to “walk” through each room several times afterward to make sure they are clear. I haven’t tried it yet – maybe it will be a useful thing to do when my mind is racing and I’m trying to fall asleep at the end of the day.

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By jamie, April 29, 2011 10:54 am

I really hope Foer explains how to properly clear out a memory palace, because there is still an enormous elk relaxing on my childhood bed with Paul Newman keeping watch in the doorway. That’s right, I still remember the to-do list from earlier in the book and now I have read through chapter 10. I have not, however, tried to create my own shopping list in a memory palace because, not only is it time consuming, I am also concerned about filling all of the places I loved to visit as a child filled with ketchup and milk, even if they ARE organic.

I really want to find some practical applications for this stuff, because even though I went into this knowing it was more memoir than self help book, I did secretly envision myself being able to easily memorize the names of everyone I meet, as well as critical details about social theory, recipes, my lecture notes, and more than just the major themes of every book I read. And I was hoping to accomplish this without having to break into song every time I want to remember something.

Chapter 9 shows some promise, in that it describes a high school teacher, Raemon Matthews, who uses mnemonic techniques to help his student ace not only AP exams, but also any placement test placed in front of them. He helps them memorize passages from Shakespeare, and details about important historical figures, and even uses creative visualization techniques to help them remember the differences between major political and economic philosophies.

So, here is the “money” of the section, and I think you have probably heard it before: the more you know the more you can learn. Here’s a quote: “Memory is like a spiderweb that catches new information. The more it catches, the bigger it grows. And the bigger it grows, the more it catches.” I guess might be approaching this from the wrong perspective – because I have no intention of competing anywhere as a memory athlete, there is no need for me to spend hours a day “training” my mind in the manner that Foer describes. Instead, I need to read everything a little more slowly (ugh, that was painful to type) to better build connections between new material and what is already stored in my head. The other tricks can help me remember people’s names, as well as provide a better alternative when I would normally try to learn something by rote. I might even use the memory palaces for my lecture notes (because I have dreams of being a rock star teacher who doesn’t ever have to glance at a piece of paper during our class discussions).

This part of the book covers a person who received a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, a special form of high functioning autism. At the time of his diagnosis, the psychologist said he did not have any symptoms, and was only basing his opinion on the young man’s description of past experiences. The guy is also incredibly bright and says that he is capable of remembering at the level of “memory athletes” (he has won some of their competitions) without using any of the tricks that they employ. This man, Daniel Tammet, has written a book about being an autistic savant (which I will probably read). Joshua Foer ends this chapter by expressing his personal doubts as to whether Mr. Tammet actually IS a savant, or whether he actually DOES use the same techniques as other memory (and math) athletes do. He suggests that it probably doesn’t matter, and that we all probably have something in us that enables us to do really impressive things with our minds, just most of us never tap into it.

I have been thinking about this since I read it, the idea that all of us might have a secret “savant” inside. I know a few really smart kids. I bring this up here because people are not always ready to “deal with” a really smart kid and they sometimes think the kid is weird (maybe they don’t do well in social situations, they might have trouble with eye contact, or perhaps they get “obsessed” with a certain hobby). Some parents of highly intelligent children have armchair psychologists (well-meaning friends and family) pressuring them to see if their child might be autistic because the kid reminds them of something they read about autism, Asperger’s in particular – this is not OK. Autism it works on a spectrum – just having one or two indicators does NOT merit a diagnosis. I spoke with a mother recently who had her child tested after a few people convinced themselves and her that it was necessary – here is the paraphrased reaction of the doctor: most people are average, and so they don’t recognize “gifted” children for what they are. Also, our society is currently obsessed with autism to the point where we are certainly over-diagnosing it – plenty of children have issues that require treatment, but some are just plain smart.

In my opinion, if you meet a smart child, you should talk to them as you would any adult, treat them with respect and not with kid gloves, and do not assume that something is wrong with them just because you might not be comfortable with how precocious they are. If they have trouble making friends and maintaining eye contact, they might just be shy – they might just need some practice. Help them out instead of encouraging their parents to haul them off to a psychologist.

