Hello everybody,
As a mentalist, and a human being, I feel as though it's very important for me to learn a mnemonic system.
I've flirted with the major system (like the one Harry Lorayne teaches), but I have a real problem converting the sounds to numbers, and a similar difficulty "encoding" a number into mnemonics without the aid of a pen & paper.

I am dyslexic (part of the reason I need to learn a system) and I believe it's my short 'working memory' that fails me with the major system. I have a few friends that swear by this system, but I don't think it's for me.

I've found Dominic O'Brien's system to be a bit easier in principle, and I can associate people & actions easier than interchangeable words. The Dominic system is a way of converting digits into people, and by visualising these people on a journey, one can recite the digits back.
In order for this to work, you first have to associate every 2 digit number to a particular person.

O'Brien uses the following key which he has designed to make the most logical connection between the digit & the initial. 6 is Ssix, 9 is Nnine, 0 looks like an O, and all the rest correspond to their position in the alphabet:
0 - O
1 - A
2 - B
3 - C
4 - D
5 - E
6 - S
7 - G
8 - H
9 - N

The number 50, for example, would translate to the initals EO. I would instantly think of Ed O'Brien from Radiohead playing guitar.
91 = NA = Neil Armstrong with his helmet on
42 = DB = Derren Brown doing his one handed shuffle

There's a problem though, using Dominic's number-to-inital key, some digits are difficult to associate with a person, eg: for me, the initials DE, EA, SO, GD, GE, GN, HE, HN don't bring anyone to mind.

So, I'd like to create my own number-to-letter associations, based on the most common initials within the US & UK. I found that the initials L H S J W B M D G R T C appear in initials the most, so thought about modifying the Dominic system to reflect this. Using these letters, one would have a bigger choice of personalities to use:

0 - R (zeRo)
1 - T (lowercase t looks like a 1 rotated 180*)
2 - B (2nd letter)
3 - C (3rd letter)
4 - D (4th Letter)
5 - L (Harry Lorrayne's observation of your forefinger & thumb being in an L shape. Hand has 5 fingers)
6 - S (Ssix)
7 - J (Look similar if flipped & rotated 180*)
8 - H (8th letter of the alphabet)
9 - G (9 looks like g)

At first, this key looks much harder to learn than Dominic's. And it is, although this will give much greater choice of association with a person.

Just thought I'd put it out there. If there's interest, I'll post my collection of 100 people in the next few days?

James

You have to be kidding! I'm much more dyslexic than you are. You really are kidding, aren't you? What you discuss here is many, many, times more complicated than the SIMPLE ideas and concepts I teach, have taught for over sixty years, AND HAVE WORKED FOR LITERALLY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE OVER THOSE YEARS. Please! Stop complicating things. Learn my systems properly and then how in the world can you have a problem with "converting sounds to numbers"? There's no "conversion" here once you LEARN THE TEN DARN SOUNDS, as do LITTLE CHILDREN in five minutes or less, by "using" my tips. I know, you're kidding. HL.

Harry, I didn't mean to offend - you're a living legend in our community and I value your memory work.
I bought The Memory Book, and then later your Super Power Memory CDs & workbook (with the remembering names & faces DVD, but not the how to remember numbers DVD - which I probably needed more).
I understand the system but just had a bit of trouble putting it into action.
I find it really difficult to think of a word, then selecting the appropriate phonetic sounds to use while discarding the vowels + WHY.
If I see single digits, I can instantly tell you what the sounds should be. Unfortunately I find it hard to do this the other way around. I also had issues with remembering which tense the word was in, or thinking of "running" when it should have been "runner" or "ran".

I'm not discouraging others from using the major system, as I believe it's really valuable. I know the power of it and wish I found it easier and could do it as well as others. I really think that no system is better than the other.

This video comes to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr8sVailoLw specifically the part about how the mathematician couldn't "see" his clock, as his brain worked visually and not audibly. I think a similar thing comes into play when I'm working with the major system. I think of a word and I "see" it. I know it'd just be a matter of conditioning myself through a few weeks of practice, but I've found that I can "click" with the Dominic system without this additional effort as I don't have to work with phonetics. I can "see" the initials, and don't need to think about hearing anything.

I know that it'll seem stupidly easy for the majority of people reading this, but it's something I have genuine difficulty with.

I'm very aware that millions of people can do things easily that I find difficult. I'm just trying to find my own way of managing things so that I can do them too.
Thanks for taking the time to respond Harry.
James

No problem, James. I just wish you'd realize that the reason you're having problems is because YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG. You're trying to think of a word, and THEN select the appropriate sounds? Whaaat? Please; you're doing everything backwards. I'd love to help you, but don't see how. Why don't you give me a couple of examples of, say, 3-digit numbers and 4-digit numbers, and I'll then try to show you how my mind, and everyone else's should work. HL.

