Joshua Foer Quotes

What distinguishes a great mnemonist, I learned, is the ability to create lavish images on the fly, to paint in the mind a scene so unlike any other it cannot be forgotten. And to do it quickly. Many competitive mnemonists argue that their skills are less a feat of memory than of creativity.

One 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.

Once I'd reached the point where I could squirrel away more than 30 digits a minute in memory palaces, I still only sporadically used the techniques to memorize the phone numbers of people I actually wanted to call. I found it was just too simple to punch them into my cell phone.

I prefer radio to television. Radio is a dialogue; television is a monologue. In radio, you have to interact - they put the words in your head; you build the pictures in your mind. To that extent, it is more engaging than television.

Siobhan said that when you are writing a book you have to include some descriptions of things. I said that I could take photographs and put them in the book. But she said the idea of a book was to describe things using words so that people could read them and make a picture in their own head.

Memory demands an image.

You are always drawing from your personal life and using your imagination to fill in the blanks.

I just love details; I love trying to make the reader smell what I was smelling at the time and see what I was seeing. Textures, too - all that kind of stuff is probably my strong suit as far as my writing goes, I would say.

A good song should give you a lot of images; you should be able to make your own little movie in your head to a good song.

I try to imagine the scenes as I'm writing them as if I were watching them play like a film.

It's an imaginative thing we do; it's about immersing oneself in one's imagination. If you're a novelist, you do it with pen and paper. We do it with our bodies.

Many memory techniques involve creating unforgettable imagery, in your mind's eye. That's an act of imagination. Creating really weird imagery really quickly was the most fun part of my training to compete in the U.S. Memory Competition.

There is a beauty of seeing a picture and making out what the story behind it might be.

I'm a very visual person when it comes to writing music. I like to see something besides just a script, even if it's just a storyboard or pictures from the set.

I write, having seen what's happening already in my head. I see it as a movie, and I'm just writing down what's happening in front of me.

When I read something, I picture that scene in that detail. That becomes very similar to composing a photo in real life.

I think visually... so, even when I'm writing a play, I'm envisioning it.

I let the images crowd my mind before I start writing a script.

I try to write cinematically. Let me define what I mean by that. First of all, I try to write in a visual way so that the reader can watch a movie in their head. And it keeps moving. I try to structure the stories like a screenplay may be structured.

When someone is on the phone telling me a story, I'm hearing the soundtrack that goes with it.

When you're trying to create imagery, you're trying to create a feeling or a mood.

Bringing words to life, storyboards show you things that words can't.

When you envision something in your head over and over again, it's like a movie placing you in that position, and once you are there you're ready.

I like to say, 'You get as much story as you can take.' But you have to effectively render it.

When you're writing something to direct, you just write exactly what you're going to do. You don't have to write it in a way for other people to understand or interpret.