Customer Reviews

Use Your Perfect Memory: Dramatic New Techniques for Improving Your Memory; Third Edition (Plume)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Tony Buzan's "Use Your Perfect Memory" introduces all of the usual memory pegging techniques, plus a few suggestions for improving your study habits.

I read this book and 4 other memory books in quick sucession intending to compare them. The others were (in order of my preference) "Your Memory : How It Works & How to Improve It" by Kenneth Higbee, "The Memory Book" by Lorayne and Lucas, Buzan's "Use You Perfect Memory", "How to Develop a Superpower Memory" also by Lorayne and finally Kevin Trudeau's "Mega-Memory".

The techniques are organized a little differently from most books and he separates them into minor and major systems. The minor systems are the simple pegging systems, which associate the numbers 1-10 (or letters A-Z) with what you want to rememeber.

The major system is usually called the phonetic system or numbers to letters. It is a phonetic substitution for numbers that let you turn a number into letters and words. Most memory books also include this system.

Of course, all of the books have chapters on remembering names from faces, the most common memory trouble that people have. They all give the same suggestions with little variation and all of them work very well.

Overall, I liked Buzan, but thought Higbee's book was much better. If you only want the techniques and don't care about background and research results, this book is as good as any (Lorayne and Lucas's "The Memory Book" is very comparable to this one). If you want more depth and information, I suggest "Your Memory" by Ken Higbee, which is a much more complete reference to memnonics and memory in general.

"Use Your Perfect Memory" is one of a whole slew of brainpower books written by Tony Buzan. All these books repeat material found in other books, to a greater or lesser degree...he recycles the same information over and over and over again, and his various books are, it seems, often little more than an expansion upon a core idea presented elsewhere.

Be that as it may, the information and techniques he presents are generally fairly sound. I have yet to buy one of his books and to feel ripped off having done so...which is not something I can say about all the brainpower (or accelerated learning) books I've bought. One thing I like about Buzan's books is that they don't promise the sky, which SOOOOOO many other books in this genre do.

This books presents 5 simple memory enhancement techniques, devices that can be used to memorize relatively short lists of information (under 20, generally). There is also a "Master System" which can be used to memorize 1,000 or more pieces of information. (Annoyingly, if you want to further develop this system, Buzan refers you to one of his other books--in fact, he refers you to his other books througout.) The systems can be modified to accomodate different types of information, and for different purposes. There is instruction on remember names and face, phone numbers, poems, dramatic parts, and exam information.

Does it work? Actually, yes. There is nothing groundbreaking here, and nothing magical, but with minimal practice, you will enjoy noticeable results. I haven't used the Master System, so I cannot comment from experience on it, but the principles that it uses are the same as those used in the "smaller" systems, so there is no reason it shouldn't work. This stuff does take an effort, though, and in some cases it is probably better simply to *write* a list, rather than spend the time committing it to memory using even a minor system.

After 4000+ seizures & brain surgery, my memory had fallen into the impaired range. I never thought i'd be able to recall things again. I expressed my frustrations to my neurologist & he suggested this book. It has done wonders for me.

I've always been partial to the works of Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas in the field of memory, but this one is every bit as high quality. I like to call it "just like it only different."

Lorayne and Lucas' books contain the link, substitute words, and mnemonic systems for changing numbers to words. Buzan does this also, and in some places has more detailed information. He even gives the numbers from 100-1000 with substitute name suggestions for all of them. Especially valuable is chapter 11 entitled "Your memory's rhythms" in which he shows a time unit maximum recall graph.

He also refers to left/right brain theories, which some people agree with and others don't. However, I believe that whatever your theory of right/left brain, you will still be greatly helped by using the visual suggestions he gives. It certainly does help the reader use the whole brain.

As with all techniques, memory training requires effort. Studying is always a lot of work regardless of IQ and/or mental discipline. But books like this one make the process a lot more enjoyable, and I can truthfully say that the money I spent on it was more than worth it.

I was a frustrated fifth grader when I read this book. I couldn't spell, remember facts, and worst of all I had to go through the embarassment of having to tape record all my lessons. After this I read Tony Buzan's book from Amazon and it changed my life. Now my friends are amazed when effortlesley I recall a deck of cards or a long digit number. I've gone from C's and D's to nothing but straight A's. Thanks for the the new brain!

The background history on memory provided by Buzan is interesting but a lot of the information discussed is outdated. A wealth of new information has been learned about the brain since 1991. Personally I would recommend Kenneth L. Higbee's "Your Memory: How it Works and How to Improve it." Not only is Higbee's book more thorough in discussing mnemonic techniques, he also delivers memory improvement from a more realistic and practical perspective.

Memory improvement is completely within anyone's control and does not require abnormal brain power. Use Your Perfect Memory discusses many of the memory peg systems that can permit anyone willing to practice the ability to produce astounding retention. Tony Buzan has produced many books on improving memory, and in this book he has covered all his memory peg techniques as well as some history on the evolution of memory.

Buzan makes it clear that powerful memory has little to do with brain capacity and everything to do with skill, practice, and technique. One only needs to spend thirty minutes practicing even one of his memory peg techniques to see the realization of this theory. These techniques will leave you with the ability (if you commit and practice) to retain unbelievable amounts of information that is considered very abnormal by most.

I rate this book moderately because although it is useful and practical, it is not on par with most memory books in terms of the presentation of the material. Buzan's efforts in this book are geared to providing as many techniques as possible to permit one to discover an individual system that matches their preferences. Buzan writes in so much depth on each technique that the material is unnecessarily repetitive. Any capable reader will grasp the process quickly after reading the first memory peg system and easily identify the similarities among all systems thereafter, making much of the content excessive.

I highly recommend Buzan as an author on memory improvement and have rated one of his other books very high, but I recommend passing on this book and seeking out some of his newer material.

well done.A good use of money.Think i will improve my grade but contains the same info as harry lorayne's book the memory book.wonder who is the original source.

Easy techniques that appear to be somewhat child-minded, nonetheless, they remain effective. I was very pleased with the quick results. I would've liked more information about mind-mapping. However, the absence of any detailed information on mind-mapping is available in some of Buzan's other books. Overall, easy and effective techniques and I am pleased with the purchase.

I was so impressed at how well I could do that I am considering entering the 1999 U.S.A. Memory Olympics at 4 Irving Place New York City on February 6th 1999. Buy this book and I''ll see you there.