How to remember things: 10 Memory Tricks to Recall

Everything

ARTHUR RICHARDS
 Text Copyright © Arthur Richards
All rights reserved. No part of this guide may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Legal & Disclaimer
The information contained in this book is not designed to replace or take the place of any form of medicine or professional
medical advice. The information in this book has been provided for educational and entertainment purposes only.
The information contained in this book has been compiled from sources deemed reliable, and it is accurate to the best of the
Author's knowledge; however, the Author cannot guarantee its accuracy and validity and cannot be held liable for any errors
or omissions. Changes are periodically made to this book. You must consult your doctor or get professional medical advice
before using any of the suggested remedies, techniques, or information in this book.
Upon using the information contained in this book, you agree to hold harmless the Author from and against any damages, costs,
and expenses, including any legal fees potentially resulting from the application of any of the information provided by this
guide. This disclaimer applies to any damages or injury caused by the use and application, whether directly or indirectly, of
any advice or information presented, whether for breach of contract, tort, negligence, personal injury, criminal intent, or under
any other cause of action.
You agree to accept all risks of using the information presented in this book. You need to consult a professional medical
practitioner in order to ensure you are both able and healthy enough to participate in this program.
 Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: TRICK YOUR BRAIN

CHAPTER 2: PICTURE IT

CHAPTER 3: LINK IT UP

CHAPTER 4: EASY AS 1, 2, 3

CHAPTER 5: YOUR ABCS

CHAPTER 6: TAKE A JOURNEY

CHAPTER 7: WHAT’S IN THE ROOM?

CHAPTER 8: A MAJOR INVESTMENT

CHAPTER 9: TEST IT OUT

CHAPTER 10: GET A GRIP

CONCLUSION
Introduction
We all need a little boost in the memory department, whether we’re young or getting on in our years. As we become more and
more reliant on electronics, we’re losing the arts of absorption and recall – why should we need them when we can just enter
our shopping list into a handy app or Google pertinent information? Well, what happens when our handy electronic friends
decide to check out for a while? Have you ever been caught with no batteries on your phone and a list full of shopping you
can’t remember? Frustrating isn’t it?
There are other times when you just can’t use your phone or tablet to retrieve information. Think about when you are sitting for
exams, or when you are invited to make a speech. You’d be thrown out of the exam hall or laughed off the podium if you whip
out your tablet.
Aside from all this, a good memory is something with which you can impress your friends and family, or even a new date!
Imagine how far reciting a romantic poem to your special someone will get you in his or her good books. You wouldn’t look
so enticing if you were reading it from your iPhone, would you?
There are many ways that memory can be boosted, and, believe it or not, they’re fun and engaging! Although some of them may
actually seem redundant and time wasting at first, once you understand their mechanics and practice them enough, you’ll find
that they become second nature and are very powerful tools to boost your brainpower.
This brings us to another pertinent but not often thought about the benefit of boosting your memory. It has actually been proven
to slow down or even reverse the debilitating effects of mental diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. It is also crucial on
the road to recovery for stroke patients, and can give them back their mental strength and confidence.
So let’s get started. As we explore the fascinating world of memory improvement, take the time to absorb and explore each
technique and experiment with each of them to see if they suit your needs. Some might not resonate with you and some just
might not make sense, no matter how hard you try with them. Don’t forget that to truly make something useful to us, we
have to tweak it to fit our own needs and abilities. Mix and match until you are confident with a
technique that works for you. Have fun!
Chapter 1: Trick Your Brain
We have to remember a lot of things by heart, like scientific processes or the position of musical notes on sheet music. How
do we make it easier for our brains to retain all this information so that we can access it at the touch of our fingertips? Use fun
tricks (mnemonics) to help ourselves along; because if it’s fun, we’ll probably remember it! In this chapter, we look at some
simple mnemonics, and in the subsequent chapters we’ll discuss more involved memory tricks.

1. Acronyms
Everybody loves shortcuts nowadays. That’s why acronyms are so popular. Acronyms help you remember simple lists, for
example: MEGS for your shopping list of milk, eggs, garbage bags and sugar. They also help you remember a list of things that
need to be in order, like the notes in the spaces of the treble clef stave: FACE.
Take the first letter of each word in the list you want to remember. Arrange them in a cute, memorable way that will stick in
your brain. Voila! You’ve remembered the stages of cell division!
IPMAT: Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telephase

Keep in mind, though, that memorizing it doesn’t mean understanding it. Also, sometimes the letters just won’t arrange
themselves into something memorable.

