An Amazing Memory Solomon Shereshevsky was a nineteen year old journalist, who worked for a Russian newspaper. Every day, while all his mates went to the meeting with the newspaper's editor carrying a

Carlos Suárez

An Amazing Memory Solomon Shereshevsky was a nineteen year old journalist, who worked for a Russian newspaper. Every day, while all his mates went to the meeting with the newspaper's editor carrying a notepad and a pen to take notes, he used to show up empty handed. Until the editor decided to give him a lesson. One day when the meeting was over, the editor read Shereshevsky the riot act; he asked him why he hadn't even taken any notes. Much to the editor surprise, the young journalist repeated word by word all what it had been said at the meeting. On realizing that Shereshevsky had such a prodigious memory, the editor referred him to a doctor, who studied him for more than thirty years. It was 1905 and there had never been a case like this. It turned out that he had a photographic memory, he was able to remember everything he saw or heard. When he realized that he had a special gift, he tried to take advantage of it. He left the newspaper and began to work in bars, showing the public what he was able to do with his memory. At first he was very successful, people used to walk out of the bars stunned. However, soon he began to go through some dificulties. He needed to be in complete silence to remember things; the slightest noise disturbed him and prevented him from concentrating properly. Soon he found out that his memory was a problem rather than a gift. For instance, he wasn't able to have a simple conversation since he remembered all the details, and this made him feel stressed. For the same reason, taking a simple decision was very difficult to him. So in the end he also quit the show business. The man who had been a bit of a celebrity ended his days working as an anonymous taxi driver.

Aug 2, 2015 6:22 PM

Corrections · 4

An Amazing Memory

Solomon Shereshevsky was a nineteen year old journalist, who worked for a Russian newspaper. Every day, while all his mates went to the meeting with the newspaper's editor carrying a notepad and a pen to take notes, he used to show up empty handed. Until the editor decided to teach give him a lesson. One day when the meeting was over, the editor read Shereshevsky the riot act; he asked him why he hadn't even taken any notes. Much to the editor's surprise, the young journalist repeated word by for word all that it had been said at the meeting. On realizing that Shereshevsky had such a prodigious memory, the editor referred him to a doctor, who studied him for more than thirty years. It was 1905 and there had never been a case like this. It turned out that he had a photographic memory, he was able to remember everything he saw or heard. When he realized that he had a special gift, he tried to take advantage of it. He left the newspaper and began to work in bars, showing the public what he was able to do with his memory. At first he was very successful, people used to walk out of the bars stunned. However, soon he began to experience go through some dificulties. He needed to be in complete silence to remember things; the slightest noise disturbed him and prevented him from concentrating properly. Soon he found out that his memory was a problem rather than a gift. For instance, he wasn't able to have a simple conversation since he remembered all the details, and this made him feel stressed. For the same reason, making a simple decision was very difficult to for him. So in the end he also quit the show business. The man who had been a bit of a celebrity ended his days working as an anonymous taxi driver.