THE GUIDE TO BETTER MEMORY

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©2013 for this edition Guide Media, LLC Las Vegas, NV Printed in the United States of America

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 5 INTRODUCTION 7 PEG SYSTEM 9 LOCATION BASED MEMORY 13 NUMBER ALPHABET 23 NUMBER NAMES 29 PLAYING CARDS 41 DAY OF THE WEEK 45 PRACTICE 49

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PREFACE

Tests in college were always difficult for me. I could do essay tests without a problem, because expressing myself was second nature. Multiple choice, fill in the blank, and other tests that required rote memorization, however, were daunting. No matter how hard I studied, it seemed that I could not remember everything.

A friend of mine clearly had it easier. He spent less time studying than I did and always seemed to score higher on tests. I assumed he was more intelligent than I was, until he finally shared his secret with me. He had learned some memory techniques in high school that helped make school a breeze. This piqued my curiosity and I started to research mnemonics and the art of memorization.

By studying smarter, not harder, I was able to improve my memory, do better on tests, and gain valuable time. After the initial investment to learn the system, I saved countless hours. Not only did I do better in my classes, but I had more time to spend with my friends and family. I had more time to enjoy my life. And I had more confidence as I faced my tests.

What I will share with you is a series of proven techniques that are going to improve your memory. You may put some of them to use as soon as you learn them. Others will take significant work to fully utilize. As with anything, you will get out of it what you put into it.

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INTRODUCTION

There is a very dedicated subculture of individuals who use memory skills for more than just passing a test or remembering a grocery list. They view memory as a sport and often engage in memory competitions. Their “Olympics” is called the World Memory Championship. This competition has been held annually since 1991.

They compete in events such as trying to remember as many numbers as possible in five minutes. They try to remember endless lists of random words and images. And they try to remember randomly shuffled decks of cards as fast as possible. The world record for memorizing a deck of cards is just over twenty-one seconds.

These challenges seem impossible to most of us, but we can watch these trained competitors do it. To outsiders, they seem to have super human mental powers, but none of them have paranormal power. They may seem like savants, but no special mental powers are necessary.

In fact, with a few powerful secrets and enough practice, almost anyone could join the ranks of elite memory champions. They use powerful memory tricks and techniques that unlock the mind’s awesome potential and allow them to remember nearly limitless amounts of information. We have all used mnemonic devices such as this in school to remember simple things, but the champions take it to a new level.

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Mnemonics are simply techniques for translating information into patterns of letters, ideas or associations that are more easily remembered. Our minds prefer order and patterns. Consequently, it is much easier for us to remember patterned information. We all learned some very basic forms of this in school.

To remember the planets in the solar system in the correct order, children are taught the phrase, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos.” The first letter of each word represents a planet: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. (This may be different from the one you learned as a child, because the powers that be have since removed Pluto from the list of planets.)

The names and order of planets is likely to seem random to most people, but a strange phrase about a mother serving nachos is more likely to be remembered. The goal here, as with all mnemonics, is to add order, strange as it may seem, to a set of inherently unmemorable information. This type of memory technique, which you probably learned as a child, is simple and effective. Most importantly, this is just the beginning. This book will teach you how to harness advanced mnemonic devices to unlock your own amazing memory potential.

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PEG SYSTEM

The peg system is one of the most straightforward and useful memory tools. It was developed in the mid seventeenth century by Henry Herdson and has been in use every since. Unlike some of the more advanced methods we will discuss later in this book, this method may be put to use almost instantly.

Another advantage to this system is that memorized items may be recalled in any order, without going through the entire list. If you are going to learn only one memory technique, this should be it. Some of the other systems we discuss are more elaborate versions of this basic concept.

The peg system works by pre-memorizing a list that is easily associated with the corresponding numbers. These words become “pegs” and may later be used to rapidly memorize a list of arbitrary items by associating each of the items with a peg. Once you have learned this list of pegs once, you may reuse it as many times as necessary.

You are going to start with the list of peg items and then visually associate them with the new items you wish to remember. By way of example imagine you need to remember a list of groceries. Take a look at the peg list below, that you will have pre-memorized and the list of groceries, that is brand new.

