Memory System – From Harry Lorayne
Take 20 seconds and try to memorise these nine items:
1. tie
2. lamp
3. book
4. sofa
5. table
6. traffic light
7. rake
8. hockey stick
9. electrical outlet
Okay. That's all the time you have.
Now read on.
The idea of the Lorayne system is that you create a mental list that is already populated with certain
images. These images are in a set order, and by associating items to them, you can then go through the
list in any order and pick up what you want.
Here are the first nine items for your mental list (don't try memorising them).
1 = tie
2 = noah
3 = ma (mother)
4 = rye (wheat or whiskey)
5 = law
6 = shoe
7 = cow
8 = ivy
9 = bee
These items appear arbitrary, but aren't. We'll get into that later.
For the moment, however, think back to the list I asked you to memorise -- but don't refer to it. Try to
remember the items and see how many you get. When you're finished, read on.
Now, you’re going to do the same thing again, but for each item you're trying to memorise, associate it
with an item from the "mental list."
Like this:
1. motorcycle = Tie = A man riding a motorcycle gets his tie caught in the wheel.
2. lamp = Noah = Noah opens the door to the arc, and as the elephants get on they knock over a table
lamp.
3. book = Ma/Mother = Tina reading a book.
4. sofa = Rye = A loaf of rye bread sticking out from the cushions of the sofa.
5. table = Law = A judge sitting on the table.
6. traffic light = Shoe = A man tried to get the light to change by hitting it with his shoe.
7. rake = Cow = A cow rakes up her manure saying, "I just like to keep things tidy."
8. hockey stick = Ivy = A hockey player trying to get his hockey stick off a wall covered with ivy.
9. electrical outlet = Bee = A man puts his finger in an electrical outlet and gets stung by a bee.
From this point on, you should be able to remember the items any time you want -- provided you can
remember the items of your mental list.
But then, that means memorising a list, and that brings us back to square one.
No, it doesn't. This is where Lorayne was particularly clever. There is very little that actually has to be
memorised. What he did was associate numbers with consonants. The number one, for instance, is "t"
or "d". (They're both the same sound, but "d" is voiced, while "t" is not.) The number two is "n." The
number three is "m."
Here's the list.
1 = t/d
2=n
3=m
4=r
5=l
6 = sh/zh
7=k
8 = v/f
9 = b/p
0 = s/z
(Where there are two letters, they are the same sound, but one is voiced.)
1 = "t" because "t" has only one downstroke.
2 = "n" because "n" has two downstrokes.
3 = "m" because "m" has three downstrokes
4 = "r" because it ends in "r."
5 = "l" because the number "50" in Roman numerals is "L"
6 = "sh/zh" because -- because it does.
7 = "k" because the letter "k" kind of looks like an upside down "7."
8 = "v/f" because it's like two Vs in an hourglass (and "f" is just an unvoiced "v").
9 = "p/b" because it kind of looks like a "p" or "b" upside down.
0 = "s/z" because "zero" starts with "z" (which is the same as "s" only voiced).
So with a little work, we end up with a mental list of ten sounds for ten digits.
Now the thing to remember is that vowels have no meaning. Only consonants have meaning.
Look at that list I gave you in the beginning -- the one you used to memorise the nine items. Now you
can see why each number is associated with each particular word.
1 = tie because 1 = t.
2 = Noah because 2 = n.
3 = Ma because 3 = m.
And so on.
Of course, there could be other options here. The number 3 could be "mow," as in "mow the grass," but
it's not as visual as "ma." The one thing the number 1 couldn't be, however, is "tack." That's because
there are two consonants in "tack," and it would translate into "17."
So with this system, you can set up a list of items in your head that are always on hand and can be
associated with things you want to memorise. In fact, it's pretty easy to keep a list of 20 or more items in
your memory. I've given you the items for the numbers from 1-9, now here are the items from 10 to 20.
You can see how the consonants of each word refer to the number.
10 = toes. (1 = t/d, 0 = s/z)
11 = tot. (1 = t/d, 1 = t/d)
12 = tin. (1 = t/d, 2 = n)
13 = tomb. (1 = t/d, 3 = m)
14 = tire. (1 = t/d, 4 = r)
15 = towel. (1 = t/d, 5 = l)
16 = dish. (1 = t/d, 6 = sh/zh)
17 = tack. (1 = t/d, 7 = k)
18 = dove. (1 = t/d, 8 = f/v)
19 = tub. (1 = t/d, 9 = p/b)
20 = nose (2 = n, 0 = z/s)
A few hours practice, and in a couple of days this list becomes stuck in your head.
Once it's there, remembering up to 20 things at a time is a cinch.
Here's a grocery list:
1. milk
2. eggs
3. butter
4. paper towels
5. sugar
6. salt
7. cat food
8. milk
9. hamburger
10. juice
11. cucumbers
12. carrots.
13. lettuce.
14. ice cream
15. celery
16. oven cleaner
17. furniture wax.
18. hot dogs.
19. toothpaste
20. Kleenex (That's an easy one.)
So now, as you're told each item, you associate it with your mental list:
1 = tie = milk. (You see yourself spilling milk on your tie, or you pour a glass of milk and a tie comes out.)
2 = noah = eggs. (You see Noah collecting eggs on the arc.)
3 = ma = butter. (You see your mother building a sculpture from butter.)
And so on.
"But surely," I hear you say, "the lists will get confused. If I have to memorise another list, then I might
start remembering the grocery list instead."
That makes sense, doesn't it? However, for some reason, it doesn't work that way. In the very beginning
there may be a slight overlap, but the fact is, the lists stay separate.
Okay, so now you can remember lists of things. What about numbers?
Well, you can use the sounds to remember numbers. "Lobby Room" for instance, can stand for 5943
(L=5, b=9, r=4, m=3). You might think, "But "lobby" has two Bs in it." True, but only the sound counts. A
word like "empty," for instance, would only count as "m" and "t" for most people, because you don't
generally say the "p." Likewise, a word like "matter" would only count as m, t, and r.
So for shortish numbers, you can make up a couple of words, or even a longer word that contains the
necessary consonants.
For longer numbers, however, you can make up sentences. The trick here is that, just as only the
consonants have meaning as sounds, only nouns have meaning in your sentences.
Look at this: Matter is a towel that Ben wears as a shawl
Now, the only words that count are the nouns: "Matter," "towel," "Ben," and "shawl."
Take out the consonants:
Matter = mtr = 314
towel = tl = 15
Ben = 92
shawl = 65
Put them together: 314159265
That's pi to eight decimal places: 3.14159265
The system is remarkably flexible, but the more complex you get with it, the more work you have to put
into it. The first step, creating an ever-ready mental list which can be used to memorise things, can be
perfected in a week or so at most.