Use It or Lose It: The Use of Mnemonic Exercises in the Fight Against Alzheimers

By John David Merwin

USE IT OR LOSE IT

This little volume has been designed as a self-help tool for anyone intent on improving his or her memory skills. While it is an accepted fact that physical exercise is an essential element in maintaining a healthy body, there is seldom, if ever, a suggestion that regular brain exercises might play an important role in improving memory or in restoring a healthy brain. The author draws upon his personal experience and the extensive study of memory phenomena over a span of half a century in selecting and presenting a series of exercises, which, if conscientiously followed, can achieve meaningful results. Recent clinical studies at Londons University College and at the Albert Einstein Hospital in the Bronx, New York, confirm that Alzheimers patients who are beginning to forget names can learn to remember. After just one month of training several of the patients showed considerable improvement. Many of the feats of memory, which are recommended in the later chapters of this volume, are beyond the comprehension of the uninitiated and are often referred to as miracles. They are, in fact, nothing more than the achievements of anyone who is truly determined to succeed in improving and/or restoring his or her memory. Should the mnemonic exercises described and recommended herein also prove helpful in improving the mental condition of persons in the early stages of Alzheimers the authors fondest hopes will surely be realized.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 12, 2004
• ISBN: 9781462819072

John David Merwin

John David Merwin was born in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. Following his retirement over twenty years ago, he relocated in the State of New Hampshire. He is a graduate of Yale University and the George Washington University School of Law. After careers in the military, banking, public service and the law he devoted many years and much energy to the study of mnemonics for improving memory generally as well as for enhancing the quality of life. His investigations into the possibility of using mnemonics as a tool in the fight against the onslaught of Alzheimer’s, goes back many years. These efforts have culminated in the compilation and presentation of the exercises and disciplines contained in this little volume, USE IT OR LOSE IT.

Book preview

Y O U R M E M O R Y

USE IT

OR

LOSE IT

The use of mnemonic exercises

in the fight against

ALZHEIMER’S

John David Merwin

Copyright © 2003 by John David Merwin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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20704

Contents

FOREWORD

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

What Do We Know about Memory?

CHAPTER 1

—Basic Ideas Concerning Memory

CHAPTER 2

Exercises in Visualization (Picture Making in the Mind)

CHAPTER 3

Practical Applications

CHAPTER 4

Remembering Names and Faces

CHAPTER 5

Working with Numbers

CHAPTER 6

Mnemonic Exercise Therapy

CHAPTER 7

The Challenge

APPENDIX

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

This little volume is dedicated

to the memory of two dear friends,

Alex and Bakey Nason,

whose lives of unbounded generosity were

an inspiration to all who where privileged to know them

FOREWORD

As I look back on the years spent in academia, including eight years at universities and in graduate school, never was the subject of memory functions or improvement ever discussed or even mentioned. Teachers and professors always seemed to take memory for granted. It was apparently assumed that, with hard work and intense concentration, the average student would somehow learn what was required and succeed in his or her endeavors by one means or another.

By the same token, no one in academia ever, to my knowledge, broached or discussed the matter of improving one’s reading skills and the elimination, through regular exercise and training, of bad, inhibiting reading habits. Never was there ever any suggestion that I, or any of my fellow students, enroll in a rapid reading clinic or take any alternative corrective action.

It was not until I returned to active duty as an artillery officer during the Korean conflict that I first learned that there were, in fact, rapid reading clinics operated on various U. S. Army posts. These were available, without charge, to any military personnel interested in some form of meaningful self-improvement.

These clinics were equipped with numerous machines which were calibrated to descend over the pages of various types of books at certain controlled speeds. The program required that the interested students work independently to gradually increase their rate of reading by a factor of two to three times. I used all available spare time while at the Field Artillery Center at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to take advantage of the benefits to be derived from the rapid reading program. The results obtained were far greater than anything I had ever imagined.

Another fascinating rapid reading program was also available at Fort Sill. It involved the use of slides containing from five to fifteen ciphers in random order which could be projected onto a screen at speeds from one fiftieth to one three-hundredth of a second. The challenge was to write down the various combinations of numbers as they were flashed upon the screen. By constant application of this method of flash memory, it was possible to dramatically increase the ability of the visual senses to rapidly recall increasingly large figures flashed on the screen at faster and faster rates.

The two programs described above were capable, if diligently pursued, of doubling, tripling or quadrupling one’s rate of reading while at the same time improving in a significant manner one’s comprehension of the texts and figures involved. Over the course of two or three months, the benefits derived from these programs by the trainees who embarked upon them were nothing less than dramatic.

Shortly after completing several weeks of study at the Rapid Reading Clinic, it was my good fortune to come across and purchase a copy of a small book entitled The Famous Roth Memory Course. This remarkable volume further opened my eyes to the limitless possibilities which existed for memory improvement.

By faithfully applying the principles and unique ideas presented in the Roth book over a period of several months while serving in the Far East, I found that my reading skills and memory capacity were substantially improved. Over the succeeding years I have worked sporadically to renew and improve these skills. The results have, once again, far exceeded my most optimistic expectations.

The Roth Memory Course was first published over eighty years ago but has been out of print for many years. For most of the ideas and methods incorporated into the present study, I am deeply indebted to the late David M. Roth, who did such a remarkable job of organizing and presenting a most logical and easily understandable system of memory training. It is my sincere hope that by condensing and, perhaps, simplifying the original Roth version, it will be easier for the readers of this little volume to adapt the programs presented to the needs of the twenty-first century.

In the preface of this volume I have addressed the possibilities of using the exercises described herein in the fight to postpone, contain and, hopefully, find a cure for the dreaded condition known as Alzheimer’s disease.

PREFACE

The writer of