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Peg List Grocery List 1 = Gun 1 = Eggs 2 = Zoo 2 = Pasta 3 = Tree 3 = Bread 4 = Door 4 = Apples 5 = Hive 5 = Flour 6 = Brick 6 = Ketchup 7 = Heaven 7 = Cereal 8 = Plate 8 = Rice 9 = Wine 9 = Bananas 10 = Hen 10 = Sugar

In order to remember this list of groceries you will create vivid mental associations. The more extreme the visual association is, the easier it will be to remember. For example, for number one you need to remember eggs with the peg word of gun. You might imagine someone shooting an egg, but if you really want to make it stick in your mind, you could visualize someone with a machine gun shooting up an entire case of eggs and yolk flying everywhere until the room is covered in it. I guarantee you will remember that visual.

For number two you need to remember pasta with the peg word of zoo. You might imagine the zoo animals feasting on pasta. Or, to make it really stand out, you could visualize the orangutans having a food fight with mountains of pasta in their cages. For number three you need to remember bread with the peg word of tree. You might think of a bread tree.

You get the idea. Its simplicity is what makes it so effective. By remembering a basic list and taking a few seconds to create a visual association, you will be able to remember practically anything. The key to this is that you are easily remembering the list so do not feel the need to use the one listed above. There are countless options. Below you will find an alterative peg list that uses rhyming and one based on the shapes of the letters.

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Rhyming Shapes 1 = Bun 1 = Candle 2 = Shoe 2 = Swan 3 = Bee 3 = Camel 4 = Core 4 = Chair 5 = Knife 5 = Hook 6 = Stick 6 = Cherry 7 = Oven 7 = Cliff 8 = Gate 8 = Hourglass 9 = Vine 9 = Balloon 10 = Pen 10 = Baseball/bat

You may also use the peg system with lists of more than ten. It is easy to memorize a series of pegs of a hundred or more. Another option is to use letters instead of numbers. Below are two possible peg lists using letters. One uses rhyming and the other uses the first letter. Rhyming First Letter A = Bay A = Alfa B = Bee B = Bravo C = Sea C = Charlie D = Deep D = Delta E = Eve E = Echo F = Effect F = Foxtrot G = Geology G = Golf H = Age H = Hotel I = Eye I = India J = Jay J = Julie K = Key K = Kilo L = Elm L = Lima M = Empty M = Mike N = End N = November O = Open O = Oscar P = Pea P = Papa

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Q = Cue Q = Quebec R = Art R = Romeo S = Essay S = Sierra T = Tea T = Tango U = You U = Uniform V = Veer V = Victor W = Double you W = Whiskey X = Exit X = Xray Y = Why Y = Yankee Z = Zebra Z = Zulu

Here is another peg system that consists of thirty items and comes from England. Use whichever parts make the most sense for you or mix and match to create your own. 1 = Gun 16 = Sweet 16 2 = Shoe 17 = Unseen 3 = Flea 18 = Baiting 4 = Saw 19 = Pining 5 = Hive 20 = Sentry 6 = Trick 21 = In the sun 7 = Heaven 22 = Painted blue 8 = Gate 23 = Out at sea 9 = Out of line 24 = On the shore 10 = Pen 25 = Buried alive 11 = Comes from Devon 26 = On sticks 12 = Shelf 27 = Go to Devon 13 = Skirting 28 = Arrives late 14 = Courting 29 = On the line 15 = Lifting 30 = Dirty

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LOCATION BASED MEMORY

Using locations and spatial memory in order to remember things has a long history. Ancient Greek and Roman scholars wrote extensively on the method of loci. This is the mnemonic technique of remembering things by associating them with physical locations. This memory technique works especially well for people who are more spatially oriented.

Many competitors in the World Memory Championship make extensive use of this technique. Eight-time champion Dominic O’Brien is a big proponent and refers to it as the journey method. Clemens Mayer, the 2006 winner, used this method to memorize 1040 random digits in a half-hour. It has been used to memorize more than sixty-five thousand digits of pi. If so many of the memory experts use this technique, it is definitely worth the time to learn.

This system works by memorizing the layout of a building, the location of buildings on a street, or any sort of geographic or spatial location. Once you have these locations set in your memory, you will mentally walk through the location and relate different words, numbers, items or concepts with each of the places.