2. Acrostics
Silly sentences are even more fun than single words so they will stick better in your head. It’s also easier to arrange the initial
letters of random words into a sentence. Take the space notes in the bass clef stave.
Is it easier to remember A, C, E, G, or that All Cows Eat Grass?
While acrostics are fun and easy, they sometimes take too much time to come up with until you’ve had some practice. And like
acronyms they’re only suitable to remember things with, you still need to understand what you are memorizing first.

3. Songs & Rhymes

Have you ever had an annoying tune stuck in your head, despite whatever you do to stop humming it? That’s because it’s
catchy. Its rhythm and rhyme act like glue to adhere to your brain cells. What a useful and powerful memory tool!
Think of your childhood. How did you learn your alphabet - 26 letters that had to be arranged in the right order? You sang
them to a popular tune, ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. Fast forward to your Literature lecture in university. You’re wondering
how on Earth those Greek storytellers of old remembered the whole of Homer’s Odyssey? They sang it! And then there’s the
ever popular but slightly creepy rhyme that helps you remember the 6 queen consorts of King Henry VIII and how they came to
their ends.
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced beheaded survived.

4. Chunking
If you need to remember numbers, say the telephone number that you just got off that cute guy, you chunk it. That is, you break
it up into a few groups. So if the guy’s phone number is 7683-3359, you break it up into 76 83 33 59.
You can break things up in any way that works for you, some people are more comfortable grouping the same numbers
together: 768 333 59. Most of the time, however, the rhythm you fall into when reciting pairs helps with memory, especially if
you emphasize the second item in the pair: milk, EGGS, sugar, BUTTER, cheese, JAM. Yes, this technique can also be used
for other things.

Try It Out
• Make up an acronym for the list of mnemonics described here:
Acronyms, Acrostics, Songs, Chunking
• Remember, the words in this list don’t have to be in order, but you can use this technique to remember things in order too.
Make up an acrostic with the same list.
• Try singing it to a tune or rapping it. Yes, rap it. I recently watched the 206 th episode of the popular forensics expert series
‘Bones’ during which they rapped out the major bones of the body. I can’t get it out of my head now!
• Chunk up this sequence of numbers and see if you can commit them to memory:
4577468739914522
Test yourself on all these things you’ve tried out a few days later. No cheating!

Don’t forget the power of repetition. Even if you’ve come up with the most memorable of acronyms or
songs, you still need to repeat them to yourself until they are cemented in your head.
Chapter 2: Picture It
In the previous chapter we looked at simple mnemonic tricks to memorize immutable facts by rote. How do we tackle retaining
more complicated information, then? Our visual sense is one of the most powerful tools in our memory bank, and most of its
power lies in the fact that it is concrete.
Many of us are already naturally visual learners, so this method comes easily to us. Even if you are more confident using other
learning methods, however, you can still sharpen and make use of your visual memory by using the Visualization and
Association Method.
Visualization and Association are effective because images are concrete and easy to retain in our mind’s eye, whereas
numbers and words are abstract. Think of 10 of your best friends that you’ve had throughout your life. Can you visualize their
faces? It’s probably easier than trying to recall their phone numbers, right?
In the Visualization and Association technique, abstract information is assigned a visual image that is easier to file away into,
and retrieve from, your long-term memory. Another reason Visualization and Association are effective is because it forces you
to focus on and create Original Awareness of what you are memorizing, a concept created by Harry Lorayne, a
notable memory guru. Original Awareness basically means your own original understanding of it. Only after you have actively
engaged with something by focusing on it and approaching it from different angles to find your own meaning can you fully
understand it. Then you are ready to turn it into an image that is meaningful, thus memorable, to you.
Visualization and Association also work because you are encouraged to repeat the image many times over when you are
coming up with an image. Repetition, as we all know, cements things in our minds.
Say you are trying to remember what the Stegosaurus looked like. You might break the name up like this: Steg-o-sau-rus and
start associating each section of the word to images that will help you visualize the beast in question, just as you would in
Charades.
‘Steg’ sounds a little like steak, so imagine a juicy steak. The Stegosaurus actually has plates on its back that resemble steaks,
so now you have a vivid image of a beast with steaks sticking out of its back. ‘o-sau-rus’ sounds like ‘Oh! Saw us!’ which is
what a frightened caveman might exclaim to his friend, should this scary steak-laden beast turn towards them. It’s an absurd
but powerful image that sticks in our minds like glue!
Tips on using Visualization and Association effectively:

• Make the image very big, or very small – size does matter in this instance
• Make the image as absurd as possible – the sillier, the better
• Animate the image with actions
• Create a little a story with the image, if possible
The concept of Visualization and Association is actually the basis of many of the other mnemonic devices as it is so powerful.
It takes a little practice at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will become second nature to you.

