Memory Systems

 By Bruce Shawkey

How to enhance memory has long been a topic of books. I came across one on the Internet published in 1813 titled "The New Art of Memory." In it, the author illustrates an exercise where a friend creates a list of 20 unrelated words, and then challenges you (the reader) to recall them in any order, singly or otherwise. The list the author gives is as follows:

1. Tower. 2. Gate. 3. Steeple. 4. Church. 5. Chapel. 6. Institution. 7. Crotch. 8. Grey. 9. Regent. 10. Feinaigle. 11. Syracuse. 12. Wellington. 13. Graham. 14. Ten. 15. Hill. 16. Nelson. 17. Archimedes. 18. Palestine. 19. Button. 20. Reform. 

Feinaigle, by the way, is refers to Gregor von Feinaigle, supposedly the inspiration for the word "finagle" meaning "To cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods."

Harry Lorayne
Anyway, this exercise reminds of the Harry Lorayne best-seller, The Memory Book. My dad used this book to improve his score on the civil service exam to become a postal clerk. And I used it, also, to become a postal clerk. I lasted a total of one summer at the Madison post office, because the post office put me on the Graveyard shift, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., which nearly killed me.

The course was offered in a number of formats. Here's one from a mail-order company, The Man's World Gallery of Gifts:




 

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