Table of Contents
List of figures xiii
Introduction 1
What you'll learn 5
Why memorise? 9
Chapter 1 A medieval starting place 11
Medieval memory arts 12
Visual alphabets 13
My visual alphabet 17
Memorising anything, from a shopping list to a speech 19
Medieval bestiaries 23
My bestiary for memorising names 25
Chapter 2 Creating a memory palace 31
The first written record of memory palaces 32
Australian Aboriginal songlines 34
Creating a memory palace for the countries of the world 36
Memory palaces in history 40
The modern tale of Solomon Shereshevsky and Alexander Luria 44
Virtual memory palaces 46
Continuous memory palaces-my History Journey 47
Why absolutely everywhere needs a name 51
My History Journey 52
Mnemonic verses 56
Dominic's Rule of Five 58
Chapter 3 Stories, imagination and the way your brain works 61
Indigenous knowledge systems 62
Memory and the human brain 66
Exceptional memorisers are made, not born 69
Putting it all together-learning foreign languages 71
Learning French 72
Songs reworded 76
Memory palaces everywhere 77
Memorising vocabulary isn't enough 78
Online courses 79
A very different language: Chinese 80
Chinese and me 83
I chose my hook, the radicals 85
A final realisation 87
Chapter 4 Characters, characters everywhere 88
Maori ancestors 90
Introducing rapscallions 91
My cultural ancestors 92
Ancestors in the History Journey 95
The Dominic System for numbers 97
Characters in the stars 103
Chapter 5 Weird and wonderful portable memory aids 106
The lukasa of the Luba people 108
Encoding the birds 110
Adapting for change 114
Memory boards galore 117
Ceremonial cycle balls 119
Genealogies in wood 121
My genealogy staves 125
Objects acting on a tiny stage 126
The memory device that never leaves: your body 130
Astronomy in the palm of my hands 132
Wearing your memory aids as jewellery 136
Knot your strings into a personal khipu 139
Chapter 6 When art becomes writing 143
When and what was the first writing? 144
The start of the art-to-writing story 145
Tibetan mandalas as a memory palace 147
My mandalas for science and law 149
Are they mnemonic symbols or are they writing? 151
From art to writing in China 155
My narrative scroll: the story of timekeeping 159
From Sumer to the world 159
Lessons from Greco-Roman times 162
Chapter 7 Lessons from the Middle Ages 168
The art changes purpose 169
Medieval lesson 1 Make every part of your page look different 172
Medieval lesson 2 Add emotion to everything 172
Medieval lesson 3 Lay your information out in grids 173
Medieval lesson 4 Give character to abstract concepts 175
Medieval lesson 5 Break it down into small portions 176
Medieval lesson 6 Separate those short portions on the page 177
Medieval lesson 7 As always, use memory palaces 178
Medieval lesson 8 Meditate upon your memory palaces 179
Medieval lesson 9 Decorate your walls, but do it systematically 181
Medieval lesson 10 Leave room on your notes for additions 182
Medieval lesson 11 Add playful little drawings 183
My medieval manuscript on musical instruments 184
Memory treatises of the Renaissance 185
Chapter 8 Learning in school and throughout life 187
Permanent memory palaces for all students 190
Using the same memory palace for science and fine arts 192
Using song, stories and the wonderful rapscallions 197
Let's sing, dance and make musical memories 199
Memorising word for word 206
Memorising in mathematics 210
Memorising equations 214
So much to memorise: medicine and law 215
Chapter 9 Does memory have to decline when you age? 219
Is memory loss normal? 220
What is dementia? 222
Memory palaces and dementia 223
The power of music and memories 226
Prevention is better than a cure (which doesn't yet exist anyway) 227
Dementia and identity 228
A winter count for your life 229
Chapter 10 Memory athletes battle it out 236
The disciplines 237
Memorising a shuffled deck of cards 239
Adding an action and object to your person 241
A haunting fear of ghosts 243
Memorising numbers 244
Sidetracking to memorising pi 248
Memorising strings of 1 and 0 250
Fictional Dates 252
Names and Faces 252
Random Images 253
Random Words 253
The glamour event: Speed Cards 254
Australian Memory Champion, Anastasia Woolmer 255
The impact of training on concentration 258
Appendix A Table of memory methods 261
Appendix B Bestiary 267
Appendix C Prehistory Journey 271
Appendix D My chosen ancestors 283
Acknowledgements 289
About the author 293
Notes 295
Index 297