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30 Days to a More Powerful Memory

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With phones ringing off the hook, constantly changing to-do lists, and increasingly complicated schedules, having a good memory has become more important than ever. Drawing on the latest research from cognitive experts and psychologists, 30 Days to a More Powerful Memory provides hands-on, practical strategies and exercises that anyone, young or old, can use to sharpen their memory -- fast! The book introduces readers to memory-boosting techniques such as mnemonic devices, visualization, chunking and clustering, and mental triggers, and also shows how * effectively decrease anxiety levels and combat the negative emotions that can affect recall * create powerful backup systems to help trigger associations * exercise both body and mind, and improve overall health to improve memory * get the kind of restful sleep that will increase one’s ability to retain information. The book discusses common myths about memory, clarifying what’s true and what isn’t. Packed with tips and memory-boosting activities, this guide provides readers with the simple but powerful methods they need to increase their mental agility.

276 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

7 people are currently reading
75 people want to read

About the author

Gini Graham Scott

597 books22 followers
Gini has published over 50 books with major publishers, including books on work relationships, professional and personal development, creativity, law, criminal justice, popular culture, and social trends. She has published over 200 books through her company Changemakers Publishing, and has recently written a series of books on self-publishing.
She has been a guest on 100s of radio and TV talk shows including Oprah, Good Morning America, and CNN.

She helps clients write, publish, market, and promote any type of book through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing at www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com She also helps clients find publishers and agents.

In addition, she writes scripts and produces films through her company Changemakers Productions. She has written and produced 14 feature films, TV pilots, and documentaries, with 8 of them in distribution, the others in post production. Details are on her website for films at www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com. She helps clients turn their books into scripts and she reviews books for their film potential.

She also has written and produced over 60 short films. Examples are featured on her YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/changemakersprod.

She speaks and does workshops and seminars on the topics of her books and on self-publishing, writing and promoting books.

She has written over 200 songs featured at Changemakers Music (www.changemakersmusic.com). Her latest songs are on her Changemakers Music YouTube Channel.

She is a game designer who has published over two dozen games, featured at Changemakers Games (www.changemakersgames.com) .

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Nola Tillman.
652 reviews50 followers
November 9, 2013
I'm working my way through a number of memory books at the moment. Though the general 'how to's are repetitive in bulk, I'm looking not only for new information but also to see how the new author puts familiar information into play.

30 Days to a More Powerful Memory was not quite what I had in mind. Much of what I've been reading involved loci, peg lists, memory palaces, the Major system; this book provides only a generalized look at those (with nothing on the Major system). However, these techniques are primarily described as being used for card and number memorization; Scott focuses on more everyday memory improvement methods. In truth, this gave me hope for the sections I was interested in, but most of that hope was for naught.

If, however, you are simply trying to improve your memory regarding shipping lists, where you parked, people's names, and significant events, this book touches on those. Some of it is obvious - relax and don't stress out, visualize yourself driving into the lot/walking into the house - but some of it adapts techniques formally described to simplify things.

If you are looking for new 'how to's or information on implementing tricks used by world memory challenge winners, however, it is few and far between, and most of it comes from quotes by those masters (Tony Buzan, Dominic O'Brien, etc); you're better off reading those books.

The one unique suggestion I came across was the suggestion of a memory journal. I was already recording some of my struggles as I constructed my memory palace, as well as some ideas. Scott suggests eight points to review on a daily basis, which I think helps to keep you focused. The first two involve your overall and daily goal, and I had to sheepishly note that I had made no progress on my daily goal, causing me to put down the book and work on it (and resolve to hit that goal before reading our journaling). I personally hadn't considered an overarching goal. I still haven't, but I did break down the projects that I'm working on or plan to work on via the memory techniques that I'm studying. I put them in order of importance to me. Touching base on these on a daily basis will continue to require me to focus, I think; the same us true with other points.

The book itself was well written. While it wasn't necessarily what I was looking for, I felt that it accomplished its intended goal - helping people who wouldn't necessarily seek out exotic memory activities to improve their daily memory. As such, I've rated it accordingly.
Profile Image for Argin Gerigorian.
77 reviews8 followers
November 24, 2013
The author says some good things, but pretty everything is pretty much common-sense.

She does give a lot of practice tests to improve your memory but all of them can be found online for free.

She writes, “That’s the way memory works. When you have images, when something is more important for you, when you use multiple senses to encode the experience in the first place—when you don’t just try to recall words on a page or a series of spoken words—you will remember more.” –Scott, 30 Days to Powerful Memory, pg.ix

The other helpful section she talks about is a healthy diet. The better foods you eat the better health your brain is in.

In short: There are three types of long-term memory episodic (which is memory triggered by events in the past you recollect, i.e. our home is Iran), semantic (which is memory triggered by words, information, and all things else you learned, i.e. vocabulary and definitions written next to them), procedural (which is memory triggered by things you’ve done, i.e. riding a bicycle) A good way to expand you memory is to teach yourself the particular topic you are studying. For example if you have to read a paper on the history of 16th century agriculture in Europe, it would be better, once you read the material and have a substantial understanding of it, to repeat or what psychologists call “rehearse” the topic back to yourself. Stand in front of a wall and pretend you are lecturing a hundred students about the topic you learned. It is proven that this method is one of the most effective ones.
Profile Image for Richard.
250 reviews18 followers
October 1, 2018
I'm not going to say the book was bad, but the book did lack a lot of drive for me to continue with it. That could have been partially as I was listening to the book instead of reading, and there are many times the book has you stop to practice lists of names number, or just odd combinations. So, seeing the content may have helped more.

That being said this book fails on one of the tenants it tries to teach. I found most of the book very boring, and I could not get into it. Keeping interested and making sure the information in retained at first is one of the steps to a better memory. This book tested my ability to do that for the book itself.

Even with all of that, the book does hit on some very core, and very interesting ways to memorize things, along with simple tips for helping with memory. I think the book is good in and of itself, and I still have one of the exercises that pops up into my head, even a couple days later, as I remember a grocery list that was in the book. The book leans highly into visualization is my biggest observation though. Much of the book is about coming up with visual cues to match with auditory information.

Worth the read, even if a bit slow and dry.
129 reviews2 followers
March 3, 2017
Approachable, functional, concise, and broad! Intro with visuals. Tests to establish baseline. Nutrition. And all available techniques. Great!
Profile Image for Patricia.
1,993 reviews
November 12, 2019
It is what it says a book that discusses ways to improve memory with some tests in it as well as information on nutrition and habits you can establish to improve your memory.
Profile Image for Ralph N.
358 reviews22 followers
May 11, 2020
A lot of psychology 101 wrapped
1 review
Want to read
September 23, 2020
am really interested in this particular book, it will help my confidence in every aspect of life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Neowuf.
45 reviews
April 28, 2014
Big book for memory topic, 276 pages, could be half the size. A lot of information is common sense, like keep your keys on the same play, pay attention, keep your passwords in a safe book, etc. When comes to the real stuff, memorizing a huge number, a lot of decks, and something similar, the book is ZERO. I don´t recommend, but I´m committed to improve my memory, so will ready all the books. Five or ten pages was useful for me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews

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