Read this to better understand the Gary Lanier system and memorizing text verbatim!

MagicallyDelicious · December 26, 2018, 4:48pm

Happy Holidays, all!
Though I may have only recently made an account, I’ve been using the site for a few years. You all have been invaluable to my journey as a memory sage! Specific special thanks to @Bateman and @Josh.

So, recently, I came upon the post made about Gary Lanier’s technique. I’ve read the paste bin file(Lanier Verbatim Memory System - Pastebin.com), but I’m afraid I’m having trouble understanding just exactly where everything needs to be. Is there a possibility anyone would be willing to draw a diagram or two in order to help me(and any others curious) understand the function and structure of the system?

EDIT REASON: forgot the “b” in “pastebin” and added a link to the post.

Josh · December 27, 2018, 3:29am

I only vaguely remember how it works, but I’ll take another look soon. Have you seen his posts and videos about it yet?

Sahil · December 27, 2018, 6:59am

Can anyone explain a bit more about this

MagicallyDelicious · December 27, 2018, 8:51am

I HAVE seen the videos, but I was NOT aware of those posts. About to do some binge reading. But I know I’ll still need those diagrams. I suppose I’m mainly a visual learner?

MagicallyDelicious · December 27, 2018, 8:51am

Sure!

Gary Lanier is a follower of Christ who composes music. He developed a specialized system for memorizing Holy Bible scriptures, and this technique can be used for effectively memorizing any passages of text word-for-word.

I don’t THINK that it’s very complicated, but I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it at the moment.

MagicallyDelicious · December 27, 2018, 2:39pm

Here is something Gary Lanier said that I found particularly helpful as far as examples and explanations go.

garylanier
Aug '13
“ Aazib:
Hi, Let’s say you want to memorize this:

The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who were credited with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. From 1905 to 1907, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.(Wikipedia).

How would YOU?”

Hi Aazib… here’s my take that I posted a few weeks ago on my blog:

Verbatim Approach to Memorizing Sentences & Paragraphs

MEMORY ENVIRONMENT
By using what I call a Memory Environment, that is basically a picture backdrop, that represents the overall subject matter, I can mnemonically memorize word sequences by the use of image pegs or hooks.

ALPHA CHARACTERS
Though using the peg system is common, a unique addition that has been very helpful to me, is the use of Alpha Characters. They work like mini-journeys (4 locations each). Their sequence is derived from the first word or two of each sentence, which I call the Sentence TITLE.

Example: If the sentence begins with the WORD “AND,” the Alpha Characters used are 3 familiar Ladies whose names start with A, N, & D. Each Lady holds 4 words, 12 words all together. If the sentence is longer, add the MEN whose names start with A, N, & D. That gives 12 more words…and so on. If that’s not enough, simply add a word to the TITLE.

One other thing, every word in each sentence has a SUBSTITUTE or SYMBOL. That’s what gives the verbatim possibility.

THE FOLLOWING IS A GRID ON HOW I DID IT!

Subject: THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

Memory Environment Image: Wright Brothers Airplane in grassy, sandy lot

Sentence Number 1 of 3:The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who were credited with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903.

Sentence Title (usually first word or two): THE WRIGHT
wright_brothers_1_of_4.png
wright_brothers_2_of_4.png

Sentence Number 2 of 3: From 1905 to 1907, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft.

Sentence Title: FROM
wright_brothers_3_of_4.png

Sentence Number 3 of 3: Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.

Sentence Title: ALTHOUGH
wright_brothers_4_of_4.png

To me, building a SUBSTITUTE WORD vocabulary, is like learning another language. After a little practice, things begin to fall in place.

That’s about all there is to it.
gary

MagicallyDelicious · December 28, 2018, 10:02pm

@Josh
I’m still confused. I’ve been reading and reading and reading, but I really don’t think it’s gonna click until I see an example.

Josh · December 28, 2018, 10:10pm

I haven’t used the system, and I don’t remember all the details of how it works. Have you seen his videos? I think he gave some examples there, but I haven’t watched them since they were originally posted. (I’ll try to take a look again later tonight.)

