You Can Learn to Remember: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life pdfdrive com

remembering the hundreds
We can use a combination of the Dominic system and the number-shape
system to remember numbers in the hundreds. All we have to do is break
down the three-digit number into a pair of digits and a single figure. For
example, 150 becomes 15-0. Accord ing to the DOMINIC system 15 is AE,
while in the number-shape system 0 might be remembered as a football. To
memorize the number 150, we combine the two systems. So, perhaps
Albert Einstein (AE) is kicking a football. And what if you want to
remember that your friend lives at house number 125? 12 is AB in the
DOMINIC system, so you might think of Anne Boleyn. In the number-
shape system, 5 is a seahorse. Anne Boleyn is wearing huge seahorse-
shaped earrings outside your friend’s house.
mind maps

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M
ind Maps were invented by Tony Buzan, who has written or coauthored 80
bestsellers on the brain and learning and is co-founder of the Mind Sports
Olympiad. A Mind Map can be seen as a physical representation of information
to be held in the memory – just as the journey method is a mental representation.
Mind Maps are highly effective aids to recording and retaining data because they
reduce subjects to their key points, giving you a summary of fundamental
knowledge that you can hold in your mind’s eye. All you need is a sheet of paper
and ideally a set of coloured pencils or pens.
A Mind Map can be imagined as an overhead view of a tree with branches
that grow only from the sides of the trunk, not upward. It has a central image
which represents the subject matter of the map. Lines (referred to as “branches”)
are drawn radiating from this central element, each branch representing a main
theme. Ideally, each of these branches is drawn in a particular colour. Each
theme is represented by a single sketch labelling the relevant branch. Then, key
words to represent related pieces of information are written (or represented
pictorially) along further lines (sub-branches) drawn from each of the main
branches. Ideally, all the lines attached to one main branch should be drawn in
the same colour, so that groups of information are immediately recognizable.
The lines go on branching off, becoming smaller as increasingly specific details
are noted.
To create a Mind Map – for example, of this book – take a large piece of
paper and begin with a central image. You might draw a picture of a head and
label it “Memory”. Each branch should have only one key word or phrase – for
example, “History” or “Brain” – and each should have its own distinctive colour.
Draw symbolic images alongside to serve as memory aids. From each main
branch, draw sub-branches and label them with appropriate topics – for example,
“Storytellers” and “Greeks” from the “History” branch. If an associated thought
springs to mind, note it down and draw a line connecting it to the relevant
branch.
One advantage of Mind Maps is that they provide a way to impose a
coherent shape on knowledge that grows randomly, according to the thoughts we
have and the information that we pick up. No matter how complex the Mind
Maps, there will always be an appropriate place for any new element you wish to
add. The Mind Map, as it grows in this way, both aids and reflects your evolving
understanding of the subject.

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memory in action
memory techniques for everyday life
M
ost of us would not find it difficult to be specific about the ways in which a
better memory would improve our lives on a day-to-day basis. To be able
accurately to put a name to a face, to recall instantly a friend’s telephone number
or address, to remember information at a moment’s notice, to keep a mental
diary of anniversaries and never to be lost for the mot juste – such skills become
available to anyone willing to try some new approaches to memory. In this
chapter we look at techniques for all these daily tasks, as well as for playing card
games and chess to win, and effective speechmaking without notes. Quite
simply, we look at particular applications of memory in our lives – we may be
surprised to learn how great the potential is for enhancing the pleasure we take in
doing something well.