For example, you may memorize a shopping list using the layout of your house. The first thing you would do is memorize a specific way of walking through your house. Once you have this committed to memory, you may reuse it for a variety of things. For the purpose of this example, we will use the following lists.

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Locations Groceries Entrance Bread Bathroom Milk Laundry room Eggs Kitchen Pasta Dining room Cereal Living room Apples Family room Carrots

You will imagine that you are walking from the entrance to the bathroom to the laundry room, to the kitchen, to the dining room, to the living room and finally to the family room. You will now associate each of the grocery items with a specific room. For the first one, you could simply imagine a loaf of bread in the entrance, but the more vivid you make the image, the easier it will be to remember. So a better connection would be to imagine

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a loaf of bread so large that you cannot get out the front door. It is taking up most of the room. Next you will associate milk with the bathroom. One way to do this would be to imagine a bathtub full of milk. You want to associate eggs with the laundry room so you could imagine a giant chicken sitting on your washing machine or dryer.

You would go through your list and create an association for each of the locations until you have completed the entire list. There are no right answers for this. You may create any association you want as long as you are able to remember it. You might think about the furniture you have in a specific room and how it can relate to what you are trying to remember.

Another way of going about this is to take a specific room and make a mental note of where all the furniture, pictures or other objects are. Once you have memorized this mental image, you may associate those items with the list you wish to memorize. You could start at the door and work your way around the room, or go in any other order that makes sense to you.

The goal is to make the process as easy as possible, so it is best to use locations that you already have memorized. If it means something to you, it will be much easier to remember. We have included a few possible location based templates that might work for you. These are well known locations and you may already have some of them memorized. Feel free to personalize them.

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Most children have played Clue®. If you played this game and can readily remember the locations and order of the rooms, this might be a good layout for you. You may associate different things with each of the rooms as you take a mental journey around the board. Also, if you can remember one of the weapons and people for each of the rooms, you will have three levels with which to remember.

The Clue® game and all artwork is owned by Hasbro Inc.

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Everyone is familiar with Monopoly®. If you have played this game enough that you can remember the order of the various properties on the board, this will work as a great forty-point memory tool. By associating an item with each stop on the board, you will be able to remember large quantities of information. If this is too much, you may also narrow it down to groups of properties.

The Monopoly® game and all artwork is owned by Hasbro Inc.

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If there is a subway system in your city and you are familiar with it, the stops on various lines make a wonderful memory tool. All you have to do is associate an item with each stop. Other options could include bus stops, freeway exits, or any other linear system of locations that you can easily remember.

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If you are a fan of Las Vegas, the strip offers another convenient memory tool. By remembering where the various casinos are located on the strip, you may take a mental journey and associate something with each one of them. Because they each have their own theme, it should be very easy to associate things that really burn them into your memory.

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If you are familiar with a particular theme park, you may use the layout as a memory tool. By remembering where various rides, attractions or buildings are, you may easily associate them with a list you are trying to remember. This could be really easy, because of the very vivid themes of the various buildings and attractions.

The Magic Kingdom® artwork is owned

by The Walk Disney Company.

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If you subscribe to astrology and are familiar with the signs of the Zodiac, even though they are not technically locations, they could also be used as a memory tool. Start with your sign and work your way around the year. You may associate something with each of the signs. If you are familiar with the personality traits that each sign denotes, this should be very easy to do.

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NUMBER ALPHABET

Remembering numbers is usually more difficult than remembering other things, because numbers are abstract and have no emotional or contextual meaning for most people. Consequently, it is difficult to relate the numbers to anything memorable.

One solution is the number alphabet. This system has been around for several hundred years and allows you to translate each number into a consonant sound. By adding vowels you will create words. Once you have words, you can string them together to form phrases or sentences. The theory behind this is that words and sentences have meanings that make them far easier to remember than numbers.

Please note that these associations are phonetic. It is not the spelling, but the sound that we care about, because it is far more efficient to think of the sounds as you are encoding and decoding the words, than it is to think of the spelling.

Below is a list of the consonants associated with each number as well as a justification for the association and how you may remember them. With a little effort you will be able to remember which sounds represent which numbers and with some practice you will be able to quickly convert numbers into strings of words that will be easy to remember.

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0 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet s, z and soft c /s/ and /z/ Z is the first letter of zero. The other letters have a similar sound.

