## Memory cultures & a brief history of mnemotechniques
Indigenous peoples around the world have used memory methods and techniques. These are infrequently fully studied or understood by western cultures, though anthropologists and archaeologists are beginning to uncover their use.
    We’ll take a brief look at memory techniques in Western culture from the Ancient Greeks and Romans; through the middle ages and Renaissance; into the use of the major system by Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, various magicians and hucksters; and up to present day memory competitions.

## Links and associativity
- Visual memory & The Mind’s Eye
- A different way of using the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, smell
- Creativity: exaggeration, extreme conditions, the unexpected, shock, awe, wars, birth, death, sex, weather, clothing, movement, dancing, etc.

## The phonetic major system
A basic phonetic system for converting numbers into words to make memorizing numbers simple
- The numbers 0-9
- (p.s. you also get most shorthand systems for free)


Session 1: Culture and history of memory | The Major System

## Method of Loci & Memory Palaces
One of the oldest traditions of memory in Western culture dating back to ancient Greece and Simonides of Ceos is the method of loci (places) or the possibly better known idea of the memory palace. This method allows us to store nearly unlimited amounts of knowledge which can be remembered in order by placing images that represent the data into mental locations or journeys.

## Major System 10-29
We'll continue our work on the major system from last week and extend the system to higher numbers. We'll begin familiarizing ourselves with them to make them second nature in our memory practice.

Session 2: Method of Loci & Memory Palaces

## Major System + Method of Loci
This week we'll begin discussing some ways of combining our two powerful methods into a larger structure that will allow us to extend our memories in an even more powerful way

## Major System 30-49
Continuing our march of extending our number system to 100.

## Course Memory Project
We'll discuss ideas for more substantive long term memory projects, which are to be chosen by students based on their personal experiences, needs, and desires.

Session 3: Major System + Method of Loci

## Spaced repetition
Now that we've got some methods to make memorization easier, quicker, and more reliable, how can we extend our memories to the long term?

We'll explore the ideas of spaced repetition and how to fit them into our memory practice.

## Major System 50-79
You may have already worked ahead a bit, but this week we'll present the next thirty numbers in our system to continue practicing and making the major system more familiar and easier to use.

Session 4: Spaced Repetition⁠—Working toward long term retention

## Other memory methods and mnemotechniques
Even though we've got two of the most powerful techniques in our tool belts, there are a variety of techniques and variations in the space that can be used for specific use cases and settings.

We'll explore some of these variations and how they're used including:
- Person, Action, Object (PAO) methods
- Size of spaces versus speed for memory competitions
- Dominic system
- Annual counts
- Rapscallions
- Drolleries
- Alphabetic systems

## Major System 80-100
We'll finish up our final numbers to get us up to 100 items. While one could certainly go higher (and some do), this level of work will provide us with a solid foundation for most circumstances and practical use cases.

Session 5: Other memory methods and mnemotechniques

We'll rediscover, explore, and practice several ancient memory techniques to dramatically improve and expand our ability to memorize a vast array of knowledge. 



Art of Memory

We'll rediscover, explore, and practice several ancient memory techniques to dramatically improve and expand our ability to memorize a vast array of knowledge. 

This is a template for collecting the artifact resulting from this cohort — a final, publicly viewable summary of what participants learned or created during the course.

❗️**Important:** The contents of this post will appear on the cohort page, visible to everyone. Don't post anything you don't want to be publicly shared.

Please edit this topic with an artifact that makes sense for your course.

## [Artifact Title]

Replace with: summary description of what the cohort created or learned together.

This may be a final writeup, a summary of each participant's project, a link roundup to externally hosted  assignments — whatever makes sense for your course.

Note that participants can reply to this post, but only this initial post of the topic will be published to the cohort page as its public artifact.

Artifact

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## [Assignment Title]

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## Instructions

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- Please post a link to a Google Doc with 500 words on what you learned
- Make sure that sharing is turned on so others can comment

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- Select your three favorite photos from the week's theme
- Upload them to a post here, each preceded with a one-paragraph description

Assignment

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## [Event Title]

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## Details / Instructions

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Event

## Introductions

Please post a brief intro below! Let everyone know who you are, why you signed up, and what you hope to memorize. 

Say hello to other participants; let's get to know each other!

## Logistics
We'll be meeting weekly over [Zoom](zoom.us/), so take a moment to set up the application on your platform of choice. 

This topic contains details for this particular cohort. Right now you're in our private forum just for members of this cohort.

## Start Learning!
To prepare for our first and subsequent sections, start thinking about a course-long project of something you'd like to memorize throughout our time together.  Lists of things including numbers, dates, etc. are always good. 

We recommend starting with a significant project idea as if yours is too small, you might find you've finished after just a week.

Ideally the topic might be something you could add additional details to over time. As an example, something like the list of U.S. presidents might be good because you can later extend that list to include dates of service, dates of birth and death, significant accomplishments, their vice presidents, etc. We'll discuss this at the end of session 1 and the start of session 2 so that we've all got something to work towards throughout the course.

Getting Started

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## [Prompt Title]

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Prompt

This is a template for your cohort to run a retrospective — collecting valuable feedback from participants that will help the course improve over time.

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## Questions

Replace with: particular questions you'd like students to answer at the end of the cohort, aimed at helping your course improve.

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- What did you expect to get out of this course? Were those expectations met? If not, how do you feel about the progress you made in this course (if any)?
- What specific things (moments, techniques, conversations) did you feel were most useful to learning in this course?
- What do you wish we'd spent more time on? Anything you felt we should add?
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- Please share anything else you'd like us to know!

