What is it - to remember all their lives

Brad Williams, mnemonist, 56 years old:

"On any given day of the last 53 years, I can tell you where he was, that passed in the news and what it was the day of the week. And so four years. I have no technique, and I do not rely on mnemonics. To answer the question, what happened ten years ago, for me as easily as to remember what I had for breakfast.
As a child I did not understand that this unusual - to remember everything that happens in life. I thought all that they can. For the first time I connected the date and memories in his fourth birthday. And since then, if I wanted to remember what day it was or that event, I mentally imagined the calendar this year, and leafed through it in your mind. I had developed a child - to two years already knew how to read - but no programs for gifted children was not there, and I was a very ordinary school.

After university, I worked as a news presenter on the radio, and the absolute memory very useful to me when it came to interview and collect materials. And Trivial Pursuit (in the Russian version of the game "Happy case». - Esquire) I will be hard to beat.

Five years ago, my brother Eric learned that the University of California professor of neurobiology James McGough conducts research into the mechanisms of memory. After many tests, I was recognized as the first person in the world with high precision autobiographical memory syndrome - Hyperthymesia. Since then, with Hyperthymesia were discovered 20 people, but as they say, I work better "extraction system": I do better than others, it turns out to get it right from the archive.

But the feeling that the brain is full of information, I have not. I have learned to keep the information accurate. When I think of something sad, I'm doing the same as everyone else - try to escape. And I do not think that memory prevents me to do this or that I feel more acutely than others. I remember the day when there was the grandfather - 29 April 1968 - and the sadness that I felt on the eve of his death, when we come to him in the hospital. But I also remember the premiere of the musical "Hair" on Broadway was held on the same day, and these memories arise in my head at the same time. I can easily remember any ordinary day. Many people remember what they did on September 11, but for me every day - 11 September. 23 years ago my brother and I were driving in the car and word game, I still remember them: fish, watermelon, tooth drum ... Call me any date, say, 26 December 1962, and I will tell what happened that day . We were at my grandfather's farm, and I still feel the cold tile floor and legs remember the smell of burning wood in the stove. Now I even have their own radio transmission called "Who's Brad" during which listeners can call and ask me about any day.

Ever since people learned about my ability, they often ask, what happened on the day of their birth. Sometimes he does not particularly stands out, and I'm telling you all sorts of interesting facts about the previous or next day.

Sometimes, people get annoyed. They think I'm too noshus with his memory. I try not to engage in debate, because there are always going to have rights, but it does not add popularity. And when people are mistaken in the facts, I'm in no hurry to correct them. Not that I know everything. I unbeatable when it comes to the facts that have a direct relation to me, or the events that I learned of the news. But I'm pretty easy to catch, if you ask about something that does not interest me.

Now, when I was declared the man with the abilities I worry that memory has become is not what it used to be. Maybe it's age. Or maybe I just spilled? It's a shame to turn from Mr. Google in a person who does not remember anything.

Despite the amazing memory I often lose my keys. To find them, I can not, but, unlike the others, I can not remember exactly what day it happened. "