1 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet t and d /t/ and /d/ T and D have one down stroke and similar sounds. The th may also be used.

2 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet n /n/ N has two down strokes.

3 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet m /m/ M has three down strokes and looks like a 3 on its side.

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4 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet r /r/ R is the last letter of four; also 4 and R are almost mirror images of each other.

5 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet l /l/ L is the Roman Numeral for 50.

6 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet she, vision, chew and gee /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ G is almost a 6 rotated. The other sounds are similar.

7 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet k, hard c, hard g, /k/ and /g/ hard “ch,” q and qu Capital K contains two 7s. The ng sounds can also be included.

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8 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet f and v /f/ and /v/ Script F resembles a figure eight. V sounds similar.

9 Associated consonants International Phonetic Alphabet p and b /p/ and /b/ P is a mirror image of 9. The lower case b sounds similar and resembles a 9 rolled over.

UNASSIGNED Associated consonants w, h, y and x These vowels may be used anywhere without changing a word’s number value.

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Now that you know the consonants that correspond with each number, let’s try an actual example. The first eight digits of pi are 3.1415927. They seem fairly abstract to the non-mathematician. It is hard to visualize or remember this series of numbers. However, if we convert it into phonetic sounds and then make words out of it, it becomes much easier. Another way of seeing this series of numbers could be MeTeoR (314) TaiL (15) PiNK (927). Meteor tail pink is obviously much easier to remember than 3.1415927.

This memory system takes practice to get up to speed, but once you proficient in it, you will be amazed at how easily you can remember a series of numbers, no matter how long.

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NUMBER NAMES

Unlike the number alphabet, which is hundreds of years old, the number name system is relatively new. The British memory expert, Dominic O’Brien, created it. He used this system in 2002 to break a Guinness record for memory. He memorized 54 randomly shuffled decks of cards, 2,808 playing cards, after looking at each card just once. He only made eight errors, four of which he immediately corrected.

His system, often called the Dominic System, is a variation of the number alphabet. Instead of changing numbers into phonetic sounds, you will convert them into letters. The conversion key is listed below.

Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Mnemonic A B C D E S G H N O

Instead of working with the numbers one at a time, you will convert them in pairs. So 3.1415927 would be 31, 41, 59 & 27 and would be converted into CA, DA, EN & BG. These pairs of letters do not have much more meaning than pairs of numbers and will not be any easier to remember unless you associate them with something that will stand out in your mind.

In order to make them memorable, you are going to use these letters as initials for people’s first and last names. For example, CA could be Captain America, DA could be Douglas Adams, EN could be Edward Norton, and BG could be Bill Gates. Now

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instead of remembering eight seemingly random numbers or letters, you are remembering four people.

The problem with just having people is that it is hard to build sentences. You could remember Captain America, Douglas Adams, Edward Norton and Bill Gates walking down the street, but it would be easier to remember if you could build these names into a narrative.

In order to accomplish this you are going to come up with a unique action that you associate with each person. For example, you might imagine Captain America holding a shield. You could imagine Douglas Adams writing a comedy. Edward Norton would be acting. And Bill Gates would be programming a computer.

The number 3.1415927 could therefore be remembered as Captain America writing a book while Edward Norton was programming a computer. These subjects and actions are certainly much easier to remember and by putting together a series of stories with them, you can easily lock them into your mind.

Of all the memory techniques we have discussed, this one certainly requires the most up-front investment. You will need to create and memorize a list of one hundred person-action pairs memorable to you. They can be people you actually know or celebrities or even be fictional characters. The only thing that matters is that you remember them.

Mnemonic association is more important than any sort of rules or pattern. If 07 reminds you of James Bond, then use that. If 07 reminds you of OG, which makes you think of Oscar the Grouch, then use that. You are the only person this has to make sense to. The more personal the association, the better. This is why, unlike other mnemonic lists, it is not a good idea to just take someone else’s preexisting list and memorize it. It will be far more worthwhile if you create it yourself.

Below we have included a sample list. Feel free to use this as a starting point. If some of the people and actions listed make sense to you, use them in your own list. If, however, you do not

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know who a particular person is or another person or action comes to mind, replace it. This is just a general list to get you started on your own journey toward super memory.