MagicallyDelicious · December 29, 2018, 1:18am

Yeah, I’ve watched the videos, but they don’t do much for that the written form doesn’t do. I need a straight up diagrammatic drawing with all of the components of the method in view and labeled. That being said, I’m not trying to pressure you into it or anything. I might make a post somewhere if I can find the right place and ask anyone if they’re familiar with the method enough to do such a thing. Although, I wonder if Gary himself is available?

fcfv · December 29, 2018, 3:40am

I think this might help you:

Josh · December 29, 2018, 5:56am

Have you seen this description?

I took a closer look, and the system has some very interesting ideas in it. I don’t know if this alternate explanation will help, but I think it works something like this:

Street-Sidewalk-Structure

From what I can understand it uses an S.S.S. technique where each chapter is memorized using a Street, Sidewalk, and Structure. That part is described in section 2-2 of the pastebin starting on line 133.

The street is a location (see memory palaces) that holds information about the book and chapter numbers (see the Major System).

The sidewalk is a location that holds the number of the verse and the “title” of the verse, which appears to often be the first word of the verse.

On the structure, choose four locations, like in his image here:

         Pos 1
 
          ___I_
         /\-_--\
        /  \_-__\
Pos 4   |[]| [] |   Pos 2
 
         Pos 3

(I love the formatting and illustrations in that text document. )

Alpha Characters

You then take the title of the verse (usually the first word) and create “alpha characters” (people and objects) from them using the letters of the title.

To create alpha characters, create three people/objects for each letter of the alphabet: one male, one female, and one object. You will have 78 alpha characters in your system.

If I’m understanding it correctly, it might look like this:

Letter	Male	Female	Object
A	Abe	Amy	Apple
B	Bob	Beth	Box
C	Charles	Cindy	Cantaloupe
D	Dave	Debbie	Door
etc.

He uses the images of women for odd sentences and men for even sentences. If the title word is too short to use for the sentence (each letter of the title holds just 4 words), then you can use multiple alpha characters for that single letter. For example, if the first word of the sentence is “A”, then you could memorize 12 words on that letter by using all three alpha characters for that letter: Abe, Amy, and Apple. Alternatively, you could use the first two words of the sentence as the title for the sentence.

Each character acts out four words from the sentence or verse, moving through the four locations in a clockwise direction, and interacting with one word per location. The first alpha character moves through four locations, then the second, then the third, etc.

F-A-C-E

F-A-C-E looks like a way to strengthen the associations or add more locations for each alpha character. It stands for Feature, Abode, Career, and Event.

A. Feature – physical feature that stands out – Position 1
B. Abode - Where they live – Position 2
C. Career - What they do (Doctor, Wife, Student) – Position 3
D. Event - Some memorable event in their life – Position 4

There are two ways that F-A-C-E seems to be used:

to strengthen associations by adding a prop to each location:

                 Pos 1 + AC Feature
 
                     ___I_
                    /\-_--\
                   /  \_-__\
Pos 4 + AC Event   |[]| [] |   Pos 2 + AC Abode
 
                 Pos 3 + AC Career

to add four extra pegs per location, giving each alpha character a capacity of 16 items instead of just four:

                            Pos 1-1
                               |
                               |
                   Pos 1-4--FEATURE--Pos 1-2
                               |
                               |
                            Pos 1-3
                               |
                            Pos 1
 
      Pos 4-1                ___I_                 Pos 2-1
         |                  /\-_--\                   |
         |                 /  \_-__\                  |
Pos 4-4-EVNT-Pos 4-2-Pos 4 |[]| [] | Pos 2-Pos 2-4--ABODE--Pos 2-2
         |                                            |
         |                  Pos 3                     |
      Pos 4-3                  |                   Pos 2-3
                            Pos 3-1
                               |
                               |
                   Pos 3-4--CAREER--Pos 3-2
                               |
                               |
                            Pos 3-3

Example

Section 3-1 on line 284 provides a good example.

Additional Uses

There are some interesting ideas starting on line 463. If you’re going to the bank and need to remember your to-do list there, the word “bank” becomes your title word. Convert the first letters into alpha characters: Bob, Abe, and Nathan (or whatever your images are). Then those alpha characters could walk around your structure (the bank itself), interacting with the mnemonic images that represent your to-do items.

Line 469 describes how to memorize the US Presidents by using the first six letters of the word “President” and two alpha characters per letter.