Try It Out
Break up the following words and use V&A on them:
Brontosaurus
Methane
Chlorophyll
Romantic
Test yourself a few days later, no cheating!
Chapter 3: Link It Up
There are many ways to remember a list. Another simple but useful technique is the Link Method. It’s fun and easy and uses
visualization, which we’ve already seen is a very powerful memory tool. The Link Method also makes you focus on the
items that you want to memorize so that you can break their names down phonetically and create images for each phonetic
sound. Focusing on something is half the battle to memorizing it.
To use the Link Method, first break the names of the items intended for memory down phonetically. Then link each phonetic
sound to a memorable image. Try to keep it as concrete as possible, but if you do have to get abstract, try to ensure that you
create a clear image that you can accurate link back to the phonetic sounds of the words, or the words themselves. There are 2
ways to go from here; you can link the items 2 by 2, or into a whole coherent story.

Pure Link Method

You can use the Pure Link Method if you need to memorize unrelated items on a list that don’t need to be in a sequence. Let’s
say you needed to memorize the continents of the world:
A car with a $0 price tag on it (A-FREE-CAR (Africa)) knocks into a car with a happy face and upward pointing arrow (A-
MERRY-CAR (North America))
The car with a happy face and upward pointing arrow knocks into a car with a happy face and downward pointing arrow (A-
MERRY-CAR (South America))
The car with a happy face and downward pointing arrow knocks into a clairvoyant (A-SEER (Asia))
The clairvoyant falls into some mud and is pulled up by a disgusted man holding his nose and using a rope (EW-ROPE
(Europe))
The disgusted man looks up to see an OSTrich lit by a sunRAY led by Princess LEAH (OST-RAY-LEH (Australia))
Princess Leah is eating an ANT TART (ANT-TART-ica (Antarctica))
It doesn’t matter in what order you place the images, so you can link them up to assist your creativity.
If you remember things better in context, as most people do, you might go one step further and create a coherent story out of the
images.

Story Link Method

As I was walking along the street one day, a car with a $0 price tag on it (Africa) suddenly knocked into a car with a happy
face and an upward pointing arrow (North America). This caused a chain reaction when that car knocked into another car with
a happy face and downward pointing arrow (South America), which in turn knocked a seer (Asia) down. She fell into the mud
and a disgusted-looking man pulled her up with a rope (Europe). The man got distracted when he saw an ostrich lit by a
sunray led by Princess Leah (Australia) going down the street. Princess Leah was eating an ant-filled tart (Antarctica).
The flow of the story helps us link it up and the coherence keeps it memorable. This Story Link Method is good for
memorizing things that need to be in sequence too.

Try It Out
Next time you go shopping, try creating a story to memorize your grocery list.
Be brave and test it out at the supermarket!
Chapter 4: Easy As 1, 2, 3
The Peg System is a very simple but powerful memory tool in which you ‘’peg’ the facts you wish to memorize to memorable
cues. If you need to remember a list that is arranged in order, you use sequential cues like numbers because their sequential
nature helps you keep things in order and also reminds you if something is missing (the sequence is thrown). There are 2 types
of Number Memory Tools.

