THE MIND OF A MNEMONIST

This book was suggested by my friend Stephen for my January reading list. It came early via interlibrary loan so I read it today. Very quick read. Jonathan thought it was dry. I thought it was interesting. I think I personally know a mnemonist, which made reading this book fascinating.

The book is a study of a guy "S" who has a rather remarkable memory. It explains how he thinks (i.e., how he can memorize)and discusses his memory short comings and his personality.

In short, this book is really hard to comment on. S thought in terms of colors and sounds. He gave numbers personalities to remember number sequences. I am sure that all of us bear some of these traits. I've given numbers personalities for as long as I can remember. Example: 12-5= 7. In my head that reads: A snobby brat - the average person = the perfect gentlemen. Address numbers can be soap operas in my head! That's how I remember numbers....if I bother trying to remember anything at all!

When reading this book I decided that personality wise, S and I would never get along. He seemed to "righteously absentminded" to me and therefore I had a hard time liking him. In other words, he seemed rather boorishly proud of his talent and didn't seem to pay much attention to anyone else. I thought it was interesting to read about how he thinks, but I would never want to get to know him personally. The last chapter is all out S's personality and it pretty much confirmed my impression of him.

Anyway! For a quick and interesting read (like, 1 hour of your time!) I can highly recommend this book.