Memory Palace Technique: How to Remember Anything from Shakespeare to Tax Codes

By Dr. Naomi WadePsychology

Memory Palace Technique: From Shakespeare’s Plays to the Tax Code

After the release of the fourth season of the British TV series “Sherlock,” many people became fascinated with the idea of mastering the memory palace technique, famously used by the main antagonist Charles Magnussen. In his book The Memory Palace, writer and chess grandmaster Lewis Smile described the simplest way to master this technique and remember any information.

“Imagine you need to remember the title of Shakespeare’s play Richard III,” the author begins. “I suggest doing this in the most absurd way possible. For example, picture a man with three heads sitting on a throne, shouting to everyone around that he is Richard III. I think this image will stick in your memory forever.”

This method “activates” spatial memory. Spatial memory is responsible for orientation and for performing basic tasks related to finding things. For example, it’s easy to remember the way to the nearest store, but much harder to keep a shopping list in your head. That’s because the first is handled by spatial memory—a key survival mechanism for humans. There was a time before Google Maps, when our ancestors had to find their way back to their cave from memory.

Modern people need this mechanism much less, but according to Smile, that doesn’t mean we can’t use it to our advantage. This is what’s called a memory palace.

What Is a Memory Palace?

A memory palace can be anything. You can use your imagination and make it a real palace, but it could just as easily be a coffee shop near your home that brings back good memories. The important thing is that it’s a place you can clearly picture and visualize. It’s even better if this place has several rooms—each for a different type of information.

How to Use the Memory Palace Technique

For example, let’s say you need to remember new changes in the tax code. Imagine Matthew McConaughey sleeping on the bed in your memory palace. Your chuckle wakes him up, and he starts repeating over and over that the new personal income tax rate is 15%, and the maximum annual income for entrepreneurs in Group III has dropped from 20 million UAH to 5 million. You can continue the story and add any information you need to remember.

Smile recommends imagining the scene in as much detail as possible. What kind of bed is it? Does McConaughey have a beard or is he clean-shaven? Do the new tax rates make him happy, or does he talk about them with a bitter smile? The more vivid the image, the better it will stick in your mind.

Memorizing Large Amounts of Information

The author suggests using the same approach to remember large amounts of unrelated information. For example, he describes a way to memorize the titles of all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays.

  • Start with the bedroom. You wake up with a sudden urge to see a Shakespeare play. You jump out of bed, look out the window, see the moon, feel a warm breeze, and hear the chirping of crickets. That’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  • Go to the kitchen. Here, you see your friends, who, like you, are trying to remember the names of Shakespeare’s plays, getting them wrong and laughing about it. That’s The Comedy of Errors.
  • Skip breakfast and head to the theater. As you go to your bike, you hear hoofbeats, turn around, and see Julius Caesar on a black horse offering you a ride. Who would refuse Julius Caesar?
  • Hold on tight to the saddle behind Caesar. There’s thunder, the trees are rustling, and the wind almost blows you away. That’s The Tempest.

You can keep building the story until all the titles are connected in one narrative. The same principle can be applied to anything, like memorizing a shopping list. To remember a large amount of information, you’ll need to invent a more complex story.

According to Smile, it took him over two hours to come up with a complete story containing the titles of all of Shakespeare’s plays, but for several years afterward, he could easily recall all 37 titles. This information may be useless for most people, but the main thing is that the method works. By creating a vivid mental image, you can remember much more in 15 minutes than most people can in an hour.

Leave a Reply