Page 149 - A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

visual memory system.
Learning to use your memory in a more disciplined, yet creative
manner helps you learn to focus your attention, even as you create
wild, diffuse connections that build stronger memories.
By memorizing material you understand, you can internalize the
material in a profound way. And you are reinforcing the mental library
you need to become a genuine master of the material.

PAUSE AND RECALL

Close the book and look away. What were the main ideas of this
chapter? Tomorrow morning, as you are getting up and beginning your
daily “getting out of bed” routine, try to see what you can recall of
these key ideas.

ENHANCE YOUR LEARNING

1. Describe an image you could use to help you remember an important
equation.

2. Pick any listing of four or more key ideas or concepts from any of your
classes. Describe how you would encode those ideas as memorable
images and tell where you would deposit them in your memory
palace. (For your teacher’s sake, you will want to censor some of your
more memorable images. As a witty British actress once said, “I don’t

care what they do, as long as they don’t do it in the street and frighten
the horses.”)

3. Explain the memory palace technique in a way that your grandmother
could understand.