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

by Tony Buzan (Author)
Key Phrases: memory phrase, right cortex, peg system, Major System, Memory Principles, Mind Map (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Now in a totally updated edition--the secrets of how to stretch memory skills to the fullest. Buzan has devised an ingenious system for memory improvement, geared to handle each specific memory problem--from everyday names and phone numbers to special programs for card players to showing students how to prepare for and get optimum results on exams.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Plume (January 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452266068
• ISBN-13: 978-0452266063
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,636 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

167 of 170 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good memory book, August 2, 2000

By	Travis Cottreau (Wellington, New Zealand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Introduction to Memory Techniques, June 26, 2000

By	John Noodles (A Field in ND, USA) - See all my reviews

"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.

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a Godsend, February 13, 2000

By A Customer

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.