Title How to Develop a Brilliant Memory Week by Week
Author Domonic O'Brien
Year Published 2005
Kind of Book Memory/Learning
How strongly I recommend it 6/10
My Impressions I thought this was a decent memory book. I really like the Dominic system for memorizing numbers and dates and so I appreciated the chapters that delt with that, however, I was a little underwhelmed with the rest of the book.
Date Read September 2022
Practical Takeaways
(to practice making markers)
take an object in your house and observe it for 20 seconds
Close your eyes and try to see the object in as much detail ass possible
Try to add different things to that image (eg. Make it a different color, change the shape, texture etc.)
(Link method) allow your mind to freely fabricate links. Don't force them, whatever pops into your head first
(Memory Palace) Make a mental note of the halfway stage of your route. *or put some kind of image there to mark it
(Memory Palace) don't start placing markers in your memory palace until you know the route forwards and backwards in your mind
Before you start training your memory make sure you are physically relaxed and seated comfortably in a quiet room
When recalling information you have memorized try closing your eyes
Take a little time every day to train your memory by memorizing small things that come up during the day (eg. A person's name, a number, a shopping list, a list of words)
Perform some form of exercise for about 20 minutes a day
Eating plenty of Vitamin A, C, and E
Take Ginko Biloba supplement
(Remembering Names) Imagine where you might expect to find the person you're meeting and place them there
(Remembering Names) if the person you are meeting has especially striking facial features, associate their name directly to that facial future. (eg. Bob has a giant nose…imagine someone bobbing for apples in his giant nostril)
(Remembering Names) for complicated last names, break them down into syllables and turn each syllable into an image
(Remembering correct spelling) use the correct spelling of the word to create a marker. Eg. Separate = see a para-trooper serparating Se and Te.
(Foreign Language Vocab) Create an image by finding a common link between the sound of a foreign word and its meaning in your own language
(How to Remember your Past) Spend 5-10 mins a day trying to remember a specific place and time from your past.
1)Recall people connected with the place in your past (their voices, their laugh etc.)
2)Recall all of the senses associated with the place sounds, smells, touch, tastes
3)Recall your emotional state at the specific time in your life
(Remembering Jokes) Summarize the jokes by translating it into a visual image
(Remembering Jokes) Consciously build a repertoire of jokes you like and rehearse them from time to time
(Remembering Jokes) Tell 5 different people the joke you just heard
(Remembering Quotes) associate the quote with an image. Associate the Image with the person who said it
(Remembering a Speech) Make a memory palace. Create a marker for each idea in the speech.
(Spaced repitition for anything you want to remember)
1)First Review -Immediately after you learn it
2)Second Review- 24 hours later
3)Third Review- One Week later
4)Fourth Review- One month later
5)Fifth Review - Three Months later
(Remembering Dates)
Let the description of the event trigger an image
Use the last to digits of the year to get a person (eg. 1945=45=Homer Simpson)
Combine the image with the person.
Eg. 1945=Hiroshima
Imagine a plane dropping the hydrogen bomb
45=Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson is the pilot of the plane dropping the hydrogen bomb
(Roman Room) Decide on a uniform direction around each room or area (eg. Always clockwise)
Practice memorizing License plate numbers when you are out and about
Big Ideas
3 steps of memory
Make it memorable
Store is somewhere
Recall it
The more you practice making makers in your minds eye, the stronger your inner eye will get