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Hacking Your Memory

Hacking Your Memory. Learn faster. Be smarter. About Me. Microsoft Developer – C#, F# Former Development Manager Former Enterprise Architect, US Airways Currently writing the next Great Windows 8 Killer App in order to Get Rich Quick. Blog: http://TheSkillfulBrain.com. Agenda.

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Hacking Your Memory

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  1. Hacking Your Memory Learn faster. Be smarter.

  2. About Me • Microsoft Developer – C#, F# • Former Development Manager • Former Enterprise Architect, US Airways • Currently writing the next Great Windows 8 Killer App in order to Get Rich Quick. • Blog: http://TheSkillfulBrain.com

  3. Agenda • Story telling: The Experiment • The Case for Memorization • Three Key Concepts • Foundational Memory Hack: Engaging Your Memory • Foundational Memory Hack: Subverting Location • Foundational Memory Hack: Beating the Numbers • Wrap-up and Review • Resources

  4. The Experiment • Initial result: Seven plus or minus two

  5. The Experiment Revised • 5 minutes. • 43 presidents. • 100% retention at two weeks. • 80% retention at four weeks. • George Washington • John Adams • Thomas Jefferson • James Madison • James Monroe • John Quincy Adams • Andrew Jackson • Martin Van Buren • William Henry Harrison • John Tyler • James K. Polk • Zachary Taylor • Millard Fillmore • Franklin Pierce • James Buchanan • Abraham Lincoln • Andrew Johnson • Ulysses S. Grant • Rutherford B. Hayes • James A. Garfield • Chester A. Arthur • Grover Cleveland • Benjamin Harrison • Grover Cleveland (again) • William McKinley • Theodore Roosevelt • William Howard Taft • Woodrow Wilson • Warren G. Harding • Calvin Coolidge • Herbert Hoover • Franklin D. Roosevelt • Harry S. Truman • Dwight D. Eisenhower • John F. Kennedy • Lyndon B. Johnson • Richard Nixon • Gerald Ford • Jimmy Carter • Ronald Reagan • George H. W. Bush • Bill Clinton • George W Bush • Barack Obama

  6. The Experiment Revised • African Lion • African Wild Dog (cape hunting dog) • Aldabra Tortoise • Andean Bear • Arabian Oryx • Asian Elephant • Bald Eagle • Bornean Orangutan • Capybara • Cheetah • Chilean Flamingo • Coyote • Crowned Pigeon • Desert Tortoise • Fennec Fox • Galapagos Tortoise • Golden Conure • Golden Lion Tamarin • Grevy Zebra • Hamadryas Baboon • Mandrill • Meerkat or Suricate • Mexican Gray Wolf • Mhorr Gazelle • Mountain Lion • Ocelot • Palawan Peacock Pheasant • Prairie Dog • Radiated Tortoise • Reticulated Giraffe • Rhinoceros Hornbill • Ring-tailed Lemur • Rothschild's Mynah • Spotted Necked Otter • Squirrel Monkey • Sumatran Tiger • Thick-billed Parrot • Warthog • White Faced Saki • White Rhinoceros

  7. The Experiment • Initial result: Seven plus or minus two • Final result: 100+

  8. Modern Assumptions • Premise: Memorization is very expensive. • Premise: We are very busy. • Premise: We have Google and Bing. • Conclusion: Memorization isn’t cost effective.

  9. Store information here Do thinking here

  10. The Limited Access Problem See Pragmatic Thinking And Learning, Andy Hunt

  11. The Mental Toolbox

  12. Thomas Aquinas – 1225-1274

  13. A History of Accessing Information

  14. A History of Accessing Information

  15. Education in the Middle Ages • Trivium • Grammar – the mechanics of language • Logic – analysis and thinking • Rhetoric – communication • Invention • Arrangement • Style • Memory • Delivery • Quadrivium • Geometry • Arithmetic • Astronomy • Music

  16. The Case for Memory: Summary • There is evidence that having more facts in your brain leads to better thinking. There is evidence that Google is not a substitute for knowing stuff. • Training in how to use memory was a foundational part of a classical education for hundreds of years. • The techniques work, but require considerable effort. • Imagine doing math without any kind of training. That’s what you’re currently doing with your memory. • Specific memory techniques exist to help you remember faces, numbers, conversations, large sections of text (word for word), large sections of text (Cliff Notes version), lists, sequences, and relations.

