Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and be More Productive

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This is a gem. That should do it as long as a quick description of this masterpiece is concerned. But let me elaborate some more and show you how useful and practical this big little book is. First, Kevin Horsley destroys some erroneous common sense beliefs about memory, mental capacities and the sort, in Part 1: Concentrate. He illustrates the wrongness of those beliefs by telling us a little about his own story, which is really inspiring (it reminded me Joshua Foer's, author of "Moonwalking With Einstein"). He impales multitasking, one of 21st century greatest myths. The necessity to "be present" is very highlighted as well - just as it should! Last, but by no means least, he presents the PIC principle, a tool both of motivation and engagement (something that can only be helpful in information retrieval / learning processes): P -> Purpose, I -> Interest, C-> Curiosity; if you can fire up these guys, oh boy... ain't no stopping between you and effective learning; because: "Have a clear purpose because clarity dissolves resistance. [...] Your level of interest sets the direction of your attention and, therefore, your level of focus. [...] Get curious about your mind and how it works. Tony Robbins says, 'If you want to cure boredom, be curious. If you’re curious, nothing is a chore; it’s automatic – you want to study. Cultivate curiosity, and life becomes an unending study of joy.'"By changing how we see these beliefs, the first foundation layer of unlimited memory is laid. Next we learn the backgrounds, the very underpinnings of memorization techniques in Part 2: Create and connect. I quote the first two sentences of paragraph 2 from chapter 5: "Memory is a creative process and not a photographic process. Many people who are thought to have a photographic memory are just using all the methods that you will learn in this book on some or other level". And you have no idea how truer words were never spoken: the SEE principle exposes the heart of all the techniques later discussed in part 3, so really take your time to know it with your very soul! I quote: "S - Senses: [...]When you utilize your senses you experience more of life and you remember more.[...]If you train your senses you will be using more of your brain, and if you learn to engage as many of your senses as you can then you will automatically improve your memory.[...] E - Exaggeration: what is easier to remember: a strawberry that is normal size or one the size of a house? Make your images larger or smaller than life.[...]There is no scientific evidence to prove that learning should be serious. E - Energize: [...]Would you rather watch a movie of your holiday or a slide show? What creates more feeling in your imagination: a horse standing still or a horse that is running and moving?" And no, my friend, he doesn't stop there: the damn good examples of a decent writer are just next: "You can turn all complex information into something meaningful and memorable by turning it into images. In the beginning it will take a bit of effort on your part. You will have to invest your attention at first and then it will become a habit. [...] First, we will use Spanish words: Tiger is Tigre, it sounds like tea grey. Imagine a tiger drinking his tea that has turned grey. [...] Some Italian words: Chicken is Polo. You can imagine playing polo with a chicken instead of a ball. [...] Some Japanese words: Chest is Mune (Mooneh). Imagine money growing out of your chest. [...]" The final paragraph of chapter 5 starts with the following words of advice: "The greatest secret of a powerful memory is to bring information to life with your endless imagination. Take responsibility for your memory. You can only learn to control your memory when you become the source of your imagination." From chapters 6 to 14, comprising the (big) rest of part 2, we learn marvelous applications of the aforementioned principles in practical schemes and strategies to remember information. This is so beautiful that it should fairly be considered pretty much lit-porn if exposed here, so I'll give you just one example from chapter 6: "See your car in your mind and imagine you squeeze a big apple into the front grid of your car. Take a carrot and stab it into the bonnet. On the windscreen see grainy bread, and think to yourself, “The grainy bread is going to damage my windscreen wipers.” Get inside your car and squash dried fruit on the dash board, really see it go into your speedometer. On the driver’s seat imagine you are sitting on blue berries and strawberries – really feel it. Throw eggs at the person sitting in the passenger seat next to you, they now have egg on their face. Imagine you are pouring thousands of nuts and seeds onto your back seat. Go outside your car and imagine a massive orange on your roof. You open the boot and it is full of fish – really smell the fish. In the exhaust pipe there is broccoli and Brussels sprouts growing out of the exhaust, and finally the tires of your car are made out of sweet potatoes. Sweet!" I really doubt you'll forget this. Here, we see one of the foundations of perfect memory, as Kevin emphasizes: "LTM + STM = MTM", that is, medium term memory is a combination of long term memory and short term memory. You link stuff that you already know very well to new ones, so that this goes to Medium Term Memory. Through the book, the Loci Method (or, as you probably know, the Memory Palace method), the Pegging method and other classics are teached and used, so that you can remember everything, from a market list to bit by bit information - whole texts, the digits of pi and so on... Part 3: Continuous Use Well, little must be said about this here: to live is to remember. The last chapters and forewords are pretty special and even more meaningful after you've gone through the rest of the book, so take your time and enjoy.

The concepts work. Try it!

Impressive writing work

I’m taking the time to write a review on this book for everyone’s sake. I have read over 20 books of self-development, and this one was by far the most practical and easy to read. It beats your best sellers like 7 habits, Atomic Habits, limitless, mindset, etc. The more your read it, the more you want to keep reading. Everything Mr. Horsley teaches can be practiced and used right away. If you’re reading this, I’m telling you right now, this book is a must in your existence. Happy reading, and unlimited memory.

After smoking cannabis for 6 years daily, I was under the belief that I had destroyed my memory and it would never be the same. I decided to quit cannabis for new years and start working on my memory. This is the first book I have purchased on the subject and within an hour of reading I have managed to memorise (and recall) 14 superfoods, 7 principles of successful people, 10 principles of power and the 10 different kinds of intelligence. I thought my memory was terrible, but I have come to realise that I simply didn’t have any systems in place to be able to memorise mass amounts of information. I can feel my thoughts ‘sticking’ instead of vanishing the second I learn them. Normally I would spend days or even weeks trying to memorise the amount of information that I just read in an hour. People say this book is “sales-y” but I think that the author is getting you to remember valuable information for life (from other people’s books) opposed to filling your head with useless junk. Why not use the opportunity to help people improve? As someone who thought their memory was doomed forever, I highly recommend this book. This review sounds like a sponsorship, but really I am just excitable and have a new found motivation for studying.