Number/Rhymes
As we’ve already seen, rhyme is a powerful mnemonic tool as it is memorable and catchy. By pairing it with another powerful
memory tool, visualization, you are creating a memory system that does the job very effectively. This mnemonic works well
for audio learners. Take the numbers 1 to 10 and create images that rhyme with each one. You would create images that speak
to you, but my list would be:
1 – bun
2 – shoe
3 – tree
4 – door
5 – hive
6 – sticks
7 – heaven
8 – skate
9 – line
10 – hen
If I were to use this number system to memorize the top 10 most influential scientists, my list would look like this:
1 – Isaac NEWTon – A NEWT nibbling on a bun
2 – Albert EInstein – A pair of EYEballs in a pair of shoes
3 – NiKOLA TESLa – A TASSELed can of COLA hanging from a tree
4 – GALIleo Galilei – The door to a ship’s GALLEY
5 – LEO da Vinci – A LION batting at a hive
6 – Charles DarWIN – A PODIUM (WIN) made of bricks
7 – Max PLANCK – A PLANCK sloping up to heaven
8 – Niels BOHR – A BOAR in a tree
9 – Alan TURING – A TOURIST balancing on a line
10 – Marie CURIE – A pot of chicken (hen) CURRY!
This list can be expanded to include what the scientists were known for, which could then lead on to a review of science itself
– there are countless ways to expand it. You could even use this method to memorize speeches or recipe instructions, but bear
in mind that the list only goes up to 10. For anything that requires more pegs, it could get complicated.

Number/Shapes
Another effective number peg system involves shapes instead of rhymes. If you are a visual learner, this might work better for
you.
This time, you use images that are shaped like the numbers. My list is as such:
1 – upright wand
2 – swan with its head looking down
3 – half an upright infinity sign
4 – yacht sail
5 – seahorse
6 – seated fat man
7 – cliff edge
8 – upright infinity sign
9 – balloon with a string
0 – egg
Let’s apply this method to the same list of scientists:
1 – Isaac NEWTon – A NEWT standing up and holding a magic wand
2 – Albert EInstein – A SWAN WITH ITS HEAD LOOKING DOWN
with a big eye
3 – NiKOLA TESLa – A COLA can with a 3 on it and tassels all around
4 – GALIleo Galilei – A GALLEY on a yacht
5 – LEO da Vinci – A LION eating a seahorse
6 – Charles DarWIN – A fat man sitting on a PODIUM (WIN)
7 – Max PLANCK – A PLANCK tumbling over a cliff edge
8 – Niels BOHR – A BOAR standing up with a figure of 8 body
9 – Alan TURING – A TOURIST holding a balloon by the string
10 – Marie CURIE – Egg CURRY

Try It Out
Use one of the Number Memory Tools or a combination of them to memorize the names of the 10 most powerful kings in
England’s history. Test yourself a few days later. Again, don’t cheat!
Chapter 5: Your ABCs
The Alphabet Memory System is also a peg system like the Number Memory Systems, but it is more advanced. It is more
advanced than the Number Systems, as there are more pegs to which you can link information, so it is good for remembering
longer lists of sequential pieces of information, or long speeches or poems.
As in the Number Systems, the cues in the Alphabet System are also images of words that are pegged to the letters. The one big
difference, however, is that the image words are not chosen according to the first letters phonetic, rather, they are chosen
according to its name. The image words first letters name is what determines the image (cake starts with a ‘k’ sound, so it
would represent ‘k’, not ‘c’ because the ‘c’ sound is ‘see’).
At the same time, you would choose the name of the first letter of the word you’re trying to memorize (G – Jeans, Nietzche –
KNEE – a pair of jeans with a KNEE showing). This has the advantage of always ensuring you remember the first letter of the
word you are memorizing,
Again, I will give you an example of this method, but it’s best if you come up with your own:
A – ace card
B – bee
C – sea
D – delight
E – eagle
F – effluent
G – jeans
H – H-bomb
I – eye
J – jail
K – cake
L – elbow
M – empty
N – entrance
O – opal
P – pea
Q – queue
R – ark
S – eskimo
T – teapot
U – unicorn
V – vehicle
W – WC
X – X-Ray
 Y – wire
Z – zebra
Using this system, let’s commit the titles of 26 of the greatest novels to memory:
A – Don QUIxote – A KEY on an ace card
B – PILgrim’s Progress – A bee buzzing around a PILL
C – Robinson CRUsoe – A CRUISE boat on a stormy sea
D – GULLiver’s Travels – A delighted GULL who’s found fish
E – TOM Jones – A flying eagle with a TOMato in its beak
F – CLARIssa – A CLARInet with honey oozing out
G – TRIStram Shandy – A man riding a TRICylce in jeans
H – DANgerous Liaisons – A great DANE with an H-bomb dangling from
its mouth
I – EMma – An eye with an EMerald in it
J – FRankenstein – A FRog in jail
And so on.
This system is quite complex and difficult and takes up a lot of time to do well. It may speak to you if you enjoy phonetic play,
but otherwise you may prefer to stick to simpler mnemonics.

