Customer Rating: 
Summary: Fairly Adequate treatment of Title but... no Cigar
Comment: I am a software engineer with a great liking for foreign languages and discovering the wonders of different cultures.I got this book because i liked Michael M. Gruneberg's work on his "Language By Association" series. I am currently learning German and find his suggestions & techinques for remembering words and their associated meanings,in his 'German By Association' book rather canny.
Seeing as I had a hunger for other ideas he harboured regarding memory & remembering and also, in a casual bid to gather a bit of background on how he came to develop his word association technique. i decided to give this book a whirl.
about the book: I found three quarters of the book to be about scenarios where one's absent mindedness et cetera, would lead to forgetfulness in executing a task at the appropriate time required . followed by the writers suggestions, as to solutions to these situations.
The other quarter of the book was representative of the actual techniques for remembering names,faces, numbers, speeches et cetera. It introduces the ideas of Loci,the Digit-letter technique for remembering numbers and such .
i found the writers somewhat exhaustive accounts of memory failures they have experienced in the past -(the greater part of the book), not very useful.
people experience these types of situations and do recognize that they need to deal with them by exercising greater care if they encounter them types of situations in the future.
In short, i thought their solutions / suggestions for the scenarios cited, rather common sense.
However, I found the chapter on techniques to aid remembering speeches, words, dates , numbers, peoples names & their associated faces, more rewarding and insightful and could'nt help feeling that the book should have showcased these ideas a bit more.
To me, the book would have more fully earned its title had further discussions on the practical applications of these methods for remembering -(as alighted upon in the short one chapter on memory techniques) been revealed and readers been shown how they might bring these ideas into play in more every-day type activities that require a fairly decent memory.
Suggestions for futher reading?
Give: Harry Loraynes ['Memory book'] a try.
(and/or)
Pierce J. Howards ['Owner's Manual for the Brain'] a go.
cheers.
