The Memory Book
by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas
The 1974 bestseller by a stage memory performer and an NBA star: the link system, the peg system, substitute words for names and foreign vocabulary, numbers, cards and speeches. The examples are dated and the tone is showmanlike, but the methods are the same ones champions use today and the explanation is thorough.
Read it if…
you want the classic, complete treatment of mnemonic systems.
Skip it if…
dated examples bother you; the systems themselves are timeless.
Three things you will actually use
- Original awareness: you cannot remember what you did not notice.
- Substitute words make abstractions concrete.
- Systems work; practice makes them automatic.
Do this first
Learn the peg words one through ten and use them to memorize a numbered list.
Our verdict
The classic; still works.
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