Once upon a time, this idea of having a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory was not nearly so alien as it would seem to us to be today.

Foer is pointing to a historical shift in how people value and train memory. In earlier eras—when books were scarcer, literacy less widespread, and oral recitation central to education—cultivating memory through deliberate techniques could be seen as a normal intellectual discipline rather than an eccentric hobby. The line suggests that modern reliance on external storage (print, digital search, devices) has made the notion of systematically training memory feel unfamiliar or unnecessary. Implicitly, it frames memory not as a fixed talent but as a skill shaped by culture and practice, and it invites readers to reconsider whether contemporary attitudes have led to an avoidable atrophy of an important human capacity.