T H E   P O W E R   O F M E M O R Y   W E E K : H O W   T O   R E M E M B E R N A M E S   A N D   F A C E S , P A R T   7 : H O W   T O R E M E M B E R   N U M B E R S . BY ROBERT H. NUTT - - - - READ PART ONE READ PART TWO READ PART THREE READ PART FOUR READ PART FIVE READ PART SIX - - - - The mental filing system has a special application immeasurably useful to every one of us in almost every aspect of our lives — its use in remembering numbers. Telephone numbers, addresses, important dates in history, birthdays, anniversaries are only a few of the items you'll be able to fix in your mind now that you know the key words. The ability to remember numbers sometimes means the difference between making or losing a sale or passing or flunking a course in school. You've surely known crises when a number remembered correctly would have meant everything to you. I've shown that it is far easier for the mind to retain a vivid image than a completely abstract number. Substituting the key words for numbers, and composing a picture with them, is the trick. Here is a number: 7189. Using the key words for the numbers, we get policeman, alarm clock, revolving door, mailbox. These form themselves into a picture readily. Close your eyes and see a policeman throwing an alarm clock through a revolving door and hitting a mailbox. Visualize every bit of the scene clearly — the policeman's brass buttons dazzlingly bright, the shattered glass as the alarm clock crashes through the revolving door, and the broken mailbox surrounded by spilled letters. If the image is vivid enough, you'll never forget the number: 7189. 7189. 7189. Close your eyes and see a policeman throwing an alarm clock through a revolving door and hitting a mailbox. 7189.     OTHER McSWEENEY'S STORIES: - - - - The Power of Memory Week: How to Remember Names and Faces, Part 6: The Student Remembers through High School and College By Robert H. Nutt The Power of Memory Week: How to Remember Names and Faces, Part 5: The Cost of Forgetting the Wrong Things By Robert H. Nutt The Power of Memory Week: How to Remember Names and Faces, Part 4: Case History of a Memory and How It Grew By Robert H. Nutt The Man with the Rubber Arm By Will Clark Out My Window and over the Town By Colin Mort

- - - - MAIN PAGE   |   ARCHIVES   Memories of Amanda Davis   Red dot denotes content that is new today. Black dot denotes newish content. McSWEENEY'S STORE SUBSCRIBE TO: McSWEENEY'S THE BELIEVER WHOLPHIN FUTURE McSWEENEY'S BOOKS THE AMANDA DAVIS HIGHWIRE FICTION AWARD INVITE A McSWEENEY'S AUTHOR TO SPEAK IN YOUR TOWN OR COLLEGE McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST McSWEENEY'S-RELATED EVENTS AND VARIOUS TOUR DATES ORDER INQUIRIES AND ADDRESS CHANGES SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: FOR BOOKS FOR THE QUARTERLY FOR THE WEBSITE FOR WHOLPHIN McSWEENEY'S INTERNSHIPS CONTACT US - - - - LETTERS TO McSWEENEY'S LISTS McSWEENEY'S PREDICTS McSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS NEW WHOLPHIN FILM DAN LIEBERT, VERBAL CARTOONIST JOKES BY BRIAN BEATTY REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD DISPATCHES FROM MOSCOW SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT? DISPATCHES FROM THE ANACOSTIA THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL BEN GREENMAN'S FAKE CELEBRITY MUSICALS DISPATCHES FROM A HUMANITARIAN JOURNALIST DEB OLIN UNFERTH'S SICK OF THE REVOLUTION DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES PHILIP GRAHAM SPENDS A YEAR IN LISBON STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE DISPATCHES FROM THE NAPOLEONIC WARS AT THE MET KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE SONGS OF ENEMIES AND DESERTS: LIVING WITH THE SUDAN LIBERATION ARMY LAWRENCE WESCHLER'S EVERYTHING THAT RISES: A BOOK OF CONVERGENCES THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST ABOUT WHAT IS THE WHAT ABOUT BOWL OF CHERRIES ABOUT COMEDY BY THE NUMBERS ABOUT JOHN BRANDON'S ARKANSAS ABOUT MICHAEL CHABON'S MAPS AND LEGENDS ABOUT UNDERGROUND AMERICA LETTERS FROM AN EARTH BALL TO, OR CONCERNING, SEAN HANNITY DISPATCHES FROM ADJUNCT FACULTY AT A LARGE STATE UNIVERSITY ADVICE FROM A PERSON WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY DISPATCHES FROM THE NBA ENTERTAINMENT LEAGUE JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES B.R. COHEN'S ANNALS OF SCIENCE INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY DISPATCHES FROM ROY KESEY, AN AMERICAN GUY MARRIED TO A PERUVIAN DIPLOMAT LIVING IN CHINA STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT - - - - ADDITIONAL MATERIAL