It’s a bit more complex than the plain method of loci, but I think there are some great ideas for new types of memory systems there.

MagicallyDelicious · December 29, 2018, 8:16pm

I could still really use an illustration, but this helps a lot, I think. THANK YOU!

Josh · December 30, 2018, 8:14am

I’m not sure if it’s exactly like this, but this is my understanding of it so far.

The quote is from line 139 (I think) of As You Like It by Shakespeare.

Extract the title word – which is “All” in this case.
Find your S-S-S: Street, Sidewalk, and Structure.
Encode the name of the book on the street.
Encode the line/verse number along with the title on the sidewalk.
Convert the letters of your title into alpha[bet] characters. The “A” might be “Alice”, the first “L” could be “Lucy” and the third could be “Lemon” (an alternate alpha character for “L”).
Then encode four words per alpha character, going clockwise. The words get encoded by using substitute words. For example, the word “a” might become “hay”, the word “and” might become “hand”, and the word “the” might get the “t” dropped to make “he”, which could become He-Man. The purpose of changing the words is to convert abstract information into something that can be imagined clearly (usually visual images). So in the first locations (around “Alice”), the images might be He-Man, the world (or a globe), hay, and a stage.
If you have touble making the images stick, you could add the F-A-C-E images to reinforce the associations. The image of He-Man could be linked to a Feature of Alice. the image of the world/globe could be linked to Alice’s Abode. the image of hay could be linked to Alice’s Career. The image of the stage could be linked to some Event in Alice’s life.

There are some more possibilities for it that are listed in the pastebin, but I think that’s the basic idea.

(Edit: the choice of quote was arbitrary. That line is relatively easy to remember due to the iambic meter, so I think it would be slower to create a mnemonic image for every word than to just memorize it with a little repetition.)

AjmalNasar · December 31, 2018, 2:34am

Hii, I m still not able to grab this idea.Is there anyone who can tell me in more clear terms with more easy and daily life examples?I will be thankful.Thanx alot.

MagicallyDelicious · December 31, 2018, 2:35am

Is English your first language?

AjmalNasar · December 31, 2018, 2:36am

Not at all dear!

MagicallyDelicious · December 31, 2018, 2:37am

What is?

AjmalNasar · December 31, 2018, 2:37am

Its pashto and then urdu.

MagicallyDelicious · December 31, 2018, 2:40am

(Click here for translated version)

ما نژدې نږدې نظر وکړ، او دا سیستم په دې کې ځینې خورا زړه پورې نظرونه لري. زه نه پوهیږم چې دا بدیل وضاحت به مرسته وکړي، مګر زما په اند دا یو څه کار کوي:

د سړک سړک - جوړښت

له هغه څه چې زه پوهیږم دا د S.S.S. تخنیک چېرې په هر فصل کې د سړک، Sidewalk او جوړښت څخه کار اخیستل کیږي. دا برخه د تیرې ربعې په 2-2 برخه کې په 133 لیکه کې بیان شوې.

واټ یو ځای دی (د یادولو محلات وګوري) چې د کتاب او سورت شمیرې په اړه معلومات لري (لوی میجر سیستم وګورئ).

پټلۍ هغه ځای دی چې د آیتونو شمیره او د آیات د “لقب”، چې ډیری وخت د آیت لومړنی کلام دی.

په جوړښت کې، څلور موقعیتونه غوره کړئ، لکه څنګه چې د هغه په تصویر کې:

     پوست 1

      __I_
     / \ -_-- \
    / \ _ -__ \

پوسټ 4 | | | پوس 2

     پوست 3

(زه د متن متن کې د فورمې او انځورونو سره مينه لرم.: مسکر:)

الفا حروف

تاسو بیا د آیت لقب (عموما لومړی کلمه) واخلئ او د عنوان لیکونو په کارولو سره د “الفا حرفو” (خلکو او شیانو) جوړ کړئ.

د الففا حرفونو د رامنځته کولو لپاره، د الف حروف د هر خط لپاره درې خلک / توکي جوړ کړئ: یو نارینه، یوه ښځه، او یو اعتراض. تاسو به ستاسو په سیسټم کې 78 الفا حروف ولري.