Try It Out
• Be ambitious and memorize a long speech or poem. Why not make it an event and invite several friends or family members
to watch your performance a few days later?
Chapter 6: Take a Journey
The Method of Loci
To memorize something more complicated than lists, you need a method that is even more engaging. An ancient technique that
uses organization, visual memory, and association is the Method of Loci. Orators of the ancient world memorized whole
speeches using the Method of Loci and it works because you use a few different techniques to stimulate your brain.
First off, think of a path that you are very familiar with, maybe the path you take from the car park of your workplace up to
your office, or a walk around a very familiar building, say your home. Put the rooms in a logical order so that you will visit
the rooms in the same order every time. Make sure you can envision all the details along your journey in your mind’s eye.
Now ‘walk’ along your path and identify some memorable objects along the way. If you are walking around your house and
start in your bedroom, maybe the first object you’ll visualize is your bed followed by the wardrobe and so on. Identify as
many objects as items or pieces of information you need to remember.
The next step is to ‘walk’ along the path again, this time assigning items or pieces of information to each of the objects you
have identified. If you are memorizing a speech, assign 1 paragraph or 1 line to each object. Extract key words from each
paragraph or line to assign so that they trigger your memory as you ‘walk’. Try to relate what you’re trying to remember to the
object in as absurd a way as you can, or in a logical way, whichever you will find more memorable.
The example below illustrates how one can use the Method of Loci to memorize a shopping list by taking a walk through their
home.
I woke up in the morning and smelled a CHEESY smell in my bed. I was late so I didn’t bother with it, rushing to the
wardrobe to get dressed. When I opened the wardrobe, however, a head of BROCCOLI fell out and hit me on the head! I
shook my head and walked into the kitchen. The first thing I saw was the PACK OF 12 BATTERIES on the kitchen table!
Who had put them there!? I went to the sink and saw an empty JAR OF JAM. I sighed, knowing my teenage son had done this
one. I realized I needed to find some socks, so I went into the laundry room and … a can of WOOD POLISH had been left
opened on the washing machine! That must have been my husband’s handiwork. Some polish had splashed, so I went to get
the mop, but it smelled FISHy.
I went through to the living room and there was my son eating fried CHICKEN on the sofa at 7 am in the morning! There was a
bowl of CARROTS on the TV that must’ve been left there by my teenage daughter who is trying to lose weight. When I was
finally ready to go out, I found a HANGER dangling from the doorknob. My keys were, inexplicably, embedded in a melting
pat of BUTTER.
We can use the same journey to remember a speech. Let's try it with Shakespeare’s famous Juliet’s Lament.
Juliet:
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
Romeo:
[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
Juliet:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
ROMEO wakes up and jumps out of bed. Suddenly, Juliet’s FATHER bursts out of the wardrobe with a NAME tag on. They
run into the kitchen where there is a WILTed head of lettuce on the table. Somebody had been brushing his or her teeth at the
sink, the CAP of the toothpaste has been left uncovered. They run into the laundry and HEAR the washing machine running a
load. As he grabs the mop to defend himself, he realizes that he really is an ENEMY. They run out into the living room where
somebody else has spread their ART supplies all over the sofa.
The Method of Loci has several advantages over acronyms and simpler mnemonic devices. It sets the object that you’re trying
to memorize in a context, which helps to make it easier to remember. Additionally, you can use it for more complicated
memorization requirements like memorizing a speech, as well as simple things like a shopping list. One more bonus is that you
can expand your journey to include more things to memorize, but it has been advised to keep it to a maximum of 20
items. The Method of Loci is good for kinesthetic learners – those who need to move around to digest, absorb and retain
information.

