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This book is designed to introduce your child
to the power of memory. For most of us, that ability is untapped,
or at least not developed. Some people appear to have innately good
memories; others poor ones. The truth is that every person’s
memory can improve with proper training.
Memory training is not difficult. In fact, it
can be really fun. The techniques involved are not a secret; they
have been around for centuries. Many books explain and illustrate
these memory techniques. For some reason, however, memory training
has never been introduced as a regular part of American education.
That fact is quite surprising, considering how fundamental memory
is to all other learning.
This book seeks to awaken an awareness in your
child, and in you, of what great potential our memories have. That
potential, once developed, can transform hours of difficult rote
memorization into easy and enjoyable learning. It can help your
child excel in school and, most importantly, help avoid a very basic
stumbling block that trips up many otherwise intelligent children
(and adults): the inability to retain and recall information.
Of course, developing one’s memory—even
if done in an imaginative, enjoyable way—takes time and practice.
Merely understanding the concept of how memory techniques work is
not enough. For example, you might realize after reading this book
that one way to avoid misplacing your keys is to form a quirky mental
picture associating your keys with the place where you put them.
Only if you make a habit of doing that each time you put your keys
down, however, will the realization be helpful. Forming that habit,
though, can be fun, particularly if you let your imagination go
wild. Pretty soon you will find yourself forming wacky mental associations
automatically, almost unconsciously. The same is true of good memory
techniques—with practice they start to become automatic. If
presented in the right way, your children will think of the habit
as a game they enjoy playing, rather than a drill they must practice.
For that reason, I urge you to select a memory
book or aid carefully, to start your children early in this important
and fun endeavor, and to make memory exercises a regular part of
your life. Hopefully, the creative world of Memory Emory’s
imagination will spark your own imagination, and that of your child,
and will start you both on an enjoyable and satisfying journey through
memory lane.
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