Memory palaces are very powerful tools for easily learning huge quantities of technical information because they take advantage of the brain's natural strengths in learning. In fact, memory palaces create in a paper format the development of the neural connections that takes place in your brain as you acquire new information. Finally, you can use memory palaces to store the "stuff" of your technical textbooks in your brain in an organized, systematic way, thus making it easier to recall and use it on tests and in real life when you need it.

What are memory palaces?

Memory palaces are visual representations of your knowledge in a technical field. They were first developed in the 13th Century in Italy by a Jesuit priest named Matteo Ricci, who used them to learn 50,000 Chinese characters. What Matteo Ricci did was to "build" a palce in the most detailed way possible in his imagination. The palace had hundreds of rooms, and in each room he put Chinese characters associated with the items in the room. Since he imagined the rooms in such vivid detail , he was able torecall the characters too because he had created powerful associations between the palace rooms and characters.

How can you create memory palaces?

One of the best ways is to start by do a floor plan or layout of the technical shop for the technical field you are in.

1. For example, if you are majoring in automotive, you would visit the automotive shop at HCC, taking with you a large format, say 12" X 18", sketchpad..
2. Using gemoetric shapes such as boxes, circles, triangles, and so on, you could then proceed to draw in the equipment, machinery, tools, and so on, onto the layout. You would want to make sure you include all areas of the facility important for the technical field and de-emphasize those that are not essential, such as lockers and drinking faucets.
3. After doing your sketch in pencil, revising it if necessary, you would then want to move to going over the layout in black ink to make it easy to see and write in labels for each of the pieces of equipment and machinery, for work tables, and so on.
   • Then you would take highlighter pens and highlight the areas and the words inside them.
   • You could use one color for equipment and machinery
   • A second color for tools and supplies
   • another color for work areas.
   • This way you will be adding color to help you remember the types of work done in each area
4. Then you can "attach" to these completed palaces the information you acquire from analyzing technical illustrations, from making vocabulary cards for technical terms, and from making study charts and flow charts.

Where can I learn more about memory palaces?

Here are some websites with information about memory palaces:

• http://www.riccistreet.net/riccigreen/patron/palace.htm
• http://www.memtek.com
• http://www.santafe.edu/~johnson/palaces.html

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