A Sheep Falls Out of the Tree: And Other Techniques to Develop an Incredible Memory and Boost Brainpower Book

Preface vii

1 Ten Reasons to Train Your Memory 1

1 A Good Memory Is Necessary for Knowledge and Education 1

2 You Can Give Your Imagination Wings 3

3 You Will Develop Your Creativity 5

4 Training Strengthens Your Perceptions, Social Skills, and Expressivity 6

5 You Set Guidelines for Collaborative and Flexible Thinking 7

6 You Develop a Sense of Time and Good Time-Management Skills 8

7 You Increase Your Motivation, Self-Confidence, and Self-Awareness and Learn to Take Responsibility for Your Actions 9

8 You Improve Your Concentration 11

9 You Think Faster and Improve Your Intellectual Capacity 13

10 You Deal with Stress More Effectively 14

2 How Good Is Your Memory? Quiz Yourself! 17

3 Motivation: The Key to Success 31

A Quick Way to Remember Lists 31

The Route Method 33

4 Memory: What You Should Know About the Human Brain 39

Understanding the Brain 41

Understanding How Memory Works 43

5 How You Can Improve Your Memory 47

Visualization: Using the Power of Imagery 48

Associating New Information with What You Already Know 58

Reviewing the Important Things 67

6 How You Can Train Your Memory 69

Memory Training 69

The Route Method 80

The Master System-Why the Sheep Falls Out of The Tree 86

7 How to Use Mnemonic Techniques 111

Numbers 112

Words 118

Auditory Memory Training 121

Practicing What You've Learned 123

8 How to Apply These Techniques 127

Using Mnemonic Techniques in Daily Practice 127

Interactions with Friends, Neighbors, and Customers 128

Everyday Situations 142

School and Work 148

9 Developing Specialized Memory Techniques 169

Playing Cards 170

Binary Numbers 175

10 Starting Training179

Five Tips for Beginners 179

The First Seven Days 181

Words and Numbers 182

Six Tips to Keep You Going 183

11 Other Ways to Keep Mentally Fit 185

Focusing Your Perceptions 185

Juggling 186

Games 186

Mental Arithmetic 188

Concentration Exercises 188

12 Final Quiz-See How Much You've Improved! 197

Afterword 209

Appendix 211

Logging Your Progress and Performance 211

Further Information 212

Index 213