The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy For Keeping Your Brain Young

by Gary Small

Clear, concise, prescriptive steps for improving your memory and keeping your brain young -- from one of the world's top memory experts. Ever forget the name of an acquaintance or where you put the keys to your car If you're like most people, you probably have, but now -- thanks to the paperback publication of The Memory Bible -- much of this forgetfulness can be eliminated easily. According to Dr. Gary Small, the director of the UCLA Center on Aging, "Great memories are not born, they are made," and The Memory Bible provides the innovative memory exercises and brain fitness programs necessary to immediately improve your mental performance. Dr. Small's comprehensive program includes a "brain diet" of memory-enhancing foods and a list of the most effective drugs, as well as a workbook with a weekly and daily calendar.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help, Brain, Psychology, Science, Reference

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Geoff Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

The apparent audience for this book is baby boomers who read at a fifth-grade level and who are concerned about the threat of Alzheimer's disease. With all due respect to those people and their needs, I was looking for something else, i.e., targeted strategies for improving my memory.

Although such strategies do make an appearance in these pages, they are intermixed with information that I found less relevant to my situation. They are also often presented in simple, superficial terms, with the advice that deeper knowledge can be acquired elsewhere. I want a book with deeper knowledge.

Of the ten chapters, three were quite useful (3, 5, 6), three somewhat useful (1, 2, 7), and the others not so much. Generally this isn't a horrible introductory text, but there's too much emphasis on Alzheimer's research and not enough on taking actual steps to strengthen one's memory for my taste.

[Shin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book with many different strategies and suggests to keep your brain young.
I've learned how to remember a long string of numbers (using Peg Method), using LOOK, SNAP and CONNECT to remember things/Names and faces better.
I've learned different ways to reduce stress.
I've learned about diet that's good/bad for memory, medicine/vitamins that's good/bad for memory, life style that's good/bad for memory.
Overall, it is a very good book to get anyone started on his/her journey to a better memory!

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever lost your keys? Have you ever parked in a parking lot and exited the building only to realize that you forgot where you parked? Do you have problems recalling names and faces? If any of this describes you, and chances are that it does, this book could be for you. While I do say that, this comes with a caveat. This book is for people that are older than I am at the moment, but I figured it is never too early to start. To illustrate this, the author begins in one section by asking where you were when Kennedy was assassinated and follows it up by asking the same question pertaining to John Lennon.

The Memory Bible offers a comprehensive approach to keeping your brain fit enough to stave off Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. Dr. Gary Small is or was the Director of the UCLA Center on Aging and has advice on all sorts of different things. He presents to us the Memory Tricks popularized by Harry Lorayne along with a number of other things that you can do. The book contains a number of testimonials and stories that are meant to illustrate how insidious memory loss actually is. He gives out the standards of what constitutes memory loss and other disorders while telling us that it is merely a way to sort it categorically.

Keep in mind, just because you have some memory loss doesn’t mean that you automatically have Alzheimer’s disease or some form of dementia. Dr. Small assures us that the only way to tell is to have a complete physical examination and some form of Brain Imaging Scan. The preferred one is the PET or Positron Emission Tomography scan. Going back to what I said, a number of factors can contribute to memory loss or generally poor memory with Stress being a massive culprit. In our interconnected world of Smartphones and worldwide Wi-Fi access, it comes as no surprise that people are stressed more easily. The same thing goes for lack of sleep. People say it all the time, but I will say it again, sleep is important.

If you read this book, you should understand that it was published in 2002. As of this review, that is 17 years ago. I don’t know what advances have been made in the Alzheimer’s field, but I believe they have a more capable understanding now then they did back then. I mean, for some of us seventeen years is a long time. In any case, this book is still useful for prevention and for general health issues. I will probably never eat a totally vegan diet, but this book has plenty of good advice.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

good to read before you start losing your mind. =) A well written and organized guide that addresses all aspects of life influencing your mental health from a physician's perspective. Nicely done.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it wasn't that good as far as I can remember. I can't remember anything covered.

[Dylan Hennig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am very rarely super critical of a book as I enjoy reading and find something from almost everything, but I have to just be honest that this was the first time I was straight up disappointed in a book. The title is so misleading, first of all, after the first 2 chapters it’s not about memory techniques or cool phenomenon about human memory like you’d think from the title, but literally stuff about “when you exercise more and eat this way, memory was shown to improve, as well as reducing alcohol” (no crap). To be fair, the author did note at the beginning that this was more of a reference for older people and people actually needing it for preparation for Alzheimer’s, but my critiques stand because in that case I don’t think the title should have been what it was. Again no disrespect but just my rant from reading it that after the 1st two chapters where there were some decent memory techniques or examples it felt like reading a textbook and more about how eating healthy, working out, and the classic “consult your doctor” about which medicines would be best for me would all improve my memory (and for the record, none of the studies seemed to show cause, but that he just listed a bunch of correlations that were pretty well known). No hate if this is your type of book but I don’t really think it taught me anything fun/interesting or useful about memory. I DEFINITELY recommend Joshua Foer’s “Moonwalking with Einstein” if you have similar expectations to me!

