Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and be More Productive Kindle Edition

As a college student I found this to be an invaluable resource. I have spent so many hours reading things, hearing things, only to forget them and have to study them all again come test time, and then forget them again after the class is over. Many college students seem shockingly ok with forgetting half of what they spent so much money to learn, I for one spent the money to know and remember what I have been taught. These techniques are worth a bar of gold.

When I first saw this book, I was very skeptical. There is a very bold insinuation made in the title. But because it was on sale on Kindle for $1.49 the day I bought it, I decided it was worth the purchase. A few days later, after finishing the book, I am ready to call this one of the best and certainly most useful non-fiction books I have ever read, and I am a very avid reader.

If you allow this book to change the way you learn, then this book is easily worth 20x the cover price for the keys and tools Horsley provides you with because you'll finally be able to overcome that old adage that claims that we only use about 10% of our brains.

Like most of us, I've always just accepted the limitations that seem inherent with owning a brain, and I've become satisfied that I'll never be able to use more than "10%" as if it is not even realistic to tap into significantly more than that. However, this book invites you to throw away those limitations and strive for more. And Horsley's methods are not difficult to put into practice. They only require commitment, practice, and review. He compares it to taking your mind to the gym for a regular workout.

Some of the strategies that he teaches near the beginning of the book may sound familiar to you, but read on. All the way through to the end. Have fun with the book. Practice what he is teaching you at each and every step along the way. You'll find some of the methods more useful to you than others, but you will find all of them legitimately helpful. Use any information that you want to learn as your training material, and you will see for yourself that these methods work. I'm not even going to give you any examples in this review because you really need to experience it for yourself.

I will say this... usually, after I read a book, I never read it again. Not so with this one. This book is worth my reading every week because I want to practice, learn, and remember all of these methods. Horsley says, "Your mind is the only computer in the world with this characteristic: the more you put into it, the more it holds." His methods illustrate this truth very clearly.

I only wish I could have discovered this book when I was in high school or college. The great thing about learning though is that you always have opportunities to learn more, and all of us could use these methods to be more successful in any area of our lives, personal or professional. This book is going to open up an unlimited world to you, if you are willing to make some changes in the way you think.

I recommend this book.

It is one of the few of its subject matter written by a man who has competed and succeeded at passing tests in international memory competitions.
He does not sugar coat the need for initial effort spent learning the systems, and does not belabor the obvious need & benefits of practice.
He does not over-complicate the systems that he does introduce.

AFTER finishing this book a little extra reading in the subject area, proved that without using the more commonly recognized terms, Mr. Horsley covered many areas of value including the "Major System" for handling the memorization of numbers based on a method of translating numbers into sounds.

I suspect that what practice reveals to some readers..(like me).. about the gaps in their understanding, will motivate them to fill those gaps and practice some more.

We all learn differently, & for this reason Mr. Horsley's book is a decent springboard from which to launch oneself into the act of mental improvement.

The "Aha" moment before I wrote this review relates to a deeper understanding of the "Journey Method".
Be sure to visit a few internet forums that discuss the practice of memory techniques and light your own lamp out of the darkness.

2015-02-23 UPDATE

There are a few points that Mr. Horsley doesn't explicitly state, that are worth mentioning.

1. The words created by the system he introduces in Chapter 12, can be used to create "Peg words" that upon creation are automatically organised in order. Create them, borrow from other people's lists if you have to and take the time to organise your source material so you rank the items/concepts to be remembered in numerical order.

2. Intimately familiarize yourself with the meaning of the word "INCONGRUOUS". It conveys in less than a sentence how to form images that "stick." (E.g. A bear with wings stuck to a honey pot")

3. After you read Chapter 9, and start trying things on your own.... WRITE DOWN your "markers" or places along the journey or "objects" within the room.
Like with anything else, that handwriting, eye, brain thing seems to add stickiness.

2016-08-17 UPDATE
Checked my "Manage Your Content and Devices" section and discovered there is an update to this book. I am not sure what has changed yet.
Sincerely,
Simple Guy.