که زه په سمه توګه پوه شوم، دا کیدی شي دا داسې وي:

ليکه د ښځينه ښځينه څيز
A Abe Amy ایپل
ب باب بټ بکس
C چارلس سیندي کیټلپپ
D Dave Debbie Door
نور
هغه د ښځو انځورونه د بدو جملو او آن نارینیو لپاره د نارینه وو لپاره کاروي. که د سرلیک کلمه د قضیې لپاره کارول ډیر لنډ وي (د سرلیک هر لیک یوازې څلور کلمې لري)، نو تاسو کولی شئ د دې یو لیک لپاره ډیری الفا کونکي استعمال کړئ. د مثال په توګه، که د جملې لومړۍ کلمه “A” وي، نو تاسو به د دې لیک لپاره د ټولو دریو الفا حرفو کارولو په واسطه په خط کې 12 کلمې حفظ کولی شئ: Abe، Amy، او Apple. په عین حال کې، تاسو کولی شئ د جملې لومړنۍ دوه کلمې د جملې لپاره سرته ورسوئ.

هر حروف د جملې یا آیت څخه څلور کلمې ترسره کوي، په څلورو ځایونو کې د یو ساعت طرف لوري ته حرکت کوي، او په هر ځای کې د یوې کلمې سره مینځ ته راځي. د لومړي الفا شخص د څلورو ځایونو له لارې حرکت کوي، بیا دویمه، بیا دریم، او نور.

F-A-C-E

F-A-C-E د اتحادیې پیاوړتیا لپاره د یوې لارې په څیر ښکاري یا د هر الفا ځانګړتیاوو لپاره نور ځایونه شامل کړي. دا د فیچر، اموډو، کیریر او واقعیت لپاره ولاړ دی.

الف. فیچر - فزیکي خصوصیت چې ولاړ دی - پوزیشن 1
ب. اوډوډ - چیرته چې دوی ژوند کوي - دریمه برخه
C پاملرنه - هغه څه چې کوي) ډاکتر، میرمنې، زده کونکي (- دریم مقام
D. واقعیت - ځینې یادونکي پیښې په خپل ژوند کې - څلورم مقام
داسې ښکاري چې F-A-C-E داسې کارول کیږي:

د هر ځای لپاره د یو پروپوزل په واسطه اتحادونو پیاوړتیا:
Pos 1 + AC فیچر

                 __I_
                / \ -_-- \
               / \ _ -__ \

Pos 4 + AC Event | | | Pos 2 + AC Abode

             Pos 3 + AC Career

په څلورو ځایونو کې اضافي اضافه ګرافونه اضافه کړئ، د هر الفا ځانګړتیاوې یوازې د څلورو توکو په ځای د 16 توکو وړتیا ورکول:
پوسټ 1-1
|
|
پوهه 1-4 - فیصده - پوسته 1-2
|
|
پوست 1-3
|
پوست 1

  پوټا 4-1 __I پوړی 2-1
     | / \ -_-- \ |
     | / \ _ -__ \ |

برخه 3-1 284 کې ښه مثال وړاندې کوي.

اضافي استعمال

د 463 په لیکه کې ځینې ځینې دلچسپ نظرونه شتون لري. که تاسو بانک ته ځئ او هلته ستاسو د ترسره کولو لیست ته اړتیا لرئ، نو “بانک” ستاسو د لقب کلمه کیږي. لومړني لیکونه الفا حرفو ته بدل کړئ: باب، آبی، او ناتن (یا هرڅه چې ستاسو تصویرونه وي). بیا وروسته دغه الفا کونکي ستاسو د جوړښت شاوخوا (خپل ځان بانک)، د نیونی انځورونو سره مینځ ته راوړي چې ستاسو د کارو توکو استازیتوب کوي.

لینډ 469 تشریح کوي چې څنګه د “ولسمشر” او په هر لیک کې دوه الفا حرفو لومړۍ سایټونه کارولو په واسطه د متحده ایاالتو ولسمشرانو یادونه کول.

دا د loci د سمه طریقې څخه یو څه ډیر پیچلي دی، مګر زما په اند دلته د یادولو نوي سیسټمونو لپاره د پام وړ نظریات شتون لري.

AjmalNasar · December 31, 2018, 2:41am

Plzz send it in urdu! Thanx