Episode
Ep 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
1:14:46
Published: Tue Dec 30 2014
Description
Ed Cooke is a dear friend and a Grandmaster of Memory. In 2010, he was interviewed by a journalist named Joshua Foer. Under Ed's Yoda-like training, Joshua became the very next American Memory Champion in 2011. It took less than a year for Ed to transform a novice from unknown to world-class.But how?!? Aha... This interview explores Ed Cooke's brilliant techniques (many of which I use), strategies, and practical philosophies. To boot, he's also a wicked funny bastard! If you enjoyed the epic interviews with Kevin Kelly, Josh Waitzkin, or Maria Popova, you'll love Ed. He's one of a kind.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapters
This podcast episode features an advertisement for the "Five Bullet Friday" email newsletter created by the host of the podcast.
00:00 - 00:42 (00:42)
Summary
This podcast episode features an advertisement for the "Five Bullet Friday" email newsletter created by the host of the podcast.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
Tim Ferriss provides his contact information where he can be reached on Twitter and Facebook, and also gives subscription details for his free podcast available on iTunes with links to resources from every episode accessible at 4hourworkweek.com/podcast.
00:42 - 08:10 (07:27)
Summary
Tim Ferriss provides his contact information where he can be reached on Twitter and Facebook, and also gives subscription details for his free podcast available on iTunes with links to resources from every episode accessible at 4hourworkweek.com/podcast.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
In this episode, the evolution of memory techniques over the last 20 years is discussed, where people continuously try to improve their memory skills and share their techniques.
08:10 - 16:29 (08:19)
Summary
In this episode, the evolution of memory techniques over the last 20 years is discussed, where people continuously try to improve their memory skills and share their techniques. The host also mentions the various memory challenges that people come up with to test one's memory skills, making it an interesting yet arbitrary exercise.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
Memorise is a course that helps people make associations between things and build a vocabulary of ways to think about them so that they can become more memorable.
16:29 - 21:46 (05:17)
Summary
Memorise is a course that helps people make associations between things and build a vocabulary of ways to think about them so that they can become more memorable. One rule of thumb is that if something can grab your attention while walking down the street, it will also be memorable.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker recalls his experience of training with an endurance athlete named Lucas to improve his memory skills and compete in memory tournaments.
21:46 - 27:07 (05:20)
Summary
The speaker recalls his experience of training with an endurance athlete named Lucas to improve his memory skills and compete in memory tournaments. He also mentions a project with Channel 4 where they showcase how memory athletes train.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker lists seemingly unrelated objects and muses about the specific skills required to do certain tasks, leading into a description of a sequence of upcoming objects.
27:07 - 35:55 (08:47)
Summary
The speaker lists seemingly unrelated objects and muses about the specific skills required to do certain tasks, leading into a description of a sequence of upcoming objects.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The personal experiences that help people comprehend information gets suppressed, leading to boredom and lack of emotional engagement with the subject matter.
35:55 - 42:20 (06:25)
Summary
The personal experiences that help people comprehend information gets suppressed, leading to boredom and lack of emotional engagement with the subject matter. People need to allow themselves to experience information in a way that they find stimulating and interesting.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker provides advice for organizing a successful house party with different phases and music, as well as discussing how emotions can affect communication in relationships.
42:20 - 49:03 (06:43)
Summary
The speaker provides advice for organizing a successful house party with different phases and music, as well as discussing how emotions can affect communication in relationships.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The technique of spatial separation, such as imagining friends in different chairs, can deepen the richness of one's thoughts and perspectives and allow for multidimensional storytelling.
49:03 - 58:29 (09:26)
Summary
The technique of spatial separation, such as imagining friends in different chairs, can deepen the richness of one's thoughts and perspectives and allow for multidimensional storytelling. Despite this, many professions in the arts and creative fields are undervalued in today's society, where merit is often determined by commercial success.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
This podcast discusses Goethe's "Theory of Color" which delves into the phenomenology of color perception and how it influences our consciousness and relationships with nature.
58:29 - 1:04:17 (05:48)
Summary
This podcast discusses Goethe's "Theory of Color" which delves into the phenomenology of color perception and how it influences our consciousness and relationships with nature. It explores Goethe's deep aesthetic vision and study of plants and humans, which produced a set of perspectives that are fundamentally life-affirming.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The joy of learning comes from helping people feel like a genius, love the world they're learning about, or simply find pleasure in their consciousness and the richness of their learning experience, without the need to overthink or hesitate.
1:04:17 - 1:13:08 (08:50)
Summary
The joy of learning comes from helping people feel like a genius, love the world they're learning about, or simply find pleasure in their consciousness and the richness of their learning experience, without the need to overthink or hesitate.
EpisodeEp 52: Ed Cooke, Grandmaster of Memory, on Mental Performance, Imagination, and Productive Mischief
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The host discusses the importance of balancing intuition and rationality in decision making, especially in entrepreneurship, and how making quick reversible decisions can alleviate cognitive burden.
1:13:08 - 1:14:41 (01:33)
Summary
The host discusses the importance of balancing intuition and rationality in decision making, especially in entrepreneurship, and how making quick reversible decisions can alleviate cognitive burden.