00 OO Ozzy Osborne Biting head off dove 01 OA Orphan Annie Singing about tomorrow 02 OB Obie wan Knobi Swinging a light saber 03 OC Oliver Cromwell Leading troops 04 OD Oscar De La Hoya Boxing 05 OE Omar Epps Rapping 06 OS OJ Simpson Killing his wife 07 OG Oscar the Grouch Eating a cookie 08 OH Oliver Hardy Being in the desert 09 ON Oliver North Testifying before congress 10 AO Annie Oakley

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Shooting a gun 11 AA Ansel Adams Taking a picture 12 AB Alexander Bell Inventing the telephone 13 AC Al Capone Killing someone 14 AD Andy Dick Being eccentric 15 AE Albert Einstein Writing on a blackboard 16 AS Arnold Schwarzenegger Driving a Hummer 17 AG Al Gore Inventing the Internet 18 AH Alfred Hitchcock Fighting the birds 19 AN Aaron Neville Being romantic 20 BO Barack Obama Passing healthcare 21 BA Buzz Aldrin Flying through space 22 BB Bilbo Baggins

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Puffing a pipe 23 BC Bill Clinton Denying an affair 24 BD Bob Dylan Being counter-culture 25 BE Billy Elliot Being in a musical 26 BS Bart Simpson Riding a skateboard 27 BG Bill Gates Programming 28 BH Bob Hope Visiting the troups 29 BN Bob Newheart Waking up from a dream 30 CO Conan O’Brien Losing his show 31 CA Captain America Holding a shield 32 CB Christy Brinkley Being a model 33 CC Charlie Chaplin Being blacklisted 34 CD Charles Dickens

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Writing a Christmas Carol 35 CE Carmen Electra Posing in Playboy 36 CS Carl Sagan Writing about space 37 CG Cary Grant Being famous 38 CH Charlton Heston Parting the Red Sea 39 CN Chuck Norris Doing a roundhouse kick 40 DO Donnie Osmond Singing in a duet 41 DA Douglas Adams Writing a comedy 42 DB Daniel Boone Fighting at the Alamo 43 DC David Copperfield Making Statue of Liberty disappear 44 DD Donald Duck Stuttering 45 DE Dale Earnhardt Racing a car 46 DS David Spade

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Being on Saturday Night Live 47 DG Danny Glover Diffusing a bomb 48 DH Dustin Hoffman Discovering plastics 49 DN Dave Navarro Being addicted to Jane 50 EO Ed O’Neill Being married with children 51 EA Ethan Alan Building furniture 52 EB Eddie Bauer Making clothes 53 EC Eric Clapton Playing guitar 54 ED Ellen DeGeneres Doing stand-up comedy 55 EE Erik Estrada Riding a motorcycle 56 ES Ed Sullivan Hosting a TV show 57 EG Earl Grey Making tea 58 EH Ernest Hemmingway

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Rowing a boat 59 EN Edward Norton Acting 60 SO Shaquille O’Neal Dunking a basketball 61 SA Samuel Adams Drinking beer 62 SB Sandra Bullock Driving a bus 63 SC Santa Clause Delivering presents 64 SD Scooby Doo Finding a ghost 65 SE Sam Elliot Wearing a moustache 66 SS SpongeBob SquarePants Living under the sea 67 SG Seth Green Being a child star 68 SH Sherlock Holmes Solving a crime 69 SN Sam Neill Running from dinosaurs 70 GO George Orwell

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Creating a hoax 71 GA Gillian Anderson Discovering the paranomar 72 GB George Bush Starting a war 73 GC George Costanza Being a side kick 74 GD Geena Davis Shooting an arrow 75 GE Gloria Estefan Singing in Spanish 76 GS Gene Simmons Doing aerobics 77 GG Gilbert Gottfried Making an annoying voice 78 GH George Harrison Playing with the Beatles 79 GN Greg Norman Playing golf 80 HO Haley Joel Osment Seeing dead people 81 HA Hank Aaron Playing baseball 82 HB Halle Barry