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## Sharing the Retro

Replace with: how the info from this retrospective will be used to improve the course. For example:

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Thanks so much for taking the time to help us improve this course — we really appreciate it!

Retrospective

## Course Goals

Students will primarily learn how to use the phonetic major system as well as the method of loci (often known as the memory palace or the journey method). We will use these methods with  a variety of examples to show how they can be applied to memorize extensive lists of ideas as well as how to more easily and quickly memorize numbers of all sorts.

As the course progresses, we'll acquire more facility and speed with these techniques. We'll progressively add additional related tools used throughout a variety of indigenous ancient and modern cultures around the world. 

We'll also learn about and use spaced repetition. We will cover a variety of tools that leverage this concept. We will then use it as a means of extending our memories from the short term to the long term with a minimal amount of effort.


## Structure

We'll meet for an hour a week for a total of five weeks. Meetings will consist of smaller presentations/lectures and demonstrations followed by some practice examples which students will work on in class. 

Small example assignments will be given each week for additional practice. Students will be expected to spend 30 minutes to an hour a week outside of class practicing with examples they find useful in their daily lives. 

Assignments and the final project are meant to be fun, entertaining, and useful to students in their lives. None of our fun in the course should feel like the dreadfully weary work reminiscent of the rote memorization of useless information many of us have experienced in school.


## Syllabus / Schedule

### Week 1
#### Memory cultures & a brief history of mnemotechniques
- Indigenous peoples around the world have used memory methods and techniques. These are infrequently fully studied or understood by western cultures, though anthropologists and archaeologists are beginning to uncover their use.
- We'll take a brief look at memory techniques in Western culture from the Ancient Greeks and Romans; through the middle ages and Renaissance; into the use of the major system by Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, various magicians and hucksters; and up to present day memory competitions.

#### Links and associativity 
- Visual memory & The Mind's Eye
- A different way of using the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, smell
-  Creativity: exaggeration, extreme conditions, the unexpected, shock, awe, wars, birth, death, sex, weather, clothing, movement, dancing, etc.

#### Major System 
A basic phonetic system for converting numbers into words to make memorizing numbers simple
- The numbers 0-9
- (p.s. you also get most shorthand systems for free)

### Week 2
#### Method of Loci / Journey Method / Memory Palaces / Songlines
We'll reveal the actual techniques and practice of the memory palace as described briefly in [*Moonwalking With Einstein*](https://amzn.to/2Rr8OTS), hinted at in Sherlock Holmes, and mentioned as being used in passing by Thomas Harris' infamous character Hannibal Lecter in *Silence of the Lambs*.

#### Major System 10-29
We will extend our system from last week to higher numbers. We'll practice familiarizing ourselves with them to begin making them second nature.


### Week 3
#### Major System + Method of Loci
We'll combine our two previous systems into a bigger structure to provide even more power and flexibility to what we can memorize and retain.

#### Major System 30-49
Extending our number vocabulary.


### Week 4
#### Spaced repetition
How can we maintain and extend our memories to the long term? We'll look at some research and tools including using cultural methods related to holidays and the seasons of the year.

#### Major System 50-79
Continuing our march of extending the system to 100


### Week 5
#### Other memory methods and mnemotechniques
- Person, Action, Object (PAO) methods
- Size of spaces versus speed for memory competitions
- Dominic system
- Annual counts
- Rapscallions
- Drolleries
- Alphabetic systems

#### Major System 80-100
The last images in our basic number system.


## Artifacts

Throughout the course we'll work with a variety of mnemonic techniques to memorize several smaller bits of generally useful knowledge.  

Ideally students will bring some ideas of things in their own lives that they'd like to memorize during the course. Some of them may be smaller things they'd like to remember (shopping lists for the grocery store, passwords and pin numbers, phone numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) which we can use as examples throughout the course.

Everyone will be asked to come up with a larger course-long project to work at memorizing. If you have some preliminary ideas of what you'd like to work on--great! Otherwise, we'll discuss potential projects through the end of week 2. Each participant should have enough tools and experience after our second session to begin memorizing a reasonable project to extend their their personal goals.

Depending on the project size, students should be able to either finish it completely or have a significant start on something to which they can continue to add additional pieces to long after the course has finished.

### Potential examples:
- All the countries of the world, capitals, population, size, etc.
- Presidents of the United States, years they served, and associated information
- Chronological list of the Monarchs of England, Europe, etc.
- Constellations/stars
- Books of the Bible, characters, verses, and associated information about them
- Birds of one's continent, names, family/species, descriptions, range, sizes, flight patterns, etc.

## Who Should Sign Up

Accumulating knowledge is a basic fact of life. Most of us do it poorly and are horribly inefficient. Some people may feel they have poor memories and others seem to have naturally good memories. This said, **we can all dramatically improve our capacity and retention in an almost unlimited fashion**&mdash;even those who *think* they already have good memories.

Whether you're a student who would like to have tools to make your classwork easier; a salesperson who'd like to memorize extensive price lists and product features; a lifelong learner who wants to make knowledge acquisition and retention easier; or someone who just wants to remember where they parked their d%#n car, there's something here to benefit everyone.

This course is *not* designed for those who have already extensively practiced the method of loci and/or the phonetic major system (or similar systems) and who are actively practicing to improve their times for competitive memory championships. This course is also not recommended or designed for those who may be suffering from advanced dementia or Alzheimers disease.

While these methods can easily be taught to practitioners as young as 3 or 4, this class is geared towards more mature students.