Sharpening the Mind

[Praxis101]

I find myself reading all kinds of crazy articles online, lots of which seem like nonsense, but occasionally I stumble across something cool.

SuperMemo (http://www.supermemo.com/) is essentially a comprehensive website focused on understanding the human mind, and what can be done towards achieving the mind’s full potential.

There are many articles addressing various faculties, how they function, and how to achieve better use of these faculties. Genius and Creativity (http://www.supermemo.com/articles/genius.htm) was one of the more interesting articles to me, but they all seemed practical.

The other function of the site is software, called Supermemo, which seems like a nifty little device to organize articles, thoughts, and data – and claims to potentially increase reading comprehension considerably. $39.00 for the software, older versions of the software are free, and all of the articles are free.

Some of the reading is a bit lengthy, but appears to be extremely comprehensive and approach subjects considering many angles.

So whaddya think, worth the forty bucks? Particularly if you plan to read lots of things…

[Skoob]

I don't know about the books, but I learned a little mind exercise trick in college. It's pretty simple and it helps with concentration as well as gets you to be using both sides of the brain at the same time, or so I was told.

All you have to do is say the alphabet with each corresponding letter number with each letter.

A1, B2, C3, etc.

Once you have that down, reverse it.
1A, 2B, 3C, etc.

And when you get good at that, try alternating the order.
A1, 2B, C3, etc.

And after that, start saying the alphabet backward with numbers counting down from 26.

We were to the point where the class would sit in a circle and each reciting one letter/number combo to the rhythm of some music. The instructor would pick up the needle off the record and we had to keep it going in our heads silently and when the needle went back down, we had to continue. Not from where we left off, but where we would have been had the music not stopped. Crazy stuff.

Give it a shot. It's tough at first, but once you get the hang of it... Also, knowing the alphabet backward helps for those drunk driving stops.

[FortunaMaximus]

Came up with something similar with what skoob suggests.

Count doubles, 1, 2, 4, keep going up, and each double takes a little longer the first few times.

But you build on that and it sticks and find yourself going deeper and deeper, and the early numbers in the series become a kona of sorts. Calms me, gets me into the frame of mind to concentrate.

Ditto cubes and Fibonaccis. Any number series does well after years of that...

I do maintain a pretty large-scale memory palace though, so I'm not sure how a late adolescent or young adult would be able to start and reinforce the builds, as I've been constantly working on it for two decades now. But it should be a very useful beginning. And after awhile, you can learn to color-code or associate-code things you need to remember.

When memorizing by rote, it's often useful to use associative rhymes or colors or whatever reference system seems to work for you.

And in this day and age, you don't need nearly the space you used to, that those in the Renaissance used to. They didn't have the fallback databases of Wiki and Google to doublecheck, reinforce, etc.

Aside: As for the other item, I should have it shipped by dawn. Cheers.

K.