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Putting on makeup 83 HC Hank Aaron Hitting a home run 84 HD Humpty Dumpty Sitting on a wall 85 HE He-man Fighting Skeletor 86 HS Han Solo Shooting his blaster 87 HG H.G. Wells Traveling through time 88 HH Harry Houdini Escaping from a straight jacket 89 HN Homer Simpson Eating a donut 90 NO Dr. No Being evil 91 NA Neil Armstrong Walking on the moon 92 NB Napoleon Boneparte Conquering Europe 93 NC Nicholas Cage Acting like Elvis 94 ND Neil Diamond

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Writing a song 95 NE Nora Ephron Writing a comedy 96 NS Neil Simon Writing a play 97 NG Newt Gingrich Passing a law 98 NH Neil Patrick Harris Doing a card trick 99 NN Nick Nolte Being arrested

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PLAYING CARDS

Memorizing a deck of cards is not especially useful when studying for a test, but being able to quickly memorize the order of every card in a shuffled deck of cards is sure to make you the center of attention at a party and likely to make people think twice before inviting you to the weekly poker game.

Learning to memorize a deck of cards uses the skills we have just discussed, but is slightly different. You will need to memorize fifty-three people, one for each card in the deck. You will also need to memorize fifty-four locations, one for each position in the deck. If you number the cards, you may use the same list of names you used for the digits of 00-99 in the last section.

For most, however, it will be easier to create a separate list for memorizing cards. Because there are thirteen cards in each suit and they are not generally numbered 1-52, it is a little awkward to apply a numbered list of names. It is far easier to simply associate personalized names with each card within each suit.

I generally make the red suits, hearts and diamonds, female, and the black suits, clubs and spades, male. Below you will find a list of various celebrities associated with each card. This is just one version of the list. If any of these make sense to you, then feel free to use it. Otherwise, take the time and come up with your own.

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Card Person Rationale Joker Robin Williams Famous comedian ♠A Arnold Schwarzenegger Initials are AS ♠2 Prince Harry Known for a brother ♠3 John Muir Three sounds like tree ♠4 Tim Allen Four = door = tools ♠5 Adolf Hitler Five sounds like knife ♠6 Harry Houdini Six sounds like trick ♠7 James Bond Known as 007 ♠8 Jamie Oliver Eight sounds like eat ♠9 Mel Gibson Nine = wine = alcoholic ♠10 Fabio Perfect ten ♠J Jack Nicholson Given name is Jack ♠Q Elton John Often referred to as a queen ♠K Elvis Presley Known as the King ♣A Alvin and the Chipmunks Initials AC ♣2 Prince William Known for a brother ♣3 Ansel Adams Four Baldwin brothers ♣4 Bob Vila Four sounds like door ♣5 Joseph Stalin Five sounds like knife ♣6 David Copperfield Six sounds like trick ♣7 Sean Connery Played 007 ♣8 Gordon Ramsey Eight sounds like eat ♣9 Charlie Sheen Nine = wine = alcoholic ♣10 Brad Pitt Perfect ten ♣J Jack Sparrow Known as Captain Jack ♣Q Freddie Mercury Lead Singer in Queen ♣K Michael Jackson Infatuated with Elvis

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Card Person Rationale ♥A Anne Hathaway Initials are AH ♥2 Mary-Kate Olsen A twin ♥3 Jane Goodall Three sounds like tree ♥4 Doris Day Four = door = Doris ♥5 Lorena Bobbitt Five sounds like knife ♥6 Cindy Crawford Perfect ten ♥7 Jane Seymore A Bond girl ♥8 Rachel Ray Eight sounds like eat ♥9 Lindsey Lohan Nine = wine = alcoholic ♥10 Hermione Granger Six = trick = magic ♥J Jill Hennessy Jill instead of Jack ♥Q Princess Diana The queen in waiting ♥K Carole King Surname is King ♦A Angela Davis Initials AD ♦2 Ashley Olsen A twin ♦3 Ingrid Newkirk Three sounds like tree ♦4 Doris Roberts Four = door = Doris ♦5 Glenn Close Five = knife = Scary movie ♦6 J. K. Rowling Six sounds like trick ♦7 Halle Berry A Bond girl ♦8 Paula Deen Eight sounds like eat ♦9 Betty Ford Nine sounds like wine ♦10 Bo Derek Perfect ten ♦J Jill Biden Jill instead of Jack ♦Q Queen Elizabeth The actual queen ♦K Coretta Scott King Surname is King

When trying to memorize a deck of cards, you will naturally want to turn each card into a name and place it at a specific location on your mental journey. It is also a good idea to create actions to go with each name so you may alternate between names and actions at each stop along the way. If you alternate

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between associating a person and an action, you will only need half as many locations, because two cards will be put at each stop along your mental journey.

