O'Brien lays out his system in an easy-to-follow style, with plenty of examples to guide you. His system for numbers is also clearly detailed, though I'm presently using the Major system. He also focuses on the journey method, touching only slightly on the Roman room, or memory palace.Unlike many of the books I've read on memory lately, O'Brien's provides more potential uses for memory techniques. Some of them I won't use, such as card counting and quiz machine memorization, but I'll keep them in mind next time someone is all, but you can't make money with these tricks! lol Similarly, as a child I would actually read the trivial pursuit cards while visiting my grandmother, partially in hopes of gaining SOME sort of advantage when playing against adults (didn't work). And I was interested in the brief memory biographies at the close. Especially touching/intriguing was the idea that the techniques helped keep some POWs sane while imprisoned.Most memory books harp on the idea that your own images are the best, and O'Brien definitely repeats that mantra constantly (and it's true). What I've found, however, is that seeing how other people put these techniques to work gives me more, not less, inspiration for my own memory adventures. For instance, hearing that one mnemonist utilized the signs of the zodiac as a journey made me realize I could use them, along with other constellations, to do the same. And while I have no desire to memorize professional sports scores, these techniques make it easier to match the numbers to names on my kids' shorts team (my son's soccer team had five blond boys the same height running around; it was enough to drive me crazy!). Overall, a good read.
Do You like book How To Develop A Perfect Memory (1994)?
