You Can Have An Amazing Memory: Learn Life-changing Techniques and Tips from the Memory Maestro - PDF
نویسندگان: Dominic O'Brien
خلاصه: As a child I was diagnosed with dyslexia and I was told bymy form teacher at school that I would not amount to muchin life. In fact, throughout my school days, no one held outmuch hope for me. Certainly, no one entertained the thoughtthat one day I’d appear in the Guinness World Recordsbook for what others have described as a feat of staggeringbrain power, or that I’d become World MemoryChampion, not just once but eight times over! Here aresome of the comments from my school reports when I wasaged ten – they make unhappy reading:“He tends to dream in the middle of a calculation,which leads him to lose track of the thought.”“[Dominic] has not paid much attention. Appears toknow more of the Universe than the Earth.”“Terribly slow. Often cannot repeat the question.Must concentrate.”“Unless Dominic really shakes himself up and getsdown to work, he is not going to achieve any success …he is painfully slow.”Although they might sound harsh, these reports paint afairly accurate picture of my state of mind as a child. I felt asthough my brain was like a muscle that was permanentlyrelaxed. My teachers knew it, and they were endlesslyfrustrated with me. In those days, teachers weren’tgoverned by quite the same codes of conduct they aretoday, and one in particular behaved appallingly toward me– shaking me, shouting at me and generally humiliating me infront of my friends. I guess he hoped to bring me out of myapparent stupor.Needless to say, I became highly stressed about going toschool. In fact, I was completely terrified. By the age of 11,I hated it, but not only that – I was also emptied of all self-esteem. I regret to say that walking out through the schoolgates at the earliest possible opportunity felt (at the time, atleast) like one of the happiest days of my life.Almost 15 years later, I taught myself to memorize adeck of cards. I can’t describe to you how that felt – notonly had I achieved an amazing feat of mental agility, I hadalso made a symbolic conquest. I had kicked back at all themistreatment, negativity and bad reports I’d received in myyouth. I suddenly realized that perhaps I wasn’t destined tobe the low achiever everyone had expected, after all. Ithought that if I could master a deck of cards, what else wasI capable of accomplishing? Slowly, with every newindication that I could build myself an amazing memory, Ibegan to gain self-confidence and self-belief and a world ofopportunities opened up before me.Now, my rather flaccid memory muscle of yesteryear hasbeen seriously put through its paces. A strict regime ofmemory training over the course of 25 years has turned itinto something that is beautifully toned and of which I amimmensely proud. What a pity that I didn’t discover andpractise the art of memory when I was at school!In this book I want to show you how you can train yourmemory not only to make it perform mental acrobatics thelike of which you’ve never thought yourself capable of, butalso to give you a massive boost in confidence, just as Ihave had. When you get a glimpse of what potential lieswithin your memory, you’ll soon realize that that potential isapplicable to other aspects of your brain power, too – fromyour powers of concentration and your ability to think onyour feet (your “fluid intelligence”) to your confidence as anarrator or speaker and even your ability to be thrown intoa gathering of people you don’t know and work the roomlike it’s exactly where you belong.By taking you along the path of my own journey ofdiscovery, mapping the routes and byways that brought meto where I am – and who I am – today, I hope I can giveyou the tools to find your own amazing memory. And I hopeyou enjoy the ride j