I had an idea recently about an online reading group for memory books.
Would anyone be interested in reading through memory books at the same time, sharing notes, and discussing the chapters?
I got the idea after attending reading groups in California. They meet regularly to discuss readings on philosophy, literature, psychology, etc.
I’m thinking about starting with a couple of scholarly books on the subject by authors like Francis Yates (The Art of Memory) and Mary Carruthers (Medieval memory techniques).
We could schedule a certain number of chapters per week, and use the wiki to collaboratively take notes. If people wanted to meet by webcam to discuss the readings we could do that also.
If anyone is interested in the idea, please leave comments and suggestions below.
Time my friend, time… is becoming more of an asset as it flies by. I’ve read most memory books though, so if you guys want to discuss it online, I think I can spare 30 minutes. No problem.
I’m thinking that we could all take notes in the wiki. That way we would have a giant set of notes that is collaboratively created. We could also discuss the books in the forum and by webcam.
Since we already discuss techniques in the forum, I was thinking that it might be interesting to start with something like The Art of Memory by Frances Yates and/or something by Mary Carruthers. I have two of her books: The Medieval Craft of Memory, and The Memory Book.
Those books take a more historical approach. There might also be some interesting information buried in them about forgotten techniques…
I have just finished skimming through Mary Carruthers ‘The Book of Memory’ and found it very interesting, although by far and away the best bits for me were the actual translations of original materials. Thus I have now ordered ‘the medieval craft…’ which is wholly comprised of translations.
Incidentally I found the translation of Bradwardine absolutely fascinating, both for his memory system and the great descriptions of images and their interactions.
Unfortunately I can’t find an online text as I would love to post it or extracts on here.
I just created the outline of a wiki page for collaborative notetaking here:
I’m hoping that eventually there will be a long list of collaboratively edited notes on books here:
The books don’t have to be about memory. The main point would be to create notes for books that would allow easy memorization with memory palaces or other techniques.
If anyone wants to edit the wiki but doesn’t have an account yet, just send me a message and I will create an account for you.
I’ve read most memory books though, so if you guys want to discuss it online, I think I can spare 30 minutes. No problem.