One more little factoid: Joshua Foer gets to meet and talk with the real “Rain Man,” the inspiration for the film with Dustin Hoffman. His name is Kim and he likes for people to call him “Kimputer” because his brain is like a computer. And he is not autistic.

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By jamie, April 26, 2011 7:44 pm

Have you ever been on autopilot when you are driving and you realize this when you are parking the car at home only to remember that you intended to stop at the grocery store on the way? Our niece is currently learning to drive, and her opinion is that it’s really challenging remembering to look in the mirrors, monitor speed, control those pedals, follow the directions so you end up at your intended destination and manage to stay in your lane the entire time. Remember those days? Yeah – amazing how much of that becomes automatic. (This is why some people are so confident that they ADD other activities, like applying make up, eating, or even texting…)

I read chapters 7-8. One of the chapters describes a man who is literally keeping a log of every experience he has (he wears a camera/recording device around his neck and uses a scanner to input every single piece of paper he ever sees, etc.). He is able to “recall” any memory just by typing in a few keywords. The most practical information for me (and for you, probably) is the part about the “OK plateau,” so that’s what I am going to focus on here.

Basically, we have three stages of learning:

During the cognitive stage we learn and progress quickly. For example, the book describes learning how to type. First you are clunky and don’t know where your fingers go, but with practice, your speed increasing and you stop hitting the wrong key as often as you once did.

This is when you are at the associative stage, making fewer errors and finding tricks to make your work more efficient. These stages can apply to anything you do. I thought about parenting when I read this – you bring the baby home and stare at her the first night, and a couple of weeks later you are managing feedings and diaper changes and learning shortcuts and more efficient ways of getting everything done (you learn what has to get done and what to let go of, like mopping the floor every night before bed).

The third stage is the autonomous stage, the one that enables you to drive home on autopilot while listening to that peanut allergy story on NPR and figuring out what you want to say about it on your blog (your mileage may vary, pun intended). This is the stage where you hit the “OK plateau” – you don’t drive any better, you don’t type any faster, your running speed levels out, etc. As it turns out, we can get past this plateau and get even better by carefully analyzing our performances and finding specific ways to challenge ourselves.

So after reading this section, I now have to add two things to my master to-do list:

1. I should look into new reading strategies to maximize retention.

Foer suggests that the average person reading his book is doing so at a rate of about a page a minute. He says that this fast rate pretty much dooms you to forget much of what you read. He uses Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte to illustrate his inability to remember much more that the fact that he read it in high school, which prompted me to explore my memory about that book too. Here’s what I’ve got: I just could not get into it. I started and stopped over and over again until I finally powered through to about page 70 or so. Then I loved it. What do I remember about the plot? Well, I think there was a ghost, and there might have been something about graffiti carved into a bed? And the man cried a bit? How am I doing here?

My current reading strategy is to use sticky notes, lots of sticky notes, to mark interesting passages. Then when I get ready to blog, I quickly look back at my flagged sections and outline what I want to write about. I think maybe I could add a step – I have thought about removing my sticky flags (so I can share my books), and I can underline the flagged sentences, forcing me to re-read it one more time. Writing about it also helps me, but sometimes I look at posts from last year and don’t remember writing them. What you your strategies to help you retain what you read? What do you try to remember?

Wouldn't it be fun to read my copy of this book after I get finished with it?

2. I should probably resume a regular yoga practice.

Reading about the OK plateau made me think that I really should start doing yoga again because it changes your entire mindset. [New age mumbo jumbo alert - skip it if you need to.] Some of the poses are really hard, and once you master the movement, balance, etc., then there is still a lot of work to do – not only are there advanced versions of many poses, but you can also work on mastering your breath and focus in each pose (you know, instead of just standing on one leg, holding your breath, and praying fervently that you won’t fall down). Regular yoga practice helps you to translate that level of intention into your everyday life, where you do your best but challenge yourself to push the line a bit further every day. And some days it’s alright to just concentrate on each breath without feeling like a failure. I like to think that regular yoga practice probably helps a person avoid hitting an “OK plateau” in other things as well.

