Recommended Books and Resources on the Art of Memory
1. Excavating the Memory Palace: Arts of Visualization from the Agora to the Computer by Seth Long
For a concise history of the memory palace and the debates throughout the history of mnemonics, I highly recommend this book. He also has an interesting section on the relationship between memory and technology.
2. Remember It by Nelson Dellis
This book is considered a companion to one of the most popular modern books on mnemonics, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Science and Art of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer. This is perhaps one of the most practical books on the art of memory that I have encountered. For those who are first starting out with mnemonics, I usually recommend this book. It teaches the fundamentals of the link method, memory palace, encoding, memory training, and creating mnemonic systems.
3. Advanced Memory Palaces by Joe Reddington
After you have understood the fundamentals of mnemonics, I recommend Advanced Memory Palaces by Joe Reddington. This book has particularly interesting thoughts on memory palace design and how to think about the structure of memory palaces for retrieving information. You can listen to his interview on the Craft of Memory Podcast (Episode #23).
4. The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture by Mary Carruthers
This is my favorite book on the art of memory which discusses the role of memory in virtue and composition during the medieval period. She observes the place of mnemonics in thinkers such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Dante Alighieri, Hugh of St. Victor and more.
5. The Logic and the Art of Memory: The Quest for a Universal Language
This is a rather dense read, but gives a thorough history of the art of memory, particularly during the Renaissance period. It discusses Lull and Giordano Bruno, who have made significant contributions in mnemonics. Interestingly, the PAO technique used by modern memory athletes to memorize decks of playing cards and random strings of digits ultimately derived from earlier thinkers.
6. The Art of Memory by Francis Yates
This is a must read for all those interested in the history of mnemonics. Yates was one of the first scholars to popularize the suggestion that Dante shaped the Divine Comedy after the principles of mnemonics taught by Cicero and other ancient rhetoricians.
8. Memory Techniques: A Systematic Analysis of Modern Mnemonics by Douglas Hoff
This is one of the most comprehensive books on the art of memory. A lot of memory athletes do not write books on mnemonics, but only discuss them on forums or at memory competitions. Douglas Hoff has read the entire art of memory forum and interviewed memory athletes to systematically compile their techniques.
9. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remember Everything by Joshua Foer
This book is considered a must read in the field of mnemonics and has captured the imagination of many. If you were to ask most memory athletes how they got into memory sports, they would probably reference this book. Joshua Foer, an American scientific journalist debunks the idea of photographic memory and argues that one’s memory can be trained.
10. Preaching the Memory of Virtue and Vice: Memory, Images, and Preaching in the Late Middle Ages
This book explores the role of mnemonics in medieval preaching with a particular emphasis upon the Franciscans. Memory treatises taught not only how to memorize texts, but how to make texts more memorable.
11. The Medieval Craft of Memory: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures
This is a collection of important texts on the art of memory that have been translated from Latin. I recommend the sections on Hugh of St. Victor, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Bradwardine, and Jacob Publicius.
ARTICLES
● “How a Franciscan Preacher Memorized the Decretals in the Later Middle Ages: Johannes Sintram’s Mnemonic Diagram.” Submitted to volume Memory in the Middle Ages, edited by Lucie Doležalová and Jan Čermák
● “Learning and Remembering Canon Law in the Fifteenth Century: The Ars et doctrina studendi et docendi of Juan Alfonso de Benavente,” in From Learning to Love: Schools, Law, and Pastoral Care in the Middle Ages. Essays in Honour of Joseph W. Goering, ed. Tristan Sharp in collaboration with Isabelle Cochelin, Abigail Firey, Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Giulio Silano (Toronto: PIMS Press, 2017), 266-290.
● “Remembering Canon and Civil Law around 1400,” Nottingham Medieval Studies: Inventing a Path. Studies in Medieval Rhetoric in Honour of Mary Carruthers 56 (2012): 265-80.
● “Memory and History in the Middle Ages,” in Writing the History of Memory, ed. Stefan Berger and William Niven (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014), 47-64.
● "Creating the Memory of God in a Medieval Miscellany: Melk MS 1075, Jean de Hesdin (fl. 1350-1370), and Late Medieval Monastic Reform," in Medieval Manuscript Miscellanies: Composition, Authorship, Use, ed. Lucie Doležalová and Kimberly Rivers (Krems: Medium Aevum Quotidianum, 2013), 112-38.
● “Writing the Memory of the Virtues and Vices in Johannes Sintram’s (d. 1450) Preaching Aids,” in The Making of Memory in the Middle Ages, ed. Lucie Doležalová (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 32-48.
● “The Dangers of the Imagination: Mental Images in Mnemonic Texts, 1300-1700,” in Image Makers and Image Breakers: Proceedings of a St. Michael’s College Symposium (1-2 March 2002), ed. Jennifer A. Harris (New York, Ottawa, Toronto: Legas, 2003), 93-107.
● “The Fear of Divine Vengeance: Mnemonic Images as a Guide to Conscience in the Late Middle Ages,” in Fear and Its Representations in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. Anne Scott and Cynthia Kosso (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002), 66-91.
● Introduction to and translation of memory section of Francesc Eiximenis’ Ars praedicandi for The Medieval Craft of Memory: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, ed. Mary Carruthers and Jan Ziolkowski (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), 189-204.
● “Memory and Medieval Preaching: Mnemonic Advice in the Ars praedicandi of Francesc Eiximenis (c.1327-1409),” Viator 30 (1999): 253-84.
● “Memory, Division, and the Organization of Knowledge in the Middle Ages,” in Pre-modern Encyclopaedic Texts, edited by Peter Binkley (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 147-158.
Podcasts Episodes and Videos
How to Build a Memory Palace by Ronald Johnson
Memory Palaces and the Art of Image Placement w/ Guillaume Petit Jean
How to Memorize Numbers by Ronald Johnson
The First Letter Method for Memorizing Texts by Nelson Dellis
Memory Training Software
https://www.iamwmc.com/competition/training.html
https://memoryleague.com/#!/train
There are many books on memory techniques, but very few on how to actually train with software. Most learn by browsing and asking questions on the art of memory forum which can be found here.
Recommended Memory Coaches
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