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"Never memorize something that you can look up." [Einstein]

by defdac 14y ago

watty 14y ago
I couldn't find a source that he said that. Wikipedia says it's not sourced, just a variant of: > [I do not] carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books. ...The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.
pawelwentpawel 14y ago
I haven't got the book yet but I'm planning to get it soon. As written in Q&A - The techniques I learned, and used in the memory contest, are great for remembering structured information - this might be great for learning languages. I remember grabbing a lot of new vocabulary by studying by heart lyrics of songs, quotes, jokes or whole sequences of dialogs from movies.
- bmelton 14y ago
  Just a head's up, this books reads more like a novel than a How-To. There are other books that are better for actually learning the memory techniques discussed in _Moonwalking_. I don't mean to imply that _Moonwalking_ isn't worth buying; I think it's a really good book and was a very fun read, but at the same time, it was FAR less instructional than I had expected (though I did learn while reading it). For a basic primer, I'd recommend this to get started with the memory palace technique: http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Memory-Palace http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Memory-Palace And for a much more comprehensive instruction, Higbee's "Your Memory and How to Train It" was the most referred to me: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Y35JI0/ref=docs-os-doi_0 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Y35JI0/ref=docs-os-doi_...
Create 14y ago
http://www.giagia.co.uk/2010/03/23/ada-lovelace-day-2010/ http://www.giagia.co.uk/2010/03/23/ada-lovelace-day-2010/
choxi 14y ago
I generally agree with this, but there are some things that are useful to have in your local cache for easy lookup.
jfaucett 14y ago
unless you lose your internet connection...
shasta 14y ago
This is presumably based on the theory that your mind has a certain amount of "free space" and that you don't want to fill that space up with a bunch of trivia. Anyone know whether cognitive science supports this theory? Bonus points for references.

"Never memorize something that you can look up." [Einstein]

by defdac 14y ago

"Never memorize something that you can look up." [Einstein]

watty 14y ago

I couldn't find a source that he said that. Wikipedia says it's not sourced, just a variant of: > [I do not] carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books. ...The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.

pawelwentpawel 14y ago

I haven't got the book yet but I'm planning to get it soon. As written in Q&A - The techniques I learned, and used in the memory contest, are great for remembering structured information - this might be great for learning languages. I remember grabbing a lot of new vocabulary by studying by heart lyrics of songs, quotes, jokes or whole sequences of dialogs from movies.

bmelton 14y ago
Just a head's up, this books reads more like a novel than a How-To. There are other books that are better for actually learning the memory techniques discussed in _Moonwalking_. I don't mean to imply that _Moonwalking_ isn't worth buying; I think it's a really good book and was a very fun read, but at the same time, it was FAR less instructional than I had expected (though I did learn while reading it). For a basic primer, I'd recommend this to get started with the memory palace technique: http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Memory-Palace http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Memory-Palace And for a much more comprehensive instruction, Higbee's "Your Memory and How to Train It" was the most referred to me: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Y35JI0/ref=docs-os-doi_0 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Y35JI0/ref=docs-os-doi_...

Create 14y ago

http://www.giagia.co.uk/2010/03/23/ada-lovelace-day-2010/ http://www.giagia.co.uk/2010/03/23/ada-lovelace-day-2010/

choxi 14y ago

I generally agree with this, but there are some things that are useful to have in your local cache for easy lookup.

jfaucett 14y ago

unless you lose your internet connection...

shasta 14y ago

This is presumably based on the theory that your mind has a certain amount of "free space" and that you don't want to fill that space up with a bunch of trivia. Anyone know whether cognitive science supports this theory? Bonus points for references.