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Back at note-taking
May. 2nd, 2018 02:44 pm So, I've been a bit lazy-ish the past few days. I only intended to take the weekend off, but my back has been acting up a bit this week and I tend to be cranky when in pain. I am still in need of dishcloths, so am about to resume knitting #3 while listening to the LibriVox edition of Your Mind and How to Use it: A Manual of Practical Psychology.
A few notes on Memory: How to Develop, Train, and Use It first. In the chapter on associations, first he used a chain and hook metaphor, but then he mentioned "tightly knit together" memories as I was pulling the row I just knittted tight. I think that one will stick in my brain pretty well. Oh, do not try to listen to the chapter on remembering numbers while counting out stitches or even rows! Bad idea. He mentions that most people are either good at remembering things they hear, or things they see, but most people don't do both equally well so you should reinforce something you want to recall by the both methods so you have a double-sense impression ... that's what I am doing with the audiobook plus ebook idea. For the record, I remember things I read better than things I hear, unless it's set to a catchy tune.
As brought up in this week's Magic Monday, WWA is biased against the classical Art of Memory technique, calling it artificial, whereas his system is natural. I have not done the classical version just yet, but JMG says his methods enhance the older style, not contradict or confound. I chalked this up to WWA being very tightly wrapped up in the myth of Progress, as he uses the word "new" far too often. It particularly amuses me that he calls what he's doing "the New Psychology," and yes you can just hear the capital letters in context, even while being read into mp3 format. Psychology was still quite new at the time he wrote this book 109 years ago! Of course another word he uses too often to the point of abuse is "scientific." The ideas he pushes are of course not only new, but they are science and scientific. I guess we should cut him a little slack, as this was still five years before World War One (so-called the Great War and the War to End All Wars in its time ... until the second one came around and was even more ghastly).
Final note before I put the headphones back on and wrap a nice cotton yarn around my fingers: Syfen has started a community, so if you can't sign up uninvited, holler at him (?) to shoot you an invite. Temporaryreality has asked about tagging along ... the more the merrier, I say! Anyone else lurking in the shrubbery?
A few notes on Memory: How to Develop, Train, and Use It first. In the chapter on associations, first he used a chain and hook metaphor, but then he mentioned "tightly knit together" memories as I was pulling the row I just knittted tight. I think that one will stick in my brain pretty well. Oh, do not try to listen to the chapter on remembering numbers while counting out stitches or even rows! Bad idea. He mentions that most people are either good at remembering things they hear, or things they see, but most people don't do both equally well so you should reinforce something you want to recall by the both methods so you have a double-sense impression ... that's what I am doing with the audiobook plus ebook idea. For the record, I remember things I read better than things I hear, unless it's set to a catchy tune.
As brought up in this week's Magic Monday, WWA is biased against the classical Art of Memory technique, calling it artificial, whereas his system is natural. I have not done the classical version just yet, but JMG says his methods enhance the older style, not contradict or confound. I chalked this up to WWA being very tightly wrapped up in the myth of Progress, as he uses the word "new" far too often. It particularly amuses me that he calls what he's doing "the New Psychology," and yes you can just hear the capital letters in context, even while being read into mp3 format. Psychology was still quite new at the time he wrote this book 109 years ago! Of course another word he uses too often to the point of abuse is "scientific." The ideas he pushes are of course not only new, but they are science and scientific. I guess we should cut him a little slack, as this was still five years before World War One (so-called the Great War and the War to End All Wars in its time ... until the second one came around and was even more ghastly).
Final note before I put the headphones back on and wrap a nice cotton yarn around my fingers: Syfen has started a community, so if you can't sign up uninvited, holler at him (?) to shoot you an invite. Temporaryreality has asked about tagging along ... the more the merrier, I say! Anyone else lurking in the shrubbery?