Memory Palace

How is your memory?   What we mostly do with notes and apps and rote memorization(memorization by sheer repetition) to remind ourselves, people in ancient and medieval times mostly did with something called a memory palace. 

Assuming you're more interested in the practical applications of a memory palace(method of loci), I will leave most of the history to google and books. I will however give two demonstrative examples and one interesting fact. Memorizing a book by this method was considered average in ancient times. Today? There are people who utilize this method to memorize a vast chunk of pi, remember several decks within a short period of time, and many more examples. These are average people who have trained their memories from journalists to economists.  Interesting fact: many cultures have come up with it independently (Greeks usually get the credit, but many native civilizations have came up with it)

Memory palace is using a place you know well and placing a vivid mental image there for what you want to remember.  You could mentally place the Statue of Liberty with a blazing red Motorcycle helmet instead of a head to remember that your keys are on the living room coffee table(be sure to be vivid).

 

It's just a simple memory aid.  It doesn't necessarily have to replace your apps, but consider this, most people's memory are only as good as their apps.

Rote memorization(memorization by sheer repetition) isn't always the best way to memorize.  When you memorize hard stuff by rote, it either becomes a use-it-or-lose-it situation, or else a learned skill.  You remember H20 is pure water, but think of all the equations that you have forgotten.  And the equations are not the only thing that has slipped your mind.  

On a slightly offtopic note, what probably happened to your mind during my previous sentence is called the Barnum effect.

Memory palaces are great for ordered lists.  Let's call the places where we put these reminders loci.

 Let's say the first loci is your front door.  Now starting from the front door, let's say your anniversary is coming up.  You could perhaps visualize hobbits gouging themselves on chocolate and flowers.  Or you could not.  It's your mind. 

The next thing is your everyday shopping list.  Let's take your shopping list.  Bananas, plumbing putty, orange juice, a soccer ball, lemon custard, smoked salmon, sunscreen, a Christmas coffee cup, paper towels, toothbrushes, tupperware,  and red earmuffs.  Plumbing putty might sound difficult to put in, but if you need it, you probably need only a faint reminder like Mario.  

Try a memory palace using your home with the above list. Try it in order.  And, oh yes, have fun with it.  Make it ridiculous, absurd, and even far-fetched if you like so much so that you cannot entirely ignore it.  If you use your home, visualize the stuff at each loci as you pass by.  Don't sweat getting a bunch of training in (unless you are a memory athlete in which case, do sweat it).

Keeping a memory palace isn't hard unless you overcomplicate it.  I can give you advice like start small, and check it once as you go to sleep, but a memory palace is nothing more than vivid imagery in a well-known place. That's all.

P.S.  There will be my thoughts on unsolved mysteries and other thoughts as an amateur detective.