Growing up in the days when you still had to punch buttons to make a telephone call, I could recall the numbers of all my close friends and family. Today, I'm not sure if I know more than four phone numbers by heart. And that's probably more than most. Joshua Foer buttoncallclose share on social
Evolution has programmed our brains to find two things particularly interesting, and therefore memorable: jokes and sex - and especially, it seems, jokes about sex. Joshua Foer brainevolutionfind Change image and share on social
Kissing could have begun as a way of sniffing out who's who. From a whiff to a kiss was just a short trip across the face. Joshua Foer beginfacekis Change image and share on social
What makes things memorable is that they are meaningful, significant, colorful. Joshua Foer colorfulmakemeaningful Change image and share on social
Since at least the Middle Ages, philosophers and philologists have dreamed of curing natural languages of their flaws by constructing entirely new idioms according to orderly, logical principles. Joshua Foer ageconstructcure Change image and share on social
I met with amnesiacs and savants, educators and scientists, to try to understand what memory is, why it works, why it sometimes doesn't, and what its potential might be. Joshua Foer amnesiaceducatormeet Change image and share on social
Once upon a time, this idea of having a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory was not nearly so alien as it would seem to us to be today. Joshua Foer aliencultivatediscipline Change image and share on social
All across Africa, the Pacific and the Americas, we find cultures that didn't know about mouth kissing until their first contact with European explorers. And the attraction was not always immediately apparent. Most considered the act of exchanging saliva revolting. Joshua Foer actafricaamerica share on social
Woodworking requires a completely different kind of thinking and problem-solving ability than writing. With writing, you take a set of facts and ideas, and you reason your way forward to a story that pulls them together. With woodworking, you start with an end product in mind, and reason your way backward to the raw wood. Joshua Foer abilitybackwardcompletely share on social
'Moonwalking with Einstein' refers to a memory device I used when I memorized a deck of playing cards at the U.S. Memory Championship. When I competed in 2006, I set a new U.S. record by memorizing a deck of cards in one minute and 40 seconds. That record has since fallen. Joshua Foer cardchampionshipcompete share on social