He’s not extraordinary. My two daughters and I have similar abilities. Many people do. I can read a book or magazine and parrot it back weeks or months later, even down to citing page numbers and paragraphs. I did this in Federal Court by citing from memory testimony from our opponent’s 85 page deposition about 4 hours after first reading it. I even told the opposing attorney what page their client’s information was on.
Don’t ask me how it works; I don’t know; I only know that it gives me an advantage, sometimes.
Also, it’s a problem. I cannot tell if something is mine or something I read years ago. I tried writing a novel about 20 years back, only to discover that what I put on paper was from a book I read in high school, 75 pages worth, word for word.
It did help in college, though. 4 engineering degrees over 8 years and I never got less than an “A”. Not hard if you can picture the textbook pages in front of you during exams.
God bless you...I would say it’s more rare then you imagine.
As I see it there are the IQ measurements which speak to cognitive ability moreso and there are there recall measurements which speak to the “photo memory”.
I have an IQ in excess of 140 depending upon the test and my mood, but I have terrible recall. My Short term is much worse then my long term .... depending on the topic and if my wife was involved.
I can read a book or magazine and parrot it back weeks or months later, even down to citing page numbers and paragraphs.
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I sure could have used such a memory. Too bad you can’t bottle it and sell it.