New York Times Article on the Memory Palace

Interesting article in the New York Times concerning the Memory Palace technique for improving memory. I left the comment below, and it was selected by their monitors as the only “NYTimes Pick” among all the comments. Just after leaving the comment, within which I’d left a link to Chapter 11 The Memory Palace in Story Alchemy here on this site, I also put the entire chapter including the three graphics on this site where I’d previously only had a sample. Here’s my comment (It begins with a quote from the article.):

“The technique is accessible enough that preteens pick it up quickly, and Mr. Paterson has integrated it into his teaching.”

The possibilities for teaching Memory Palace techniques in our schools are enormous. I have used them to assist my memory with creative tasks, and the benefits are easy to achieve and even open the doors to the imagination. After all, Mnemosyne, personification of memory, was mother of all nine Muses. You can actually colonize the creative portion of the psyche. These techniques are currently being used in the Seattle area in writing classes for both young adults and adults.

The ancient Greeks took great pride in memory and used it to develop the function of the mind. Milman Parry first discovered memory techniques in Homer who wrote from a strictly oral memory tradition. Plato even discussed the downside of writing because it could give readers not wisdom but the conceit of wisdom.

Thanks for the article. Very interesting stuff.
https://www.story-alchemy.com/?page_id=211

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