Master of Memory: Accelerated learning, education, memorization - MMem 0478: Adding information to basic facts in a memory palace

Episode Date: January 6, 2016

Gretchen is working on a history timeline in a memory palace, and she wants to be able to add details to basic facts. If you have a fact memorized, but you want to be able to add less essential details to that fact, where should you place the extra information? What do you want to […]

Master of Memory 478 Welcome to Master of Memory. I'm Timothy and I'm here to answer your accelerated learning questions every day and to inspire and empower you to learn anything you want to learn faster than ever. Gretchen said in an email, How would you approach add-ons to the basic information being memorized, such as unusual names in addition to a central fact? For example, in memorizing the Battle of the Kalka River in 1223, I want to remember the names of the Mongol generals,

Jebe and Subutai. If I had Jeb Bush as Jebe and a scuba diver as Subutai, and I linked them somehow, how would that work with the basic mnemonic of Nemo cocking a sign, which reminds me of the Kalka River in 1223? So Gretchen, what I would suggest doing is focusing on the basic facts first and then adding other information in a different category or in a different place than your basic facts. So you have the basic fact of Nemo cocking a sign, and that means that every time you go to 1223 in your memory palace, you can see this battle of the Kalka River. You can remember that from that trigger. Now, it may be that sometimes when you review your palace, you only want to see the Battle

of the Kalka River and not all the details mixed into that. Now, we're using these abstract terms like details mixed into that, but when we create memory palaces based on these ideas, we're actually kind of organizing things in our mind in almost a literal way doing that. So instead of mixing those names of Jebe and Subutai, we're actually going to put them in a slightly different place so that they're separate and you can look deeper to see those details when you want them. So for me, what that might mean is I'll have Nemo cocking the sign as the basic fact, and he's above the ground cocking the sign. He's swimming in the air and doing that. But then if I choose to look down, then sinking into the ground, we have Jeb Bush and a scuba diver kind of fighting with each other or whatever you find most memorable. And so what's going on

here is they're actually below your basic fact, and you can skim over them if you want, or you can look down and see them. And since they're tied to the same location in the sense of a plane, you know, you do have to move up and down, so one is below the other, but they're in the same, I guess, geographical location on the map, so they're tied in the same way, even though they're not mixed in and affecting your basic mnemonic that you always want to remember. Now, this is a very specific example, so going with something more general, let's think about the presidential memory palace that I've talked about recently in other episodes. If you want to memorize the presidents, I would suggest starting with just their date into office, the year that they entered office, and then a mnemonic

for the last name. If you put that around your palace, then you can include the other details like their first name, their vice president, and so on by putting that below the presidents. So whenever you want to review your whole palace, you can just go through the dates in and the last names of the presidents, but then you might occasionally, and I would suggest doing it less often actually, review the details of the palace by looking at all the other details like the vice presidents and stuff by looking lower down at where you've actually physically placed the vice presidents lower than the presidents. In some ways, this tactic actually relates to what I talked about in the previous episode about learning calculus, where you're starting with your main definition, and then you're moving into less and less central details,

but then always returning to that main definition. I really recommend, you know, reviewing the basic things first, and then going into the details, but always returning to the basic things. So review Nemo cocking the sign more often than the names of the generals, but do review them, you know, occasionally just to make sure that you can access them when you want. Now, for everyone listening, if you're not sure what I'm referring to when I talk about number pegs and memory palaces and all the other obscure things that I mentioned in these episodes, please check out masterofmemory.com slash start for a complete starter guide on how to use mnemonics and accelerated learning to arm yourself to be able to learn anything faster than ever. Meanwhile, what do you want to learn? The world's knowledge can be yours. Leave your learning request at masterofmemory.com question and I'll talk to you again soon. Thank you.