Improving memories for dummies

2. Introduction
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Who Needs the book
How to Use This Book
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book

3. Icons Used in This Book
Presents information about memory gathered from my practice as a
psychologist
Targets information that you can apply at once to improve your
memory.
Cautions you away from certain kinds of behavior that can derail your
memory improvement effort
You could tag the whole book with this icon, but I reserve it for big
ideas about memory
Gives you the deep background on a few selected topics

4. Understanding Memory
Chapter 1: Cultivating Your Memory Skills
Wondering about
• Wondering about Skips in Your Memory
• Clearing the Air of Random Noise and Ridiculous
Ideas
• Improving Your Memory

5. Chapter 2: Avoiding the Memory
Suppressors
• Minimizing Subtle Brain Rot
• Keeping Clear of Neurotoxins
• Saying No to Certain Food Additives
• Saying ―No, Thanks‖ to Alcohol and Marijuana
• Getting Clear on the Side Effects of Rx
• Stamping Out the Butt
• Slowing the Dementias
• Keeping Your Thyroid and Pancreas from Causing
Memory -Drift

6. Chapter 3: Eating To Remember
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Breaking a Fast — Breakfast
Vegging Up
Carbo Loading: Go Complex Instead of Simple
Getting Your Fats Right
Boosting Your Neurotransmitters
Vitamins: Eating Foods that Put the Bs in Your Brain
Avoiding Foods that Aren’t
Making Sure You’re Hydrated

7. Chapter 4: Tricking Yourself into
Remembering
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Introducing Mnemonics, Your Memory Sidekick
Putting Memories into Familiar Places
Telling Yourself a Story to Link Memories
Choosing the Right Mnemonic at the Right Time

8. Chapter 5: Supplementing Your Memory
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Vitalizing Your Memory with Vitamins
Taking Advantage of the Chinese Gs
Using Your Herbal Cornucopia
Charging by Hormones
Bathing in Minerals
Making Less More

9. Part III : Preserving Your Memory
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting Your Forgetfulness
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Cutting through Memory Fog
Getting It Down Cold by Overlearning
Getting Organized
Rhyming Memory
Getting the Meaning of the Memory
Feeding Back to Remember

10. Chapter 7: Keeping Your Memory Sharp as
You Grow Older
• Making Full Use of a Vintage Brain
• Mental Gy mnastics: Inflating a Shrinking
Brain
• Becoming an Old Dog Who Remembers New
Tricks

11. Part IV : Exercising Your Memory Every
Day
Chapter 8: Schooling Memory
• Organizing Your Recall
• Striving for Meaning Instead of Rote
• Taking Notes and Remembering
What You Heard at Lectures
• Remembering What You Read
• Remembering How to Spell

12. Chapter 9: Taking a Powerhouse Memory to
Work
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Interviewing for the Job
Remembering How to Pass Political Probation
Dealing with Passwords and Procedures
Remembering New Technology
Satisfying Customers
Dealing with Deadlines
Remembering Your Co-workers
Stressing Your Memory at Work
Speaking from Memory

13. Chapter 10: Acing Exams
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Replacing Your D– Habits with A+ Habits
Underlining with a Rembrandt Touch
Using Your Memory Techniques
Going to the Bathroom and Other Good Ideas

14. Chapter 11: Remembering People
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Facing a Face to Remember
Putting a Name on a Familiar Face
Using Conversation to Unzip the Person Within
Sharing Memories: How People See Things Differently
Putting People in Pigeonholes
Car Talk — Wheeling in the Person
Remembering the Pecking Order
Making Connections at Meetings
Remembering All Kinds of People

15. Chapter 12: Taking Stock of Important
Dates and Strings of Numbers
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Getting Briefed on the Technique
Celebrating Those All-Important Day s
Creating Rhymes for Historical Dates
Tying a String around Appointments
Getting a Handle on Recurring Events
Working with Rotating Schedules
Getting to Your Appointment on Time
Remembering Strings of Numbers

16. Chapter 13: Keeping Your Memory Intact
in a High-Speed World
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Stay ing Organized at the Center of the Cy clone
Dodging the Hazards of Multitasking
Breaking Away from a Media-Crazed World
Aiding Your Memory with External Cues

17. Chapter 14: Ten Best Ways to Improve
Your Memory
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Consume a Balanced Diet
Relax Your Brain
Exercise Your Memory
Take Supplements
Stimulate Your Mind
Focus on Memory
Stay Organized
Associate, Pair, and Connect
Use Memory Aids
Keep the Right Attitude