Learn to Remember: Practical Techniques and Excerises to Improve Your Memory (Paperback)

It is organized into six chapters.
1. A brief history of memory (greeks, romans and modern times)
2. How memory works
3. How to improve your memory
4. Discovering memory techniques
5. Memory techniques for everyday life
6. Gain fulfillment through memory

The second chapter tells you how neurotransmitters, axons, dendrites, left and right brain, brainwaves, short and long term memory, sleep, drugs and aging work and affect your memory.

The third chapter tells you how important the elements of imagination, association, location, concentration, observation, repetition and health are to improving your memory.

The fourth chapter explains the techniques themselves in proper learning order - mnemonics, visual pegs, story, journey (the most powerful method for me), dominic system, number-shape system, mind-maps.

The fifth chapter applies the techniques to everyday life and tells you which ones are better suited to which problems.

The last chapter elaborates on why memory improvement is not just an exercise in itself to acquire robotic memory. Rather it tells you how your life can be enriched by keeping your mind young and how to cope with life's demands and past memories. This is one of the chapters I enjoyed most.

As a conclusion, I recommend this little jewel for many reasons. First, it covers the subject very broadly - it does not just give you short recipes, it is a complete treatise on memory. It is a mini memory encyclopedia - the topic is condensed in 160 pages.

Second, it is really a marvelous book, the best book I have read on this subject and quite probably one of the most valuable ones I have gotten ever for my life. It is one of these books you keep in a preferred corner in your bookshelf.

Third, it is truly useful. Although there may be more memory techniques, the ones in this book are the most important ones and are more than enough to keep you busy memorizing.

Fourth, it eliminates the common belief that memory deteriorates with age. It actually worsens with LACK OF USE. You will learn that memory is like a muscle - the more you use it the better it gets. I got this book because I was determined to work on keeping my mind young "before it is too late". I discovered that it is never too late and, unlike muscles, the mind is the most powerful and malleable muscle of all. You just have to keep it busy with many interests.

Enjoy !!!

The book is written by Dominic O'Brien, a noted memorization wizard. But it was interesting that the copyright to the book went to the publisher. This is common for technical books in the computer field... where the publisher finds a hot topic and directs an author to write to their specifications. But I believe this format to be unusual in the memorization field.

The answer is found in the front cover where I discovered that there is a "Learn to ..." series put out by the publisher. As such, this book probably follows a format for that series. This format is very well done, but unfortunately reflects the comments made by an earlier reviewer: there is (or might be) more information on memory in the author's other books.

Regardless of all this backround info, I am happy I bought this book. And, I think this book updates some of the techniques that I've seen elsewhere.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX