Foreword (by Dominic O’Brien).............................................

11
Why Mnemonics?...................................................................15
A Collection of Thoughts Before We Begin............................18
Memory Path - Group A.....................................................35
The Memory Palace.............................................................37
Cards..................................................................................67
Card Key..............................................................................69
Combining the Key and Path...............................................73
The Stacks...........................................................................79
Aronson Stack......................................................................82
Mnemonica Stack.................................................................110
Mnemagic...........................................................................139
The List Game......................................................................141
Shopping Lists.....................................................................142
A Phone Number.................................................................144
Meditation..........................................................................145
Memory Path - Group B......................................................147
Advanced Memory Structure and Mapping ..........................177
Palace Maintenance.............................................................185
Review..................................................................................187
Clearing the Path.................................................................188
Contents

Dual Deck Memorization....................................................194

The Double Stack.................................................................199
Historical Names.................................................................305
Creating Alternate Paths.....................................................313
Off the Beaten Path Memorization......................................321
Thoughts as We Come to a Close.........................................335
Reference............................................................................340
Foreword
By Dominic O’Brien
Eight Times World Memory Champion

M
emory has to be the one brain function that most of
us take for granted. It’s not until it lets us down or
we have a “senior moment” that we appreciate what
an incredible, vital tool memory really is.

Just think about it for a few moments and imagine what your
life would be like without your wonderful memory. You would,
effectively, cease to function. You wouldn’t be able to understand
anything about the world around you. No memory of friends,
family, where or who you are. In other words to lose your
memory would be to forfeit your identity. You’d be entering a
living nightmare, trapped in time not knowing the past and
with no reference points for the future.

My own journey in to the world of mnemonics started in 1987

when I watched a memory man, Creighton Carvello, memorise
a deck of shuffled playing cards on television in just under three
minutes and I was fascinated to know how he could achieve
such an impressive, almost superhuman feat of memory power.

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 Was he a genius or did he use a strategy? Was he a freak
of nature or was there a secret formula he used that could
maybe work for me as well?

Armed with a deck of cards I, like most people, could only

manage to recall the first five or six cards before being
overwhelmed by the confusing sequence of numbers and
suits.

This mystery became all-consuming and putting everything

else aside, I felt compelled to investigate Creighton’s
extraordinary talent for memory. Was there a method to it?
And could I do the same thing?

In those days there was precious little in the form of books

to guide me towards a technique to steer me in the right
direction. After many, many hours of trial and error and
plenty of perseverance I eventually worked out how it was
possible to memorise a sequence of fifty-two cards without
error.

For me it wasn’t just an achievement but rather it gave me a

sense of empowerment.

In the process, I’d begun a journey that was to transform

not just my powers of recall but that I believe resulted in a
complete overhaul of the multiple functions of my brain.

You don’t have to go through experimentation as you have

the answers within your grasp. The Memory Arts is a great

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introduction to the world of mnemonics. With colourful
illustrations and strong story lines, this book does all the heavy
lifting for you. It makes learning the secrets of Memory Palaces
highly accessible to children and adults of all ages. By following
the simple steps you will be on your way to achieving very
impressive memory feats in a short space of time.

Imagine being able to memorise not just one, but two decks
of cards simultaneously. Of course there are also practical
implications to learning these techniques such as never having
to write down a shopping list or telephone numbers. In fact,
these methods form the basis of learning how to learn practically
anything.

I recommend Sarah and David’s book with delight in the belief

that in a short while you will be amazing your friends and family
as you unleash your own powers of memory.

This books makes memory training fun because it brings into

play your limitless powers of imagination. Enjoy!

Dominic O’Brien
October 2017

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 A Collection of Thoughts
Before We Begin
“Of what sort is memory? Natural and artificial. These two are so
intermingled that natural memory must be preserved by art and artificial
must be aided by nature. Why is this so? Because each of the two is unstable
without the other.”
—Consultus Fortunatianus

A Summary in a Sentence

W
e have created a modernized version of the
medieval practice of the Memory Arts, shaping
it with a structure from the 1800s, to teach the
fundamentals and principles of a concept first described
nearly three thousand years ago.

The Beginning
This project found its impetus like many do: we had a
problem that we wanted to solve. For us it had to do with
stage magic, though it applied well beyond that specific

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field. Then, like many problems, we found that by solving one aspect, another
issue arose. Our first problem was that we wanted to memorize a list of randomly
named objects. Not a few, mind you, but thirty. Thirty randomly named objects.
At the guilt-laden behest of my better half, I set about to learn a basic artificial
memory tool called a mnemonic key. And through part of an ancient art I so
respectfully referred to as “hokum,” we learned how to recall all thirty objects.

It was most assuredly not hokum. The methods used could be altered to
solve our next problem: memorizing a shuffled deck of playing cards. With
a bit of work, and a lot of practice, we were memorizing full decks of cards
in under ten minutes just two weeks after we started. I became enthralled by
this new ability and wanted to take it out for a test drive as much as possible.
Two days after conquering a full deck of cards for the first time, I decided
to memorize two decks. (Incidentally, I succeeded on the second attempt.)
One day later I decided really to push my limits and memorized three decks
in a single sitting.

