HOW TO DEVELOPA MORY DOMINIC O’BRIEN le‘To my dear mother Pamela who is forever saying, “How does he do it” ‘The author would like to thank Jon Stock for his invaluable assistance in preparing this book. First published in Great Britain in 1993 by Pavilion Books Limited, 26 Upper Ground, London SEI 9PD. Copyright © Dominic O'Brien 1993 ‘The moral right of the author has been asserted. Designed by Peter Bridgewater All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder. “The Father ofthe Bride speech by Richard Curtis and ‘Rowan Atkinson is reproduced by kind permission of ‘The Peters, Fraser & Dunlop Group Ltd and PJB Management, ACIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1 85793 1068 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Lid, Frome and London. 24681097531 ‘This book may be ordered by post direct from the publisher. Please contact the Marketing Department. But try your bookshop firs. Dominic O'Brien's Management Company: Bob England, Hurricane, 17 Bull Plain, Hertford, Herts SG14 IDX. ‘Telephone number: 0992 500818. aHOW TO DEVELO A_ PERFECT MEMORY CONTENTS 1: Introduction 2: How to remember lists 3: What's in a name? 4: How to remember numbers 5: The mental diary 6: The mental in-tray 7: Memory and job interviews 8: How to remember speeches 9: How to remember directions 10: Learning the twentieth century calendar 11: How to recall ‘lost’ chapters of your life 12: How to learn languages 13: How to remember geographical facts 14: How to remember history 15: Popular mnemonics 16: How to memorize a pack of playing cards 17: How to win (always) at Trivial Pursuit 18: Memory and sport 19: How memory can improve your golf swing 20: How memory can improve your chess game 21: More on cards — how to memorize thirty-five decks 22; Number crunching 23: Remembering binary numbers 24: How to win at blackjack 25: How to beat quiz machines 26: Memory and the Greeks 27: Famous memory men 28: Conclusion Appendix A: Name and face exercises Selected Bibliography 10 17 25 37 42 + 46 50 54 66 72 él 90 95 103 108 U5 19 125 128 139 147 152 159 169 170 174