I'm reminded of an old Weekly World News article in which a man tiring of losing his keys so often took the drastic step of having a surgeon implant keys at the end of of his fingers, so he could never lose a key again!
The photo they used to accompany the outrageous story was hilarious. Nowadays, that doesn't seem as far-fetched of an idea, with somewhat similar futuristic key implant methods becoming more readily available.
"This book is a description of what is, so far as the Author is aware, a new kind of hobby, but one which seems on the face of it to be as reasonable, as interesting, and as instructive, as any other sort of collection fad. This is the collection of street-car transfers and allied forms. The Author himself has already collected over sixteen hundred such forms, there being no duplicates included among that number; and he has found the process of collection, and the things observed during the process, both interesting and entertaining. He believes that others could get the same interest in such collection, even though it were made on a more limited scale." The media industry, believing that this was his only book, proclaimed it evidence that Sidis had "burned out."
Does this person have some reputation that others of us could recognise, that would lead us to expect him not to be interested in bus routes? I found the site mystifying, but clicking around suggested someone more on the Timecube than the eminent-public-figure side.
I totally agree that the method you are using is a good habit. I noticed that cashiers often call out the denominations of money I hand them for a purchase, which too helps. I used to deliver newspapers late at night and once lost count (while counting in my head) of how many heavy bundles that I had loaded from one truck to another, which required me to start over - and on a cold night too. Thereafter, I picked up the habit of counting aloud, especially if somebody else came by and distracted me.
Cashiers in Japan always count out loud both what they receive and what they give back.
Cashiers in my home country never do. And sometimes I forget what I handed over.. it would have been useful then to have the verbal confirmation. Not to mention the time in Mexico when a gas station employee tricked me.. oh well, maybe not, in the latter case.
Thank you. It seems that lately I've been reminded several times how simply re-reading articles can be a great memory improvement tool.
An additional re-reading tool I had forgotten about for a while is by clicking my history button to remind me what caught my fancy on the 1st round and probably will be worth re-reading again.
Re-reading is actually not a good way to commit things to memory. It can be enjoyable, no doubt there, but for learning - such as focusing on non-fiction it uses more time than a good focused reading session over the first pass.
Re-read for enjoyment!
For learning/memory - You have to learn to encode what you want to learn into something you can remember. Some people use a "places" trick - where they remember a familiar house/place or commute to work and they can place things along this imaginary route for recollection. The idea is that we humans remember through images and association by evolutionary survival traits. You have to encode / chunk what you want to learn, you have to recall it and work on saving this to long-term memory by recollecting it at intervals that may be hours on day one, multiple hours day 2 and randomly as time goes on.
For the most part, re-read because you enjoy it, but don't convince yourself its the optimal way to improve your memory of what you have read :)
The photo they used to accompany the outrageous story was hilarious. Nowadays, that doesn't seem as far-fetched of an idea, with somewhat similar futuristic key implant methods becoming more readily available.