SMALL MEMORY SYSTEM REVIEW AND EXTENSION

You have now completed the five smaller memory systems:
the Link, the Number-Shape, the Number-Sound, the
Classical Room and the Alphabet.
Each of these systems can be used either independently or in
conjunction with another system. Furthermore, one or two of
the systems can be set aside, if you wish, as 'constant memory
banks'. That is, if you have certain lists or orders of items that
you will need to be able to recall over a period of a year or more,
you can set aside the system of your choice for this purpose.
Before moving on to the broader systems, however, I want
to introduce you to a simple and intriguing method for
instantly doubling any of the systems you have so far learned!
When you have reached the end of a system but still wish
to add further associations, all you have to do is to go back to
the beginning of your system and imagine your association
word exactly as you usually imagine it, with the exception that
it is contained in a huge block of ice ! This simple device will
drastically change the association pictures you have formed,
and will double the effectiveness of your system by giving you
the original list plus the original list in its new context.
For example, if your first key in the Number-Shape system
was 'telephone pole', you would imagine that same telephone
pole either buried in the heart of your giant block, or protrud-
ing from the corners or sides; if your first word in the Number-
Sound system was 'sun', then you could imagine its fierce rays
melting the edges of the ice block in which it was contained;
if your first word in the Alphabet system was ace then you
could imagine a giant playing card either frozen in the centre
or forming one of the six sides of the ice cube.
Practise this technique. You will find it extraordinarily
helpful.