Hi fellow mnemonists (look at me trying to fit in with the crowd)
My name is Ward. I started reading about memory techniques almost 2 weeks ago and I’m hooked!
I finished Moonwalking with Einstein by Josh Foer, and Develop a Brilliant Memory by Dominic O’Brien.
I love learning, so my goal is to become a human encyclopaedia.
My questions are:
A) Should I create memory palaces that fit the theme of the information? (for example, if I want to memorize human anatomy, should I create a hospital palace?)
B) How should I go about organizing my memory palaces? Do you create a central palace hub and connect the other palaces to it?
hi, i dont think the first thing is very important, still its a nice idea. you can wright down your memory palaces, have a little book with you everywhere u go, u can add more places and you can recall the order of them, when one is filled, imagine a door, or a tunnel, or anything YOU LIKE!! beleive me it will work like magic. good luck
I used my wrist to memorize the carpal bones and things like the extensor pollicis brevis.
Is that thematically bound?
Yes and no, but the point being is that it can be useful.
Connecting Memory Palaces typically adds an additional step that turns the project into Memorized Palaces. It can be done but is not quite the art of memory, which harnesses the mind’s wonderful ability to simply recall spaces well-enough to structure journeys.
Memory will also deprecate connections that are not used, so one more reason to consider applying the time and energy elsewhere.
Don’t fall into the trap of wanting “perfect” palaces and waste time on it.
I say that because this is my problem: I tend to overthink it, and want it to “look” nice and to be perfectly organized and logical and… all for something that is destined to (more or less) fade anyway. The point of memorizing is to know the answer without needing to go to the memory palace after all (at least for me, with time I just know where I am with I recall the information, but I don’t really visualize anything anymore, it’s all blurry).
Just do it, use the techniques a lot, and you’ll see what works and what doesn’t, nothing is set in stone, you can always adapt later. But if you don’t experiment and use it, you’ll never really know what works for you.
I never felt the need to create a palace/list/register of memory palaces. I mean, if I ask myself “in which town does my friend X lives?” my brain is going to give me the answer, without me needing to go through a list of all the towns I know.
I’d say (unless you need it because it’s your only way to schedule your reviews), don’t do it for now, only when you feel the need.
My palaces don’t correspond in any way to the subject matter being stored there. Initially, I tried using a movie theater I know to store all of the Best Picture winners, but there just weren’t enough differences between all of the locations to make each locus stand out. I ended up moving the Best Picture winners to the house I grew up in. That’s worked much better. (And I have room to expand the list as much as will be required in my lifetime.)
But it’s worth pointing out that all of my memory palaces are based on actual locations that I know well in real life. I’m a big proponent of doing that, although I believe many here also use completely imaginary palaces or palaces based on artworks or locations in videogames/movies.
I think other than knowing the place intimately well—so you can walk through it without hindrance in your imagination—you’ll want memory palaces that suit the amount of material you’ll be placing there. While I think the ancient rules regarding spacing of locations are unnecessarily open, you don’t want to cram multiple locations into a small space, which can make recall confusing.
My palaces aren’t connected to one another in any way. But, then, the information is not directly connected either. US Presidents are in an airport (thanks to Ed Cooke’s book), Best Picture winners in my childhood home, Michigan counties in my current house, countries/territories of the world on my college campus, pi at the library across from my childhood home, US states/capitals/dates at my grandmother’s house. But just because the memory palaces are separate doesn’t mean you won’t be able to make connections between them. It isn’t difficult to consider the date when Hawaii became a state, for example, and then jump to my US Presidents palace to see who would have been president at that time or what movie won Best Picture that year.