'I'll never forget what's-his-name'?

Number 9 Most of us have a special respect for people with super-memories. Ancient Chinese schoIars were often ranked and esteemed according to the number of idiographs they memorized. Talmudic scholars were respected for memorizing extensive passages of religious works. I have known people who seem to have a " photographic " memory, although scientists believe that no such thing exists. 1 When I was an undergraduate premedical student in Berkeley, I took a course in abnormal psychology. I attended all the lectures and studied religiously. My former wife was also a premed. She enrolled in the same course, but never attended a single lecture. She was too busy tutoring students in physics. The night before the final exam she raced through the textbook — just as they do in the speed-reading ads. Her incredible readhtg speed, coupled with a " photographic " memory, were more than sufficient. When the grades were posted, she had received the top grade in the class — an A. My B was about average. Scientists generally agree that memory and intelligence go together. It has been shown, for example, that people in the higher IQ levels usually have better short-term memories.2 But anomalies do exist. Many years ago, I saw Teddy Nadler, a postal clerk, win $64,000 on TV. He had a veritable encyclopedia of facts stored in his head. On the other hand, one hears about absentminded professors—brilliant people who are March 3,1980 always forgetting one thing or another. I have never met such a character, but Einstein himself once complained about his poor memory for rote learning. s In Jonathan Swift's Gulliveri Tra vets, students at the Lagado Academy used an unusual technique to remember mathematical formulas. The formulas were written on wafers in special ink. The students ate the wafers after fasting for a few days. As the wafers digested, the ink rose to the students' brains imprinting the formulas upon their minds. Presumably knowledge thus imparted was never forgotten.4 I wish memorizing were that easy. And I am not alone. Many of us wish our memories were better. A good memory is particularly useful in social situations. In fact, most people feel embarrassed when they fail to recognize the face of someone they've met before. Politicians use glib phrases that imply they remember. I have to meet a lot of people, so it is not surprising that I'm interested in …