The Memory Code
"In ancient, pre-literate cultures across the globe, tribal elders had encyclopedic memories. They could name all the animals and plants across a landscape, identify the stars in the sky, and recite the history of their people. Yet today, most of us struggle to memorize more than a short poem. Using traditional Aboriginal Australian song lines as a starting point, Dr. Lynne Kelly has identified the powerful memory technique used by our ancestors and indigenous people around the world. In turn, she has then discovered that this ancient memory technique is the secret purpose behind the great prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge, which have puzzled archaeologists for so long. The henges across northern Europe, the elaborate stone houses of New Mexico, huge animal shapes in Peru, the statues of Easter Island--these all serve as the most effective memory system ever invented by humans. They allowed people in non-literate cultures to memorize the vast amounts of information they needed to survive. But how? For the first time, Dr. Kelly unlocks the secret of these monuments and their purpose as "memory places" in her fascinating book. Additionally, The Memory Code also explains how we can use this ancient mnemonic technique to train our minds in the tradition of our ancestors."--Book jacket.
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- A book that gives a nice view of these some of these memory technologies is The Memory Code by Lynne Kelly
I can't get myself to link to the marketing blurb inspired summaries, but I love the book. This wikipedia heading gives a less breathless overview:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Kelly_(science_writer)#R...
- If you liked Frances Yates, look up Lynne Kelly. She has two books (The Memory Code and Memory Craft) that trace the techniques back into prehistory, long before Ancient Greece. The Memory Code contains interesting ideas about the history. Memory Craft is about how to apply the techniques.
- > Bards pre-literate-times in Greece purportedly could recite Homer's Odyssey themselves after one hearing. Writing destroyed that all.
They had amazing memories, but they couldn't memorize large works like that after just one hearing. There are techniques that allow one to remember information like that, but it still requires effort.
Here are two great books on that subject:
- The Art of Memory by Frances Yates (covers Greece, Rome, and Europe)
- The Memory Code by Lynne Kelly (goes back further into prehistory)
And two quick articles about memory feats in ancient Greece[1] and Rome[2].
[1] http://blog.artofmemory.com/simonides-of-ceos-81.html
[2] http://blog.artofmemory.com/pliny-the-elder-on-memory-5824.h...
- Thanks, I'll check that one out. The Memory Code is one of the best books I've read. Highly recommended.
- It is likely that they are mnemonic devices that encode information. Read The Memory Code by Lynne Kelly for more information. It's one of the most interesting books I've read, right up there with The Art of Memory by Frances Yates.
- Dr. Lynne Kelley the author of The Memory Code and Memory Craft has it. She uses memory palaces. With aphantasia you still have a hippocampus so thinking about the concept of space to encode info works just the same. :)