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By jamie, April 20, 2011 3:59 pm

When I go grocery shopping, I pretty much have to shop with a list. Let’s face it – I should probably write down what I need to get from the refrigerator before I open the thing, because otherwise I am pretty much guaranteed to stand there for a few minutes with a blank look on my face until Little Mama yells “Stop getting distracted Mommy! I want my agua juice!” or until I remember on my own why I am in the kitchen in the first place. Please tell me I am not alone here – Joshua Foer seems to find this to be normal, but it honestly worries the heck out of me sometimes.

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah – this book is the coolest one I have read in a long time. I read chapters 3-4 over the past few days and I almost don’t want to go too fast because it’s that good. I find myself wanting to stop random strangers in the street and tell them about it, or to at least show them my new trick – I can remember a list! It’s really neat. Mr. Foer learned the trick from a memory expert and, I admit, I was skeptical at first, but I CAN DO IT TOO! The assignment was to memorize this guy’s do-list for the day – he’s kind of freaky, so one of the FIFTEEN items was to find a skin-toned cat suit, but there was also normal stuff like buy elk sausage (well, normal for some I guess).

Anyway, it has a been a couple of days now and – wait for it – I still remember the entire list. I just tested myself to make sure. Basically, you have to build a “memory palace” out of someplace you once lived or have spent a lot of time at. Then you imagine you are walking though this place in your head, depositing the items as you go. You create as much detail as possible (sounds, smells, etc.) so that when you “walk through” it again, you can easily “find” the items where you put them. I put the cat suit in the bathroom, and when I “walked through my palace” to show off for Geek Boy I forgot to turn the bathroom light on and, consequently, it was the only item I failed to remember from the list. Isn’t that a neat trick? I’m not sure what the practical applications are, but I am so excited that it worked for me.

Here’s why I was afraid that I would be unable to do this:

1. The classical memory experts who originally came up with these techniques back in ancient times pointed out (as does Joshua and his memorizing colleagues) that it helps to have a dirty mind. Mine is as clean as can be. Evidently our brains are pretty adept at remembering (ahem) titillating details, so the more we can add them to our mental imagery the longer we are likely to remember them.

2. My sense of direction is a little bit pathetic. I once called my dad from the wrong county because I couldn’t find my way home. I had driven for an hour in the wrong direction before it occurred to me that I may be lost. More recently, when I take Little Mama to the potty in restaurants we frequent, I generally have to follow her lead because she knows where the bathroom is and I frankly have no idea. (She also announces the name of our street when we turn onto it, so I think she may not have inherited my geographical deficiency.) I was afraid that it would be impossible for me to have a proper memory palace without getting lost somehow and misplacing everything I was supposed to remember (I’m still a bit concerned about this).

The other chapter talks about memorizing poetry, and, while it was fascinating, the most fun part of today’s reading is still the part I have already shared with you. I will say that I have always been impressed with people who could remember things after only hearing them a time or two. In high school there was a guy named Walter who was a terrific actor. He also possessed what was, to me, an extraordinary gift for remembering stuff – he could see a movie one time and could practically recite the entire script from memory. Foer says that “Method acting” is all about linking each line to a particular intention and then pouring emotion into that intention, which aids in retention.

Oh, one more thing, which will not be surprising to most of you – it helps to sing things you want to remember (like the good old ABC’s – GB sings that song every time he has to alphabetize something – isn’t that adorable?) I think schools should use more songs, particularly given the seemingly infinite capacity I apparently have for memorizing song lyrics – really, I sometimes think that I have trouble remembering things because my brain is filled with song lyrics.

Speaking of the alphabet and memory, here is another version from They Might be Giants – see how fast you can learn it by singing along. You’re welcome.

So now I have one very important question: how do you clean out a memory palace to reuse it? I want to get the cat suit out of that particular childhood bathroom, and the smoke machine is making the living room pretty foggy.

