Page 165 - How to Develop A SUPER-POWER MEMORY

The Importance of Memory 169
Yes, it's true that business men have secretaries, but they
probably wouldn't be in the position to hire one if they
didn't have good memories for their businesses in the first
place. And, how long do you think the secretary would keep
the job if she couldn't remember?
Although there are millions of reference books, and we
certainly need them—a lawyer pleading a case in court
would much rather have the details of a precedent in his
memory, than have to stop to look it up. If he could quote
pages and laws from certain law books, the judge and
jury would most certainly be favorably impressed. A car-
penter doesn't stop to look at a book when he has to use a
particular tool; he remembers how to use it. If an emer-
gency arises on the operating table, the surgeon acts im-
mediately. All the medical books in existence wouldn't help
that patient, if the doctor didn't remember just what to do.
When you visit your doctor and tell him the symptoms
of your illness, he doesn't have to refer to the notes he wrote
while attending medical school—he remembers which ail-
ment has which symptoms.
Those that write new ideas on old subjects, must know or
remember all the old ideas first. Could a man like Professor
Einstein come up with new formulas and theories if he
didn't know or remember all the current ones? Of course
not. The telephone would never have been invented if
Alexander Graham Bell had not known or remembered all
the principles of transporting sound that were then in exist-
ence. If it were not for memory, we would never have new
inventions.
I could go on, ad infinitum, demonstrating how and why
the memory is important; or why it is not always convenient
to refer to books or lists. Most everything we do is based on
memory. The things we often say we do by "instinct," are
really done through memory.