Try It Out
• If you are in the mood to romance your loved one, memorize a sweet poem using the Method of Loci and whisper it into their
ear. You won’t regret it!
• Alternatively, memorize a monologue from a play or movie that you admire and perform it to your friends or co-workers.
You’ll be guaranteed an invitation to the next party!
Chapter 7: What’s In The Room?
The Roman Room technique is similar to the Method of Loci. Instead of taking a journey, however, you imagine a room with
all the normal objects that you would find in there in real life. You assign what you need to remember to the objects in your
room, one to one, and when you want to recall the objects, you take a walk around the room, getting memory cues from each
object. The first object you encounter is the cue for your list title.
This method can be used for both lists of related objects or lists of unrelated objects.
To memorize the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with this technique, I will envision my living room.
As I enter the room, I smell GAS (greenhouse gases). I see a picture of the SKY (atmosphere). I look at the display case and
see that somebody has moved my CAR model with the dangling DIE (carbon dioxide). I play with the die a bit, and then
reposition the car. Looking up at the clock, I notice that it is 8 pm at NIGHT. The clock features OXen (nitrous oxide) in a
field. There is a bowl of Maggi MEE (methane) on the table, along with a STEAMING (water vapor - I associate steam with
vapor) cup of tea. A FLUOROscent (fluorescent gases) green pen rolls to the floor.
Like many of the other memorization techniques, the Roman Room Method might seem a little troublesome and contrived at
first, but once you practice it, it will make startling sense. Initially you might feel like you’re spending so much time contriving
all these images and links, but if you think about it, if you weren’t focusing your mind on breaking the information down and
creating powerful images, you would be frantically (or methodically) trying to force hard, dry information into your memory
banks. This method is more fun. Thus, it makes the information more fun, which in turn makes it more memorable.

Try It Out
• Choose a couple of paragraphs from a speech that you admire, like Martin Luther Kings ‘I Have Dream’. Memorize it using
your own Roman Room. When you are confident, recite it to a willing ear.
Chapter 8: A Major Investment
I’ve used lists of words or information in most of my examples in this book but don’t forget that these mnemonics can be used
to memorize numbers too.
One of the most powerful mnemonics available right now deals with memorizing numbers. Magicians have been using this
powerful memory method to achieve their seemingly impossible feats of memory for years. It does take a huge time and
brainpower investment to perfect, however, once perfected, it can be used to show an almost impossibly infallible memory.
The idea of the system is that you convert number sequences into nouns, which are turned into images. These images are then
linked into very detailed and complex sequences to assist you in memorizing huge amounts of numbers, a seemingly impossible
feat.
There are several steps that need to be taken to master this technique, and each step must be fully understood before moving on
to the next step.

Step 1 – Associating Numbers with Consonant Sounds

0 – s, z, soft-c (z is first letter of zero)
1 – d, t, th (letters with 1 downstroke)
2 – n (2 down strokes)
3 – m (3 down strokes)
4 – r (4 and R glued together at their backs)
5 – L (5 propped up against an L-shaped bookend)
6 – j, sh, soft-ch, dg, soft-g (g is 6 rotated 180 degrees)
7 – k, hard-ch, hard-c, hard-g, ng (K as one 7 flipped upside down and standing
on the others head)
8 – f, v (bottom loop of 8 is an effluent pipe (letter image of f in the Alphabet
System)
9 – p, b (b is a rotated 9)

Step 2 – Conversion into Words

To convert the linked numbers into image words, use the intended consonant and only enough vowels to give the word
meaning. If you must use an additional consonant to create a word, choose from the unlinked ones: h, q, w, x, y.

1. Single Number Words

Single number words use the numbers 1 – 9 to create image words. An example:
1 – doe
2 – nix
3 – me
4 – ray
5 – low
6 – shoe
7 – key
 8 – fee
9 – pay

2. Double Number Words

Now grow your ‘vocabulary’, adding 10 – 99 to create double number words.
An example:
14 – d, r – door
27 – n, hard-ch – notch
39 – m, p – map
42 – r, n – rain
56 – l, sh – lush
62 – j, n – John
78 – hard-g, v – gave
84 – f, r – fear
92 – p, n – pan

