When science writer Joshua Foer asks you to close your eyes and imagine a fleet of nude cyclists crashing through your front door, fear not.

Foer is revealing the tricks to enhancing your memory, attaching vivid images and outlandish storylines to the material you are trying to memorise to make it stick. And he should know. Assigned to cover the U.S. Memory Championships in 2005, he spent a year training his memory and wound up winning the first prize trophy instead. His ideas will make you consider memory in a whole new light. "Our lives are the sum of our memories. How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by... not paying attention?" he asks. "If you want to live a memorable life, you have to be the kind of person who remembers to remember."