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DAY OF THE WEEK

There is one more bit of memorization that must be included. Sorry, but it will be of no use in studying for classes or passing tests. In the movie Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman’s character was able to do amazing feats of mental calculations like naming the day of the week that any day in history fell on.

With this little memory trick, you too will be able to tell people what day of the week they were born, on what day of the week they got married, or any other day of the week trivia. It may not be useful, but it is sure entertaining. The formula to determine this is:

Day of the week = Century + Year + Leap + Month + Day All you need to do is remember this formula and a few simple

pieces of information to amaze your friends and perform a mental miracle. You will need to remember a number for each of these pieces of the formula. 1. For the century, you will need to remember:

2 = 1400s, 1800s and 2200s 0 = 1500s, 1900s and 2300s 5 = 1600s, 2000s and 2400s 4 = 1700s, 2100s and 2500s

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Odds are you will not be calculating anything outside of the 1900s and 2000s, but here is code for twelve hundred years just in case you wanted to know. If you are calculating a date from the 1900s, you do not need to add anything. If you are calculating a date from the 2000s, you will need to add 5. 2. Next add the last two digits of the year. For 1978 you

would add 78 to 0, since there is no number for the 1900s.

3. Once you have added the year, you need to handle leap year. Add one for every leap day since the turn of the century. To do this divide the last two digits of the year by 4 and throw away the fraction. So if the year is 1978, the leap number would be 19. If you are calculating a leap year and the “leap” has not happened yet, meaning the date is in January or February, you would not add 1.

4. You will also need to add 1 for any century not divisible by 400, such as 2000, because those are leap years.

5. Next you add a number value for each of the months. The value for each month is listed below:

0 = January 6 = July 3 = February 2 = August 3 = March 5 = September 6 = April 0 = October 1 = May 3 = November 4 = June 5 = December

And finally you will add the date of the month. This will give you a final number. Divide that number by 7 and take the digit of the remainder. That will tell you what the day of the week is. For example if we were to take the 31st of January 1978, we would take 0 for the century code, add 78 for the year, ad 78 divided by 4 and getting rid of the fraction, which would be 19, add the month value of 0 and the date of 31. This would give us a final value of 128. If we divided this by 7 we would get 18 with a

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remainder of 2. By looking at the day key below we can determine that the 31st of January 1978 was a Tuesday.

0 = Sunday 1 = Monday 2 = Tuesday 3 = Wednesday 4 = Thursday 5 = Friday 6 = Saturday

This may seem overwhelming, but with a little memory work

and some practice you will be able to calculate the day of the week with ease. If you wish to pare down this method and only use it for the current year, you may figure out the year code ahead of time and do things much more quickly.

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PRACTICE

We have very quickly covered the techniques necessary to improve your memory. Some of them can be used immediately to help you study for tests or remember daily things. Others will take a serious investment of your time. It is a good idea to decide ahead of time what your goals are. Do you want to remember daily things with a bit more ease? Are you studying for a major test? Or do you want to show off with feats of memory, like memorizing a deck of cards?

If you just want this for daily use, you are probably ready to go with very little practice. With just a few minutes memorizing the peg system, or coming up with you own, you are set. If you want to use these memory techniques, it is definitely worth your time to choose a location to memorize with set points and, if you wish to take the study of memory further, you should come up with your list of a hundred names and actions.

This book is arranged in order of difficulty. The peg system is by far the easiest. Location based memory is the next. The number alphabet takes a little more work. And the number name system takes the most work at all. It is up to you to determine how much time you want to invest in your memory skills. As with anything, the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

When it comes to memory, perhaps the biggest obstacle to overcome is our own inner voice telling us we cannot do it. You might believe you cannot remember a list of a hundred names,

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until you actually finish it. You might think it is impossible to memorize an entire deck of cards, until you do it. You will amaze yourself once you unleash your mind’s true potential. Practice, believe in yourself, and see what you can actually do.