Hi Harry,

My apologies, I might not explaining myself properly.

Say for example, we'll use the last 4 digits of the time you made that post - 9513.
In my head now, I'm thinking of the sounds and trying to make a word fit:

"bltm", "bldm", "building? nope doesn't work", "pldm" "pildim", "paldim", "poldum" "pill dam"
I always need a bit of time with this stage. This part is the most difficult for me.

I've encoded that into "pill dam", and I get the image of a giant dam, but it isn't filled with water - it's filled with pharmaceutical pills.

When I'm recalling this later, I may have trouble. I recall the image that I've constructed. I remember the elements, but I sometimes forget the order of what's supposed to happen. Is it "pill dam" or a "dam (filled with) pill(s)" ?

Obviously I know the answer here, but it's things like this that trip me up.

I've just spent a few more mins on it, and realised the phrase "ball time" could also be applied to 9513. One could imagine a football with hands of a clock coming from it. Although then I may incorrectly recall it as "ball clock"

With Dominic (not that it's better, I'm just more comfortable with it), I find this easier, as 9513 can only be encoded to one image: my "NE" person doing the actions of my "AC" person. In my case it's a UK television host Noel Edmonds worshipping Satan (13=Alestair Crowley) I also find people a lot easier to put into loci journeys for remembering strings of digits. There isn't the word-puzzle element in there, and I think it's this reason that I'm a wee bit more comfortable with it.

I really think it's just preference. Please let me know if I'm doing something wrong, and do let me publicly thank you for taking the time for what can only be described as some personal tuition on the forum. I hope others reading this will get something out of it too.

James

Hi James: 9513: bailed him, bullet me, bullet ham, build me, build ham, boiled ham, boiled me, bell time, bull team, bile tomb, ball team, blow it ham, blow time, bail team, blood me, blot 'em, bowled me, bowl team, bill time, bill me, billed him, pie let 'em, boy liet me, piled me, play team, plaid me, played home,.. need I go on? I'll tell you the point you're missing. When applying my systems you are forced to CONCENTRATE on the information. You are falling into one of my cliches - DON'T CREATE PROBLEMS WHERE NONE EXIST! When you apply my systems to a number as above - a) you'll simply KNOW that it's, for example, "Bowl team," and not "team bowl," because b) TRUE MEMORY TELLS YOU SO. And, most often, you know approximately the number you need. You'd know that 1395 can't be right, so 9513 must be it. And that's really unneccessary. Don't know what else I can tell you (without charging you for private lessons!!!) Best - HArry l.

A couple of typing errors above: For example, "bill me" should be "billed me." HL.

I learned Harry's system about 26 years ago. I haven'y used it in years yet it is still there like ordinary alphabet whenever I need it.


I used it back then to remember female phone numbers I met in bars.

I still remember phone number from about 20 years ago and never wrote them down.

The system is a bit of work to learn but once its there - its there forever.

I think it depends on what kind of mind you have - or, to put it in NLP terms, your primary representational system. Mine is auditory, and I find it hard to visualise clearly, so Dominic O'Brien's "loci" techniques don't work for me at all; I'm much more comfortable with peg systems like Harry's (whose books I always recommend!). But others who do find it easy to visualise may find Dominic's systems useful.

BTW, Harry, many thanks for your clear explanation of the Link system - I use that a lot to memorise Masonic work.

Barry

I'm sure that Harry Lorayne system is great. I have yet to try Harry's system as Dominic O'Briens memory system works wonders for me. I accomplished memory feats beyond my belief using the system Dominic describes in "How to develop a perfect memory". 7-8 years ago Dominic even interviewed me for an informercial he was doing in the US. He is an extraodrinary teacher of memory systems in my opinion.

However, if you would like ideas on how to present memory work in an entertaning manner you should definitely purchase some of Harry Lorayne's products.

I would really like to see your list of 100 people if you care to post it here.

Best wishes,
Estabrooks

My primary rep sys is visual. I learned the kings and queens of England (of Great Britain after 1707) from Henry Tudor onwards for this year's winter quiz league inabout an hour. I only had to visualise the names, dates and portraits as they appear in Wikipedia. Then again, I was motivated to learn them. It's important to have a reason for learning. Having to remember the emulation would be a good one, Barry ;-)

I steer well clear of Emulation...!

Barry