Mnemonics - References

Baker, Al (1949) Mental Magic. Carl W. Jones

This book contains an appendix entitled "Mnemonics As Applied To Conjuring: Adrian Plate's Mnemonc System" which is reprinted in full from "Magician's Tricks" by Hatton & Plate.

Berglas, D. & Playfair, G. L. (1988) A Question Of Memory. London: Jonathan Cape Limited

This book is entirely devoted to memory and mnemonic systems and draws extensively upon David’s extensive knowledge of this subject. Of particular interest are the examples taken from one of his memory training seminars, where the difference between "good" associations and "bad" associations is made clear.

Buzan, A. (1971) Speed Memory. London: Sphere Books

This book contains numerous mnemonic systems, including the peg system.

Carlisle, S. (1979) Dynamic Mentalism. Bideford, Devon: The Supreme Magic Company

This book, by one of the most well-known magicians in the field of mentalism, contains a lecture demonstration based upon Magic Squares, as well as a chapter on memory. It is only available to bona fide magicians.

Carroll, Don (1983) Feats Of Memory. Bideford, Devon: The Supreme Magic Company

Corinda, A. (1968) 13 Steps To Mentalism. New York, New York: Louis Tannen

This is another classic book on mentalism, only available to bona fide magicians, which has one lesson (Step 3, largely written by David Berglas) devoted to 5 x 5 Magic Squares, mnemonics and mental systems. For further information, the reader is referred to "Mental Prodigies" by Fred Barlow.

Furst, B. (1977) You Can Remember. Marple, Cheshire: Memory & Concentration Studies

This is a twelve-part memory training course, which provides full details of all of the main mnemonic techniques. In addition, Session 10 is devoted to memorising playing cards.

Gardner, M. The Scientific American Book Of Mathematical Puzzles And Diversions. Simon & Schuster

Chapter 11 of this book is about memorising numbers.

Hancock, J. (1995) Jonathan Hancock’s Mindpower System. London: Hodder & Stoughton

This is a relatively new book on memory training techniques by the 1994 World Memory Champion.

Harbin, R. (1968) Instant Memory. London: Corgi Mini-Books (Transworld Publishers Limited)

This small, pocket sized book was my first introduction to mnemonics. Whilst not a particularly deep book as far as they go, it does contain the basic techniques required for memorising lists of objects using both the link and peg methods.

James, George W. (1884) Stoke's System Of Memory. James

Joseph, E. Memory Of The Mind. Bideford, Devon: The Supreme Magic Company

This book contains both routines and systems for mental effects and, more importantly, memorising a pack of playing cards.

Kaye, Marvin (1975) The Handbook Of Mental Magic. Stein and Day

Chapter 14 is entitled "Super Memory and Rapid Calculation", which includes both mnemonics and a 5 x 5 Magic Square.

Lamb, Geoffrey. (1972) Mental Magic Tricks. T. Nelson

This book might be useful for teaching mnemonics to children.

Larrowe, Marcus Dwight (aka Professor Antoine Loisette) (1896) Assimilative Memory. Funk and Wagnalls

Larrowe, Marcus Dwight (aka Professor Antoine Loisette) (1886) Physiological Memory. Loisette

Lorayne, H. (1968) Harry Lorayne's Memory Isometrics Course.

This is a programmed version of the next book listed.

Lorayne, H. (1957) How To Develop A Super-Power Memory. F. Fell

This is one of the classic books on memory training.

Lorayne, H. (1975) Remembering People. Warner

Lorayne, H. (1976) The Harry Lorayne Memory Game. Reiss Games

One of the best tools to help your train your memory.

Lorayne, H. & Lucas, J. (1976) The Memory Book. London: W. H. Allen & Company Limited

This book is, as its title suggests, entirely about mnemonic systems. Harry Lorayne is, of course, one of the best known practitioners of the mnemonic art. The book tells you all you need to know about memorising anything, including playing cards.

Markoff, David & Carcel, Denise (1979) Total Recall. Charter, Grosset and Dunlap

This is a very similar system to Harry Lorayne's "How To Develop A Super-Power Memory".

Meyer, O. (1961) The Amazing Magic Square & Master Memory Demonstration. Cheyenne, Wyoming: Orville Meyer

This relatively short booklet contains one of the best routines to be based on Magic Squares, although it may be hard to find nowadays, especially as it is only available to bona fide magicians. It also details the memory system used.

Mirsky, N. (1994) The Unforgettable Memory Book. London: Penguin Books (BBC Books)

This book on mnemonics is the one that accompanies the BBC series, presented by Greg Proops.

O’Brien, D. (1993) How To Develop A Perfect Memory. London: Pavilion Books Limited

This book is entirely devoted to mnemonic systems, including memorising an entire pack of playing cards. However, the systems used by Dominic O'Brien, who has won the World Memory Championship several times, are mainly different to those used by Harry Lorayne: some are old and some are Dominic's own, new, personal ideas. (The old system is that first used by the ancient Greek and Roman orators. They used a method which associated ideas to known places or routes with which they were familiar. This has given rise to the now popular phrase "in the first place".)

Read, Ralph W. (1934) The Calostro Mind Reading Act. Calostro Publications

This is for a two-person act, but the mnemonics are interesting.

Rightmire, Richard (1972) The Master Mentalist. Micky Hades Enterprises

Young, Morris N. (1961) Bibliography Of Memory. Chilton Co.

Zufall, Bernard (1940) Zufall's Memory Trix. Zufall

This is a series of six booklets, covering Magazine Memorising, Mental File Index, Calendar Memorising, Memorising A Deck Of Playing Cards, Memorising Numbers and Memorising Facts & Figures.

The owner of this website, Mark Farrar, is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking MarkFarrar.co.uk to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, Amazon.co.uk, Javari.co.uk, Amazon.de, Javari.de, Amazon.fr, Javari.fr, Amazon.it and/or Amazon.es.