Rating: 
Summary: Answers a lot WHYs about memory but a bit short on HOWTOs
Review: WHAT DOES THIS BOOK CONTAIN? This book is an excellent resource for those who are looking for answers like why digits in excess of about 7 are hard to remember after hearing them only once, why a name so familiar cannot be remembered sometimes, why is it easier to remember the colors of the spectrum by remembering the phrase Richard-Of-York-Gave-Battle-In-Vain, etc. The book contains enough information on how your memory works (not enough for a memory researcher though) and also contains references to other papers which a interested reader may consult for further information. The book also has effective ways of learning something, like studying two different subjects in two different rooms to reduce interference, making things that need to be learnt meaningful (like the spelling of Arnold Sch-War-Zen-Egg-Er), etc. Finally, the ending chapters contain the following memory techniques (mnemonic): link and story mnemonics, loci mnemonic, peg mnemonic, and phonetic mnemonic. It also contains a chapter on remembering peoples' names and faces. WHAT CAN BE LEARNT FROM THE BOOK? Using the effective study techniques and mnemonic techniques from the book, you can make effective use of your memory and will not forget things as easily as you used to. You can learn a whole year's calendar by remembering only a 12 digit number. You can learn the value of "pi" up to as many digits as you want to. You can learn a list of up to 100 or more items on a list. You can put all the telephone numbers of your relatives and friends in your head. You might not have to carry your PDA, provided you use your PDA solely for information retrieval. WHAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE? No memory book will improve your short term memory from 7 items to 7+ items, provided you are a normal person. All memory books contain techniques to make effective memory usage - do not expect to remember what you were doing yesterday at, say 2.27 PM studying all the memory books in the world and applying all the mnemonic techniques in the world. If you want something like that, travel into the future and get electronic chips implanted in your brain. This book does not contain enough examples on application of the mnemonic techniques. I suggest you get Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas's "The Memory Book" in addition to this book for more applications and examples of the mnemonic techniques.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to get into
Review: Whatever brilliant points this book tries to make, it doesn't get them across very well, so they're wasted. Needs to be written in a more approachable (and therefore, useful) way.
| 
