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 FoerWhen we first hear [a] word, we start putting these associational hooks into it that make it easier to fish it back out at some later date.
Joshua FoerOne trick, known as the journey method or 'memory palace,' is to conjure up a familiar space in the mind's eye, and then populate it with images of whatever it is you want to remember.
Joshua FoerThe more we remember, the better we are at processing the world. And the better we are at processing the world, the more we can remember about it.
Joshua FoerOur lives are structured by our memories of events. Event X happened just before the big Paris vacation. I was doing Y in the first summer after I learned to drive. Z happened the weekend after I landed my first job. We remember events by positioning them in time relative to other events.
Joshua Foer