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By jamie, April 9, 2011 10:22 pm

I put off getting my wisdom teeth pulled far longer than I should have. I was terrified. It seems I have very long roots and there was a risk of nerve damage (or worse) and also the teeth were impacted, which meant that they would have to be broken to be removed. Several dentists told me that only a specialist could do the job, and that I would likely require general anesthesia – this is what terrified me. When I could finally avoid it no longer, I talked them out of putting me under completely, and accepted a “drug cocktail” that I was told “would make me feel very comfortable and would make me forget any pain I endured during the surgery.” It’s true – I have amnesia about the surgery, which lasted over two hours. My only memories are of a blood pressure cuff attached to my arm which checked my BP at regular intervals. If I think back to that day I can feel the cuff inflating and deflating, but otherwise those two hours are lost to me.

I read through Chapter 4. There is no way I can cover even half of what I read, but I will try to share SOME of the most interesting parts. At one time anesthesiologists started to question whether the drugs they used actually put people to sleep or whether they just paralyzed patients and gave them amnesia. Remember the twilight sleep, where women were given amnesia drugs during childbirth? They felt the pain of labor but were happy to have forgotten it. The obvious ethical question is – does it matter? If you come through the surgery alright and you have no memory of any pain or discomfort, does it matter whether or not you felt any pain? My (I think obvious) answer is – yes! Of course it matters. I hope it didn’t hurt when they were breaking my wisdom teeth and digging them out – I would hate to think that I suffered at all, even if I don’t remember it either way.

Moving on – Michael Pollan has taught us a lot about the food industry, but I don’t think he told us about chicken sexing. Evidently it’s very hard to tell the difference between a boy and girl chicken until they are around 4-6 weeks of age. This used to be very costly for chicken farmers because they had to keep the boys alive for all that time until they were sure that they could be ground up and made into animal feed since boy chickens are not as useful (or tasty) as girl chickens. In the 1920s someone discovered that there IS a way to tell earlier – it’s a complicated process that involves years of study and a special technique for squeezing the one-day-old baby chick just enough so that its intestines are temporarily ejected. Long story short, chicken sexing experts say they have some sort of “intuition” that helps them know which are the useless boys, but really their memories have been trained to notice tiny patterns that the rest of us would not be able to see.

Experts in general are good at what they do because they have trained for years and years. Their brains respond to all of this training and allow them to remember things in their area of expertise far better than anyone else, even if they are only of average intelligence (which most of us are, obviously). I like the idea that we can actually train our brains. As I blog about more and more books, I try to find connections between what I am reading and what I have already read. Sometimes I have to search my archives for something I think I have written about, but I find that I am starting to find those connections in my head a little faster the longer (and more frequently) I blog. Sadly, sometimes I look at an old post and have very little memory of writing it – I hope this will change as I make more relevant connections between different books and subjects.

Here is a useful passage for those looking for tips to improve our brains:

Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend immemorably into the next–and disappear. That’s why it’s important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.

Thank goodness for books – not everyone can afford “exotic” vacations – I hope reading about them counts. As for creating new memories, I think this is great advice. My sister takes her little guy somewhere every weekend, even if it’s just the park. I look at her and I feel kind of inadequate as a parent, because I have not done the same with my daughter. Tonight there was a hot air balloon festival in town and her grandparents took her – I sat out because I have a cold and feel quite yucky – after reading this I kind of wish I had dragged myself there, congestion and all. I only saw her for a few minutes this morning because she woke me up to show me her curly hair – then I went right back to sleep. She had such a fun day that she was carried straight to bed when she came home.

Another tip – rehearsing our memories helps us keep them for longer. I have been thinking about this one lately in the context of photographs. I take a lot of photos of Little Mama, and I got her a scrapbook for her birthday (she turned three this week). My plan is to let her assemble the pages, maybe once a week or so, using photos I have taken, stickers, and colorful paper. I will write what she wants me to write until she can do it herself. I think this might be a nice way to help her “rehearse” her memories, having them in a book she has “written” herself. I’ll let you know how it goes.