Page 28 - How to Develop A SUPER-POWER MEMORY

Interest in Memory

The true art of memory is the art of attention.
—Samuel Johnson

please read the following paragraph very carefully:—
You are driving a bus which contains fifty people. The bus
makes one stop and ten people get off, while three people get on.
At the next stop seven people get off the bus, and two people
get on. There are two more stops at which four passengers get
off each time, and three fares get on at one stop, and none at
the other. At this point, the bus has to stop because of mechani-
cal trouble. Some of the passengers are in a hurry and decide to
walk. So eight people get off the bus. When the mechanical
trouble is taken care of, the bus goes to the last stop, and the
rest of the people get off.
Now, without re-reading the paragraph, see if you can
answer two questions about it. I feel pretty sure that if I
asked you to tell me how many people were left on the
bus, or how many got off the bus at the last stop, you would
have the answer immediately. However, one of the ques-
tions I want you to answer is:— How many stops did the
bus make altogether?
I may be wrong, but I don't think that many of you can
answer this question. The reason, of course, is that you all
felt sure that the question I would ask, after you read the

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