How to Develop a Super-Power Memory: Names, Faces, Numbers, Events, Facts, Ideas! [Paperback]

Harry Lorayne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1974

Develop a photographic memory--and increase your memory _ capacity by tenfold with this practical and lucid guide. _

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Signet (December 1, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451129415
• ISBN-13: 978-0451129413
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,999,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harry Lorayne is the world's foremost memory-training specialist and the author of The Memory Book, a New York Times bestseller for 46 weeks. His other books include Super Memory, Super Student; Remembering People, Memory Makes Money, and Harry Lorayne's Page-a-Minute Memory Book. He has appeared on national television many times, including 40 appearances on The Tonight Show, and has made hundreds of personal appearances, teaching seminars at major corporations, schools, and other organizations. His instructional 'Memory Power Package' of DVDs has sold thousands of copies on TV and the Internet. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real thing. You'll find learning other things easier., December 4, 2003

By 

Jakinder Singh (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Develop a Super-Power Memory: Names, Faces, Numbers, Events, Facts, Ideas! (Signet) (Paperback)

I'm currently using Lorayne's methods, and find them good for mental exercises. I won't deny that they do require quite a good deal of right-brain power. His system seems to work using creative principles rather than the dry discipline of rote-memorization.

Unfortunately, I've found that being a product of public schooling, my creativity is rather stunted. Creating mental "pictures" for "silly" stories can be taxing, but it does work. Recently, I found I was able to maintain a list of a hundred items in a mental array, although it took some effort to put them there. But, now I can traverse this array of valuable items sequentially, backwards, or randomly with little effort.

Some people aren't comfortable in exerting too much mental energy all at once, and would rather take it slower. I don't mind admitting that I'm one of those people. But, after memorizing a list of 100 items (and other feats I won't expand on here), I soon realized that I would have a hard time forgetting them. This intrigued me. I think that, after the initial effort, things were actually getting easier. I suppose that there's truth in the idea that the brain can be considered a muscle (not literally, I know), and that exercising it regularly strengthens it resulting in easier mental exertion. I would say that Lorayne has proven to me that the brain is more like a set of muscles. Some parts work fine, but others are atrophied soon after pre-school by underemphasizing creativity (right-brain?).

To continue in the this train of thought, it seems to me that there is a mental cost to either rote-memorization or Lorayne's unique synergy of known memorization methods. Rote requires the expenditure of medium amounts of mental energy/effort across several sessions. This must be done with a certain frequency, depending on the difficulty-level of the material to be memorized. Lorayne requires the immediate expenditure of a larger amount of mental energy at the beginning of learning a subject, no matter how difficult the material, then tiny amounts in follow-up reinforcement sessions. The major cost of rote is time; the major cost of Lorayne's method is mental energy (initial effort). Mental energy renews itself and is easier to expend with use; time is non-renewable and can only be spent.

There's something else I learned, and which may help those who have difficulty "imagining" stories as one reviewer complained of. If you can understand a moving image seen on TV, you can duplicate it in your mind (just recall what you've just immediately seen happen). If you can duplicate it in your mind, you can duplicate it with some minor alteration (change a color for instance, or size of the objects/persons in the image). If you can duplicate it with a minor alteration, you can duplicate it with major alterations (now, it's just a matter of extremes - smaller, bigger, brighter, nude). Finally, if you can duplicate it with major alterations, you can make a new moving mental image not related with the original in anyway (this is derivation or at the extreme end, creation).

Luckily, several generations have grown up watching television, which is a rich source of moving images/stories one can practice with. The problem with it is that we watch it too often in a passive frame of mind. This isn't normally conducive to memorization. If we watch passively, we may not remember the whole show. However, if a scene was funny or scary, they are often clear enough in our minds the next day to repeat to friends by the water cooler. To the point, this is Lorayne's contribution to memorization. He added this little bit of essential glue to tie together all the other known memorization techniques into something finally useful. Make it silly, make it memorable. Memorable - in this context, I now understand what that word actually means.

Now, if you make the story violent, or comical, or erotic (sexy is too tame), or frightening, or disgusting, you'll be using a portion of your brain most people don't normally associate with learning. However, the image will be irrepressible, and you're not likely to forget it; particularly, if you imagine mixing other sensations with the images such as the smell of a rose, the prick of a thorn, the clashing of cymbals, or the bitterness of day-old coffee. Read Lorayne's book on how to do it properly and you'll be able to apply it to practical situations like I did.

For exercise, read many books in an active manner by questioning and imagining different situations or possibilities from what you've just immediately read (fantasize!). Watch television (particularly the news) actively as well (imagine the newscasters as nude for starters, then give them Mohawks -ha!) and do it whenever you can. I've started using Lorayne's techniques as a hobby, or a mental game, and I'm discovering it's quite fun. Get his other books to learn of more examples on how to use the techniques.

A final piece of advice for those unwilling to try this very creative method of learning, and would prefer something closer to rote. There's a very efficient method called SuperMemo. Do a search on the web, and find the "pencil and paper" method. As I've said, it's very efficient, but it will take a couple hours of practice to get it right.

Incidentally, I gave Lorayne's book 5 stars although I initially found stories hard to create (that's not his fault, that's our society). I gave it that rating because it works and is delightful to master.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely helpful and very entertaining, September 3, 2003

By 

bob hedges (Deerfield Beach, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Develop a Super-Power Memory: Names, Faces, Numbers, Events, Facts, Ideas! (Signet) (Paperback)

A great number of years ago I bought this book at the airport in Eugene, Oregon. On the flight to Los Angeles I read the book while a salesman sitting beside me wanted to talk. When I finished the book he said, " Do you really think that book will help you?". I said that I didn't know, but that we should put me through a test. I took out the in-flight magaizine in front on me and scanned the first 20 pages. I then gave him the magazine and asked that he give me a page number and I would tell him what advertisers were on that page. He went through all 20 pages and I could recall at least one advertiser on each page. Then I had him give me an advertiser and I would tell him what page it was on. The last time I saw that salesman was in the Los Angeles airport as he was rushing off to a bookstore looking for the book. Over the years I have give demostrations that leave people's mouths open. I can walk into a social setting, meet 20-30 people and be able to recall everyone's name immediately afterwards. People think I have a great memory. Over the years I think the memory muscle has truly developed itself. I got my start from this book and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. I haven't read the book for at least 15-20 years and just recently ordered another copy from Amazon.com. It will work for you with a little practice and a strong positive attitude. Best of luck.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is very simple and most effective, March 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Develop a Super Power Memory (Hardcover)

The book is written in very simple language.It is pretty thin so it does not discourage you from reading it in case you don't have too much patience. I found it extremely useful in my final semesters of engineering when I was required to appear in exams which at times were just a few hours apart.The chain links and peg methods were very useful and allowed me to remember important points and numbers,many of which I had studied more than a month before by exams .Just a last minute glance at the pegs was enough to allow me to recollect all the data on the subject.