Memory System Books?
March 18, 2011 10:10 AM Subscribe
This article has gotten me interested in learning a system that'll make it easier for me to remember things (for the purpose of acing tests and wowing my friends and the like). Does anyone have experience learning that sort of a system? How long did it take you to learn it, and how useful have you found it to be? Can you recommend books on the subject?
Yes, I would highly recommend taking this up. I am memorizing some information using the loci memory system right now - it's a list of sixty items, each associated with a number 1-30, so fairly challenging. It works by imagining a place you know well and locating an image that jogs your memory for each item. Then, you do a mental walk through the place and "look" at the images you placed there.
It takes some practice, but there is virtually zero learning curve, since the system uses a place you already know well. I have found it very useful, and am enjoying amazing my family with feats of memory.
I found Ken Higbee's book very hands-on and a good overview of the various memory techniques used today.
I am currently reading a more historical, scholarly (but very engaging) book, The Art of Memory, about the history of mnemonic techniques, if you want to learn more about this fascinating and ancient practice.
posted by Atrahasis at 11:25 AM on March 18, 2011
It takes some practice, but there is virtually zero learning curve, since the system uses a place you already know well. I have found it very useful, and am enjoying amazing my family with feats of memory.
I found Ken Higbee's book very hands-on and a good overview of the various memory techniques used today.
I am currently reading a more historical, scholarly (but very engaging) book, The Art of Memory, about the history of mnemonic techniques, if you want to learn more about this fascinating and ancient practice.
posted by Atrahasis at 11:25 AM on March 18, 2011
If you study Japanese, James Heisig's mnemonic method in his book Remembering the Kanji is somewhat similar. Using it, I learned to write and interpret 500 characters in about three months, and 1000 characters in 9 months. It's something of a tragedy that this isn't the default method used to instruct students of the language. Something similar could work for Chinese as well.
posted by Maximian at 11:39 AM on March 18, 2011
posted by Maximian at 11:39 AM on March 18, 2011
Mentat Wiki is a favorite of mine for reading about various memorization systems.
I've tried the "memory palace" technique myself (which is like the method of loci) with limited success. It takes a lot of effort to maintain it, really. So I'd rather leave it to a computer to do the routine maintenance work:
If you really want to wow people, try a computer-augmented memory system. This Wired article about a memorization algorithm is pretty crazy. If you're interested, but don't want to buy SuperMemo, Mnemosyne is a good free alternative. They're both based on the concept of Spaced Repetition. Sounds pretty futuristic, but really it's just a fancy way of reminding you what flash cards to study.
posted by MrFTBN at 11:52 AM on March 18, 2011
I've tried the "memory palace" technique myself (which is like the method of loci) with limited success. It takes a lot of effort to maintain it, really. So I'd rather leave it to a computer to do the routine maintenance work:
If you really want to wow people, try a computer-augmented memory system. This Wired article about a memorization algorithm is pretty crazy. If you're interested, but don't want to buy SuperMemo, Mnemosyne is a good free alternative. They're both based on the concept of Spaced Repetition. Sounds pretty futuristic, but really it's just a fancy way of reminding you what flash cards to study.
posted by MrFTBN at 11:52 AM on March 18, 2011
For a while as a kid, I used the ideas in Harry Lorayne's Page-a-Minute Memory Book to memorize 100-digit numbers during school chapel. That was over twenty years ago, now, though. There might be better ways.
posted by Estragon at 2:30 PM on March 18, 2011
posted by Estragon at 2:30 PM on March 18, 2011
http://www.pmemory.com/ is reputed to be the gold standard, as far as memory systems go. Note that it supposedly takes a solid 100 hours of intense study to get the system really running in your head, and many users apparently give up before completing the program.
posted by darth_tedious at 2:32 PM on March 18, 2011
posted by darth_tedious at 2:32 PM on March 18, 2011
The "memory palace" type thing seems to me to be an amazingly laborious way of telling yourself convoluted stories so that information that would normally take ten minutes to learn can be committed to memory in only an hour and a half.
Someone once used the example of walking through the dining room and seeing Dame Judi Dench eating toast and honey. It was a surreal story. What was the underlying information to be memorized? I have no idea.
In a pinch, the fastest way to learn vocabulary (for me) is flashcards in sets of ten, repeating until I can get all ten in both directions. It isn't that great for retrieval, but it is good for getting the info into my head in the first place (because if it isn't there, I can't retrieve it). But then I have been doing this since I was a teenager. It might not work as well if it's not burned into you.
