Hello everyone! It is my first post and I’m not a native speaker so I hope my post is clear enough.
I’m planning to memorize a General Knowledge book structured into 1001 questions divided into chapters (History, Economics, Medicine, Physics, etc.) and would like some advice on what methods to use. Here you can see a preview of the book: Toda la cultura en 1001 preguntas - Carlos Blanco - Google Libros (it is written in Spanish)
When asked for a number I would like to retrieve the question as well as the answer (e.g. Q: What is question number 345? A: When was the wheel invented?: 5000 BC in Mesopotamia). I won’t memorize the answers verbatim but about 2-5 facts about each (date and place of birth, main idea, examples, etc.). I don’t want to memorize page numbers just the numbers of the questions.
I thought of using peg words from the major system (1-1001) and then the story method for the different facts. Another option would be peg words linking to a memory palace where I would store in the first locus the question and then the different facts in the following loci. But I feel that building 1001 memory palaces might be overkill…
Do you recommend one method over the other or suggest something completely different?
Thank you in advance,
P.S. I am a bit reluctant to learn the major system peg words from 101-1001, I feel that I could restart the numbering for each chapter to avoid this and memorize the starting question’s number and then just add the stored number. Any tips on this would be welcomed too!
I would use memory palaces exclusively and forget about the Peg System. Get at least 10 palaces of 100 loci each. Or 20 palaces of 50 loci each. Use your home, the home of friends and neighbors, schools, shops, parks, etc. Sounds tough, but believe me, this will be easier than learning 1,000 pegs. Develop a 2-digit system and learn it well.
Let each memory palace represent a category. Within each memory palace, mark every fifth location with a vivid image, such as being on fire, or dripping in gold, or something like that. Practice going to every fifth locus in your mind quickly. Soon you’ll be able to quickly identify the number order of every locus.
On each locus, place images to remind you of the event, then use your two-digit system to establish any dates you wish to remember.
Thank you very much for your response tracym as I’m quite a beginner!
I will use 10 loci for each room and the fifth will be different as you suggested.
I understood the gist of the method you suggest except for how to link the answer to the question. I assume you would place images in the Palaces corresponding to the questions, but where would you store the facts for the answers? in a linked new palace or as a story?
Thank you once again
You’ll need to create several images in sort of a “mini-story” on each locus. Here’s an example: Suppose question 21 is “When was the USA’s Declaration of Independence written?” and the answer is 1776. You’d create the images on your 21st locus (which hopefully is in a memory palace you use for USA History). Now you need to create your story. You could imagine a bunch of guys wearing period-appropriate clothes, complete with powdered wigs, standing around a desk. Now you’d use your 2-digit system to remember the 1776. For me, 17 is a duck and 76 is the action of coughing, so I’d visualize a coughing duck standing on top of the Declaration of Independence on the desk.