In all honesty, I felt like a god. My brain had been trained to do a task seemingly
reserved for the exceptional, and I did it! Sarah and I promptly began showing
off our new skills. After a couple months of playing around, we realized that we
were embarking on a rather unique experience: a shared Memory Palace.

A Memory Palace, or “Thesaurus” if you were an ancient Greek, is a known

building, land, or wholly imagined form inside one’s mind, in which there is
a structured sequence of fixed markers or locations used to aid in the storing
and retrieval of information. For most, a Memory Palace is a personal creation.
Person A’s Memory Palace might be their childhood home, while Person R
might use a warehouse totally imagined, full of all their favorite cars lined up in
a certain order. Sarah and I, however, were building our palaces together.

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 Fundamentals
Fundamental
number 1! The Brain
stores information
best as images.

fundamental number
2! fixed locations inside
your mind will provide
structure to the memories
you wish to make.

Fundamental
number 3! Your images
should be funny, violent,
obscene, gross,
or sexual.

Your mind most

naturally retains the
remarkable and interesting,
not the boring and
ordinary.

33/
 7  Giraffe
7. Giraffe

We emerge from the water to find tall grass with even taller necks
reaching into even taller trees. This is our 7th Location, the Giraffe.
NoticeWe
howemerge from
her face and neckthe water
gracefully to afind
form 7. tall grass with
even taller necks reaching into even taller trees.
This is our 7th Location, the Giraffe. Notice how
12 12.Ringmaster 
Ringmaster and Lion Lion & 

In the middle of the field, we see a Ringmaster and his prized Lion. The
Ringmaster stands up straight as a 1, while his furry companion raises
Inhisthe middle of the field, we see a Ringmaster
front legs, attempting to form the number 2. Together, they make our
and12thhis prized Lion. The Ringmaster stands up
Location.
straight as a 1, while his furry companion raises
22  22. cock fight
Cock Fight

There is a wondrous cacophony at the 22nd Location. A crowd is

cheering,
There is and birds are
a wondrous squawking. Inside
cacophony a circle
at the 22ndof hayLocation.
bales, we see the
cause of the commotion, a Cock Fight. In the flurry of feathers, talons,
A crowd
andis cheering,
wings, andtobirds
take a moment find theare squawking.
2 hidden in each bird. Inside
a circle of hay bales, we see the cause of the commotion,
a Cock Fight. In the flurry of feathers, talons,
Dual Deck Memorization
T
he ability to memorize two decks at once is instantly available as soon
as Group B’s Locations have been firmly added to the path. As with any
new ability, you must accept your capability.

At first, memorizing a deck of cards seems impossible, but once accomplished,

it seems silly to have once thought it hard.

Already you are versed in managing two

characters per location. You have now
learned another 26 locations, giving you
adequate space to house two decks. Now
the only concern is character overlap,
since you will have two of every card.

Character overlap presents itself in two

ways, the first being the more simple.
Imagine that the Queen of Spades
happens to be the 48th card in two
separate decks. Simply create a large
Queen surrounded by a gaggle of smaller
Queens, and suddenly the image is solid.

The second type of overlap can be

frustrating at first, but its simplicity
in being overcome relies completely
on willpower and keeping solid

195/
 compartmentalization. While the whole
of the path is one large story utilizing a
linking mechanism, each location needs to
be remembered as its own sub-story, and
organized accordingly.

Always imagine the card character of Deck

1 as a giant and the card of Deck 2 as small
multiples of the character. An example
would be the King of Clubs and the 2 of
Hearts.
An Example of
Overlap, Type 2: At location
At Location 2 there is a large Crownis(from
2 there a large Crown (from
Deck 1) in the upper-left quadrant, resting
Deck 1) in the upper left quadrant,
on the swan’s head while several Shrews swan’s head while
resting on the
several Shrews (from deck 2)
(from Deck 2) are being eaten in are
the Hearts
being eaten in the
quadrant. hearts quadrant.

While at location
4 there is a large
Shrew (Deck 1) at the
bottom left of
the hand.

196/ And at location 18

we find a group of
 While at location
4 there is a large
Shrew (Deck 1) at the
bottom left of
the hand.
At Location 4 there is a large Shrew
(Deck 1) at the bottom left of the hand.
And at location 18
we find a group of
And at
small Location(Deck
crowns 18 we2)find a group of
small Crowns (Deckclub
flying in from the 2) flying in from the
quadrant, completing
Club quadrant,
the overlap.
completing the overlap.
By Utilizing the
principles involved in
navigating the first 26
locations, the student will
be able to skim each
location looking for
either the large or
small character.

While at location
4 there is a large
Shrew (Deck 1) By utilizing the principles
at the
bottom left of
the hand. involved in navigating the first
26 locations, the student will
be able to skim each location,
And at location 18
looking
we find a group offor either the large or small character.
small crowns (Deck 2) As always, the
flying in from As
thealways, the student should make sure to take should
club student make
time before sure to
recollection
quadrant, completing to take time before
relax. When attempting recall of two decks
the overlap.
for the first to
recollection time, it is common
relax. When to
disbelieve one’s own accuracy. If the attempting
path has beenrecall
effectively
ofcleared, storing
two decks
two decks will feel simpler than learning
for just
thethe one.time, it is common to
first
disbelieve one’s own accuracy. If
the path has been effectively
cleared, storing two decks will
feel simpler than learning
just the one.
197/