Edward "Ed" Cooke (born 1982) is a British entrepreneur and author of ''Remember, Remember: Learn the Stuff You Thought You Never Could''. He is also a

Grand Master of Memory Grand Master of Memory (GMM) is a title previously awarded by the International Association of Memory to people who are able to successfully negotiate the following three memory feats: *Memorise 1,000 random digits in an hour *Memorise the order of ...

and the co-founder of

Memrise Memrise is a British language platform that uses spaced repetition of flashcards to increase the rate of learning. It is based in London, UK. Memrise offers user-generated content on a wide range of other subjects. The Memrise app has courses in ...

, a

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...

online educational platform that uses memory techniques to optimise learning. He grew up in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

Career

After graduating with a

first class degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 2004 and completing a master's degree in Cognitive Science at Paris Descartes University under the supervision of J. Kevin O'Regan in 2005, he started a career researching, writing about, and teaching memory techniques. At 23, he became a

. Cooke uses memory techniques popularized by the likes of

Tony Buzan Anthony Peter "Tony" Buzan (; 2 June 1942 – 13 April 2019) was an English author and educational consultant. Buzan popularised the idea of mental literacy, radiant thinking, and a technique called mind mapping, inspired by techniques used by ...

and

Dominic O'Brien Dominic O'Brien (10 August 1957) is a British mnemonist and an author of memory-related books. He is the eight time World Memory Champion and works as a trainer for Peak Performance Training. He began developing his mnemonic techniques in 1987 ...

, which involves turning raw data - packs of cards, series of numbers, US Presidents - into colourful imagery. His work has found popular application in education. To learn the electromagnetic spectrum, for instance, Cooke proposes transforming each stage (for example, the

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

) into an image (a microwave in the kitchen). He also features prominently in

Joshua Foer Joshua Foer (born September 23, 1982) is a freelance journalist and author living in Brookline, Massachusetts, with a primary focus on science. He was the 2006 USA Memory Champion, which was described in his 2011 book, '' Moonwalking with Ein ...

's ''

Moonwalking with Einstein ''Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything'' is a nonfiction book by Joshua Foer, first published in 2011. ''Moonwalking with Einstein'' debuted at no. 3 on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list and stayed on t ...

'', having acted as memory coach to Foer, who went on to become U.S. Memory Champion. He is co-founder of

, an online educational platform that uses memory techniques to optimise learning. Cooke's latest writings on memory, education and philosophy can be found on his blog and on Twitter. In May 2015, Cooke appeared in a BBC iWonder guide, Never forget: Can anyone improve a poor memory? presented by

Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American far-right and alt-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas, which the Genesis Communications Network broadcas ...

. He demonstrates the 'memory palace' technique in order to remember 18 random numbers in one minute. During 2020's worldwide

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

lockdown A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...

, Cooke and a group of collaborators co-founded The Co-Reality Collective to throw experimental online parties every two to three weeks. These drew hundreds of attendees, and spawned a new web-video platform called Sparkleverse, which was then selected as a host for 2020's online

Burning Man Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred ...

. In 2021, Cooke appeared on Channel 4 TV show Can I Improve my Memory as a memory coach.

Achievements in Memory Sports Contests

* 2003–10th at the

World Memory Championships The World Memory Championships is an organized competition of memory sports in which competitors memorize as much information as possible within a given period of time. The championship has taken place annually since 1991, with the exception of ...

Ed Cooke's performance record at the ''Memory Sports Statistics'' website
/ref> * 2004–3rd at the Austrian Open Memory Championship * 2004–11th at the

* 2005–11th at the

* 2006–8th at the

* 2007–Champion at the Cambridge Memory Championship * 2007–7th at the

* 2008–10th at the

Bibliography

* Remember, remember: learn the stuff you thought you never could. London: Viking, 2008,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Ed 1982 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford British writers British mnemonists Paris Descartes University alumni