Background
Foer was born in Washington, District of Columbia He is the son of Esther Foer, Director of Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, and Albert Foer, the president of the think-tank American Antitrust Institute.
Foer was born in Washington, District of Columbia He is the son of Esther Foer, Director of Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, and Albert Foer, the president of the think-tank American Antitrust Institute.
And attended Georgetown Day School. In 2004, he graduated from Yale University with a degree in evolutionary biology.
He spoke at the TED conference in February 2012. Foer sold his first book, Moonwalking with Einstein, to Penguin for publication in March 2011. He received a $1.2 million advance for the book
Film rights were optioned by Columbia Pictures shortly after publication.
Foer"s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, and The Nation. In 2007, the quarterly art & culture journal Cabinet began publishing Foer"s column "A Minor History Of".
The column "examines an overlooked cultural phenomenon using a timeline". Foer has organized several websites and organizations based on his interests.
He created the Athanasius Kircher Society, which had only one session, featuring Kim Peek and Joseph Kittinger.
He is also a co-organizer of Sukkah City.
He was the 2006 United States.A. Memory Champion, which was described in his 2011 book, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. In 2006, Foer won the United States.A. Memory Championship, and set a new United States of America record in the "speed cards" event by memorizing a deck of 52 cards in 1 minute and 40 seconds. Moonwalking with Einstein describes Foer"s journey as a participatory journalist to becoming a national champion mnemonist, under the tutelage of British Grand Master of Memory, Editor Cooke. He is the co-founder, along with Dylan Thuras, of the Atlas Obscura, an online compendium of "The World"s Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica". Josh is also a co-founder of Sefaria, a non-profit organization dedicated to building digital experiences and infrastructure for Jewish texts.