When I'm trying to retain conceptual information, I map it out using a concept mapping tool such as Compendium or VUE. You can collate all your reference material this way, too, so it's very handy. It is however quite time-consuming, not because of the tools, but simply because understanding the concepts well enough to map them out takes time; I don't think you can get away from that. Is it time well spent? Definitely.
posted by tel3path at 5:02 PM on March 18, 2011
Someone once used the example of walking through the dining room and seeing Dame Judi Dench eating toast and honey. It was a surreal story. What was the underlying information to be memorized? I have no idea.
In a pinch, the fastest way to learn vocabulary (for me) is flashcards in sets of ten, repeating until I can get all ten in both directions. It isn't that great for retrieval, but it is good for getting the info into my head in the first place (because if it isn't there, I can't retrieve it). But then I have been doing this since I was a teenager. It might not work as well if it's not burned into you.
When I'm trying to retain conceptual information, I map it out using a concept mapping tool such as Compendium or VUE. You can collate all your reference material this way, too, so it's very handy. It is however quite time-consuming, not because of the tools, but simply because understanding the concepts well enough to map them out takes time; I don't think you can get away from that. Is it time well spent? Definitely.
posted by tel3path at 5:02 PM on March 18, 2011
The best memorization system is spaced repetition, which is repetition in irregular but increasing spaces of time. Anki, Mnemosyne and SuperMemo are programs for it, or you can learn the repetition spaces by yourself and use meatspace flashcards. 1 minute, 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, 3 days, 10 days, 20 days, 40 days, 80 days, and so on doubling each time works for me.
I've been a student of various techniques for this stuff for a long time, and I must say that it's a pretty awful way to impress anybody. It's better for learning gigantic amounts of vocabulary and such.
posted by curuinor at 9:39 PM on March 18, 2011
I've been a student of various techniques for this stuff for a long time, and I must say that it's a pretty awful way to impress anybody. It's better for learning gigantic amounts of vocabulary and such.
posted by curuinor at 9:39 PM on March 18, 2011
Your profile says you're in DC, and a search at the DC public library for "mnemonics" turns up 62 results, including Harry Lorayne's Page-a-Minute Memory Book mentioned by Estragon above.
Your library even has an interesting page about Harry Lorayne.
I had gotten another of Lorayne's books from my own library (Super memory - super student, which I don't see at your library) and I found it really helpful. For example, the techniques he teaches helped me memorize the Greek alphabet, which is something I'd been having a hard time with.
Since your library has such a wealth of options, I'd suggest heading down there and picking books off the shelf. Skim through them and see which ones look most promising. But I'd definitely pick up at least one Harry Lorayne for starters.
The one thing I will say is that combining the specific techniques (like the mnemonic number alphabet, or the peg system) with spaced repetition is going to be a lot more effective than using them alone. If you don't go back over the Greek alphabet, or the US presidents, or the state capitals, every so often, you'll probably still forget them. But once you've learned something, it hardly takes any time to review - you can run through the Greek alphabet in your head while waiting at a stop light.
posted by kristi at 12:10 PM on March 19, 2011
Your library even has an interesting page about Harry Lorayne.
I had gotten another of Lorayne's books from my own library (Super memory - super student, which I don't see at your library) and I found it really helpful. For example, the techniques he teaches helped me memorize the Greek alphabet, which is something I'd been having a hard time with.
Since your library has such a wealth of options, I'd suggest heading down there and picking books off the shelf. Skim through them and see which ones look most promising. But I'd definitely pick up at least one Harry Lorayne for starters.
The one thing I will say is that combining the specific techniques (like the mnemonic number alphabet, or the peg system) with spaced repetition is going to be a lot more effective than using them alone. If you don't go back over the Greek alphabet, or the US presidents, or the state capitals, every so often, you'll probably still forget them. But once you've learned something, it hardly takes any time to review - you can run through the Greek alphabet in your head while waiting at a stop light.
posted by kristi at 12:10 PM on March 19, 2011
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When I was in high school, I read at least one of the books on memory by Harry Lorayne. It's mostly a system of assigning images to things you want to remember. It's extremely effective: Once I started integrating it into my studies, I could remember anything. Once you learn the trick for remembering a sequential list of things (say, the periodic table, or all the state capitals), you will be able to do so within a very short amount of time. If you stop there though, you will eventually forget it, so you'd have to refresh it a couple of times. Of course, it works for non-sequential things too, so don't worry.
I think Harry Lorayne's material (or anything similar) would be indispensable for any discipline that required massive amounts of memorization - for example, med school. If you compare it to the method of just drilling it over and over, it wins hands down.
posted by sorrenn at 11:03 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]