Page 168 - How to Develop A SUPER-POWER MEMORY

172 The Importance of Memory
Greek poet, who first used something like the Peg system
in the year 500 b.c. He used the different rooms of his
house, and the pieces of furniture in the various rooms, as
his pegs. This is limited, but it will work. If you would
make up your mind to use the rooms of your house and the
furniture in a definite order, you would have a list of peg
words. These would be the things you already know or
remember, and any new thing to be memorized would be
associated to them.
This must have worked for Simonides, because one of
the stories about him, tells of the time he was giving a reci-
tation at a banquet, and the roof of the building collapsed.
Everyone was killed, except Simonides. Because of the
mangled condition of the bodies, they could not be identi-
fied for burial. Simonides was able to tell just who each one
was; for he had memorized their positions around the ban-
quet table.
Coming back to modern times—General George Mar-
shall received some favorable publicity because of some-
thing he did at some of his press conferences. He told the
newsmen to interrupt him and ask him any questions, at
any time during his talk. The reporters would do that, ask-
ing questions pertaining to the topic that the General was
discussing at that moment. General Marshall would listen
to the question, but would not answer it. He wouldn't break
his train of thought, but went right on with his talk. After
the talk was completed, he would look at one of the men
who had asked a question, and answer that particular one.
He would then look at another man, and answer his ques-
tion. He did this until all or most of the questions were
answered. This was alwavs of great amazement to the news-
men; but it is quite easy with the aid of a memory system.
Former Postmaster James Farley has a reputation of
knowing some twenty thousand people by their first names.