Page 11 - How to Develop A SUPER-POWER MEMORY

How Keen Is Your Observation? 15
have seen what Clinton was doing with his left hand. You
also saw, or probably saw, four letters, two on the upper
left and two on the upper right of the stamp. I say that you
saw these things, I don't think you observed them. If you
did, you should be able to tell yourself right now, what
De Witt Clinton is doing with his left hand, and also name
the four letters.
Had to look again, didn't you? Now you've observed that
his left hand is at Clinton's temple, as if he were thinking,
and the letters are, U.S.I.R. for United States Internal
Revenue.
Don't feel too badly if you couldn't answer any of these
questions; as I said before, most people can't. You may
recall a motion picture a few years ago which starred Ron-
ald Colman, Celeste Holm and Art Linkletter. The picture
was "Champagne for Caesar," and it was about a man who
couldn't be stumped with any question on a quiz show.
The finale of the film was the last question of the quiz,
which was worth some millions of dollars. To earn these
millions, Ronald Colman was asked to give his own social
security number. Of course, he didn't know it! This was
amusing and interesting, to me, anyway, since it struck
home. It proves, doesn't it, that people see but do not ob-
serve? Incidentally, do you know your social security num-
ber?
Although the systems and methods contained in this
book make you observe automatically, you will find some
interesting observation exercises in a later chapter. The sys-
tem will also make you use your imagination with more
facility than ever before.
I've taken the time and space to talk about observation
because it is one of the things important to training your
memory. The other, and more important thing, is associa-
tion. We cannot possibly remember anything that we do