3. Triple Number Words

To really impress, add triple number words to your repertoire:
054 – s, l, r – solar
367 – m, g, c – magic
942 – b, r, n – broken
127 – th, n, k - think
Now to use these image words to memorize long sequences of numbers. On a simpler level, this technique can be used for
phone numbers:
Remember that cute guys number? 4521-9872
4521 – r, l, n, d - roland
98 – b, f – buff
(the extra ‘f’ might confuse, but since it’s followed by another two numbers, you will be prompted that the extra ‘f’ was just
for spelling’s sake, not a code)
72 – k, ng – king
From here, you could link these words into a phrase or sentence:
ROLAND, the BUFF KING
Or put them in your Roman Room:
As I enter the room, I see a picture of my potential date (you can label the picture with his name). I look at the display case
and see that my ROLAND model has fallen over. I stand him upright again. Looking up at the clock, I notice that it has
STOPPED (to remind you that you like this guy). The table has had a nice BUFF and is very shiny. There is a Stephen KING
book on the table.
By combining two very powerful memory systems, you create a vivid way to memorize numbers. This can be extended to
include long lists of numbers – you can go as far as you want.
Chapter 9: Test It Out
In previous chapters, we looked at mnemonic tricks to memorize information. Some of us, however, are just plain old-
fashioned and like to keep things simple.
We have all used the test it out a method to memorize lists before. Remember all those spelling tests in school? We would
commit the lists to memory and test ourselves on them. Then we would review the words we got wrong and test ourselves
again, not bothering to revise the words we got right and also eliminating them from our test.
In a study of how our brain works, it has been proven that this might not be the best way to go about retaining information.
Those who left out the items that they had gotten correct when they conducted self-tests fared worse in the final test than those
who didn’t revise the items they got correct, but kept them in their review tests.
The evidence suggests, therefore, that if you had to remember this list of words: dog, cat, monkey, and horse and you got dog,
cat and horse right in your first review test, you should revise monkey but test yourself on all four animals together.

What’s the reason for this? The brain finds it easier to retain information that is in context, rather than isolated information.
This reinstates the idea that information needs to be set in a context, therefore, assigned a meaning before the brain properly
processes it.

Try It Out
• Memorize this list of animals and test yourself on it. Revise the items you got wrong.
Test yourself again, eliminating the items you got right from the test.
cat
dog
hippopotamus
wolf
zebra
elephant
monkey
dinosaur
giraffe
tiger
lion
rhinoceros
• Recall the list again a few days later, could you recall all the items?
• If not, try the process again, this time testing yourself on all the animals during your review tests, even those that you got
right.
Chapter 10: Get A Grip
You may have seen people unconsciously making a fist when they are trying to retain or recall information. Recently, an
interesting study into memory processes explains why we do this. Researchers have found that by clenching the appropriate fist
at the point of memorization, and then again at the point of recall, the ability to retain and recall is boosted.
To test this out, right-handed people should clench their right hand when they are trying to remember something. When they
need to recall it, they should make a fist with their left hand. The converse applies with southpaws.
How does this work? If you are right-handed, the left side of your brain processes and absorbs information while the right
side of your brain recalls it. By clenching your right hand, you are stimulating your left-brain hemisphere to do its job and by
clenching your left hand, you’re stimulating your right-brain hemisphere.
One possible psychological explanation for this is that hand clenching stimulates certain emotions. For right-handers, the right
hand is associated with ‘approach’ emotions like happiness and anger, while the left hand is linked to ‘withdrawal’ emotions
like anxiety and sadness.
This nifty trick is suitable for remembering simple things like lists. It still remains to be seen if it works for more complex
memory functions like retaining complicated facts
Conclusion
We hope you had as much fun reading this peek into boosting your brainpower through memory as we had writing it. It just
goes to show that, contrary to how we felt at school, using the brain can be fun and engaging, and memorizing things is a game.
As with all games, there are guidelines to winning. Let’s have a recap here of the guidelines to winning the memory game.

First and foremost, tap into the natural tendency of the brain to Visualize. Images tend to be more powerful than words
because they are concrete, so the brain easily latches or ‘pegs’ onto images. Once embedded into our consciousness, they stay
for a long time. Practice this tool by turning random words into images that resonant with you.
Sometimes pegs can be audio as in rhymes, songs or rhythmic speech. For some people these audio pegs are more powerful
than visual ones, so work out what works best for you.

Focusing is another important aspect of successful memorization. In order to create a meaningful visual of something, we
must focus on and create Original Awareness of it - recreate it in our own words. Again, practice by creating your own
Original Awareness of things around you.

The third partner in this triumvirate of memorization is repetition. As we mentioned before, the most powerful mnemonic
devices are useless if they aren’t practiced because it is the repetition of something during the practice that cements it into our
minds. Each mnemonic device should be explored and practiced to internalize them, but we also need to apply the same
principle to whatever we are trying to memorize with the devices.
Now, go forth and memorize!

-- ARTHUR RICHARDS