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up while searching for actual books to help in memorizing sections of the Bible, and I read it because I have noticed that I don't retain information as well as I used to and can no longer remember people's names after hearing them once like I used to. The book seems to be aimed at an older generation, but I enjoyed learning about his scientific studies (I did study neuroscience in college, after all), reviewing memory mnemonics, and taking the various memory tests included in the text. It reminded me that my memory may be okay but that my life could use less stress and anxiety. I know I rely on my phone to remember everything--my to-do list, calendar, notes, grocery list, phone numbers, directions, etc.--and I didn't do as well on the memory test as I had hoped, so although I found a lot of the book to be worthy of a quick skim, it has motivated me to join Lumosity or something similar and keep my brain young. I also plan to use the Roman room method to help memorize the Bible verses I was originally working on.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't completely read it all, Mostly skimmed through. I found this book in my mother-in-law stuff. She has dementia.
This book was a good reminder to do all the things necessary to keep my brain healthy NOW. Bot to wait til I'm older.

- set realistic expectations
- exercise regularly
- prepare ahead
- take breaks throughout the day
- learn how to relax and do it regularly (meditate)
- cut back on caffeine
- get enough sleep
- balance work and leisure
- let yourself laugh
- talk about feelings

[Cavak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit dry and somewhat dated. Still a nice and quick guide for the basics of mental fitness. Pretty handy the next time anxiety or depression strikes, and my mind blanks again.

Highly recommend that you do not use the audiobook. If you're driving or folding your laundry while listening to it, you'll activate different muscles for the pen and paper mental exercises. Chances are they won't feel effective just by listening, either. It may sound silly, yet participating with the intended instructions was actually helpful for me. As long as I didn't cheat. :)

[noa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the subsection headers to separate blocks of text, perhaps Dr. Small did it on purpose? Excellent, so informative, some outdated expressions and references, but some were nice (e.g., the organizer, going to book stores to seek help for memory improvement), a good wake up call to take care of my body and mind, increased my sense of urgency to try to help those i love as well, will definitely be referring to this text multiple times

[Malynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was decent… I really enjoyed the brain exercises but the rest of it was pretty straightforward and didn’t really give me that much more information. However, as a result of reading this book I did get a brain exercise app on my phone and have been doing some of those every day, which has been really fun!

[Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems there was more information given as to why some of us lose our memories, rather than strategies for remedying memory loss. Unfortunately, I can only remember one strategy the author gave, and I already knew this strategy before listening to the book. I wish the book was more helpful.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must remember to buy this book for handy reference.

[Gaili Schoen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new here- just a recycling of ideas that have been better expressed by others

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reassuring (for me) summary of what can be done to improve memory and what does and does not indicate dementia-related memory loss.

[Alyson Tran · Rating 4 out of 5]

useful.

[Marilyn Everett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish the book. I found it very difficult to read and somewhat cumbersome.

[Rob Lewan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book did have a strong emphasis on Alzheimer's disease and had some dated information, it was still a great read. In addition, had a lot of great memory building activities.

[T Collen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some useful info but not much. I paid $1.50 for this book at a library sale, and feel that I wasted at least $1.25.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

The memory strategies in the book were nothing that hasn't been presented before in many other books of the same genre.

I thought the treatment on nutrition and drugs were the most interesting portions. In addition, the book discusses some aspects of programs that help people with memory problems such as dementia and Alzheimer's. Though, clear footnotes to references would have been more helpful.

I would have liked to see Gary focus on areas that he has in-depth expertise on rather than sprinkling in things like the peg method. Some of these memory strategies were probably thrown in because first-time readers are looking for them.

If the book were truly a "bible" about memory, perhaps these strategies being listed is a good idea. However, any book that has "bible" in it should literally be more than 1000 pages with an exhaustive treatment of all aspects of memory. Though, this requires a team with a strong editor .. not sure of a good reference that fits the bill.

[Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought it was a great book- not so much for entertainment but knowledge. Although he did put a lot of interesting stories and facts in there- oh yeah and there's a cool section of mind games (that i suck at-but were still fun) and i learned a lot of cool ways to remember things- i would recomend to even just skim through it.

[Mimi Somsanith · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I remember correctly, there were some tips on how to find your misplaced keys, general description of the brain, and an exercise to test your short-term memory (which I Aced). It was a nice book and gift for me, just not very insightful.

[Terrence Weijnschenk]

Een praktisch boek. Nadat ik een aantal oefeningen die in het boek beschreven staan had gedaan verbeterde mijn geheugen inderdaad. Opeens wist ik weer waar ik iets dat ik al ruim een jaar kwijt was in huis had opgeborgen!

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great information on how to keep your mind sharp, remember names, and other cool stuff. I may have to read this one again.

[Bjorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://lynnfikstad.wordpress.com/?s=m...

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

c2002. A bit dry for me. Not much new info though and clearly didn't work too well as I have forgotten most of it already!

[Bjm Index]

2

[Matthew Stolte · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good tips on how to lower stress & a bit about brain functions

[Bruceschneider21 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that provided enough of the background on memory and some techniques for workin on your memory.

[Cathy Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This information is useful. I will be keeping this book as a reference. The chapters about brain function and diet are particularly helpful.