  17. Key Concept: Memory Rules How the decides if something is worth remembering: • Will it keep you from getting eaten by a tiger? • Is it new? Is it novel? • Is it relevant for understanding social norms? • Is it gossip? • Does it illustrate where social boundaries are? • Is it emotionally charged? • Will it get youfood, safety, or prestige? • …. • Lots and lots of repetition

  18. Key Concept: The Network The problem is not storing the memory; the problem is accessing the memory.

  19. Key Concept: Memory Types • We suck at remembering • Abstract anything • Numbers • Anything we aren’t emotionally engaged with • Anything we perceive as routine • We excel at remembering • Location • Emotions • Sights • Smells

  20. Foundational Memory HackEngaging Your Memory • Care. • Get emotional. • Make memory explicit.

  21. Foundational Memory HackSubvert Location • Many names for the same thing • Method of Loci • Memory Palace • Memory Journey • Memory Theatre • Demo

  22. Foundational Memory HackBeating the Numbers • 01: Captain America • 02: Captain Marvel • 03: Deadpool • 04: Hawkeye • 05: Hulk • 06: Iron Man • 07: Spider-Man • 08: Spider-Woman • 09: Thor • 10: Wasp • 11: Wolverine • 12: Doctor Doom • 13: Green Goblin • 14: Red Skull • 15: Batman • 16: Superman • 17: Wonder Woman • 18: Walt Disney • 19: Natalie Portman • 20: Billy Crystal • 21: Christopher Hitchens • 22: Ellen Degeneris • 23: Regina Spektor • 24: Hugh Laurie • 25: Omar Epps • 26: Scott Guthrie • 27: Lucille Ball • 28: Pink • 29: Mark Twain • 30: Stephen Hawking • 31: Albert Einstein • 32: Carl Sagan • 33: Darren Brown • 34: Jennifer Anniston • 35: Bill Gates • 36: Natalie Imbruglia • 37: Sam Harris • 38: Ricky Gervais • 39: Sandra Bullock • 40: Adolf Hitler • 41: Lenin • 42: Stalin • 43: George Washington • 44: John Adams • 45: Thomas Jefferson • 46: Abraham Lincoln • 47: Teddy Roosevelt • 48: FDR • 49: Harry Truman • 50: Hymen Rickover • Etc…

  23. Memorization Defined The explicit, emotional, creative act of storing information in your brain using a disciplined, structured approach. Memory does NOT “just happen”. Repetition, while often necessary, should be minimized.

  24. How to Remember • Develop a Memory Toolbox • Explicitly decide to remember • Use the right memory technique for the data to be memorized

  25. The Mental Toolbox

  26. Suggested Reading • Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer • Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt • Mindhacker by Ron and Mary Hale-Evans • The Book of Memory by Mary Carruthers • Max Your Memory by Pascale Michelon • Blog: http://theskillfulbrain.com

  27. What If? • What if you memorized a list of design patterns, their uses, strengths, and weaknesses? • What if you could easily recall all the WCF hosting options, including their tradeoffs and which environments support which options? • What if you could quote the agile manifesto word for word? Or the 12 core principles of agile development? • Learning another language? What if the time to learn new vocabulary words was cut by a factor of 5? Or 10? • Learning another computer language? What if memorizing a list of ALL of the keywords took only an hour? • What if you could actually learn and visualize most of the .NET (or WinRT) namespaces?

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