I may accept the challenge. If I decide to post about it, I’ll start a new thread in Mundane Pointless. I’ll use 120 trees on a short walk, mapping them first to 120 years (1901 to the near future). First I’ll want to learn and memorize the names (both Thai and English) of the tree varieties. (My wife likes this plan since she loves her trees!)
But I’m unclear on the method. When you initially learn, e.g. the elements in the periodic table, do you carry a book or printout of the list on your walk? My inclination is to get lots of help from paper, pencil and even computer — but I don’t want to violate the spirit of the method.
Thank you so much for pointing me to Glut. My theory is an information systems theory. It is about the mechanisms used to structure and store the massive amount of knowledge which oral cultures store in order to survive. I noted on my quick look on Amazon that *Glut *refers to the Inca khipu / quipu, the knotted cord mnemonic device. I have been able to find a huge range of mnemonic devices used by indigenous cultures and have started using copies to store information. I am also using my version of a khipu. It is a really enjoyable set of experiments which surprised me just how effective they are.
With some fellow educators, we are now exploring (with a government grant) how these technologies could be used in schools to enhance (in no way replace!) contemporary learning. Fun times ahead!
I would be really interested in your response to The Memory Code in the light of your reading of Glut.
Please accept the challenge! I would really enjoy being part of a discussion on memory methods in Mundane Pointless. Could you message me if you do start it in case I miss it?
I should have mentioned about starting. We can’t use the pure method as oral cultures do because we are literate and we don’t have elders to teach it to us. I do write out the first level - so the list of tree names in your case, the list of chemical elements in mine - and then add them into the journey locations.
I can see no reason to avoid pencil and paper, computers or anything else. We live in that world.
Once I have the base list in, though, I find I rarely write the next layers down. So, for example, the device I use as the basis for my field guide to the 412 birds of my state is based on the African memory board known as a lukasa. I started with the list of the birds in taxonomic order and the scientific names of the families. I attached all species to the board and in memory. I don’t need my lukasa with me any more because I know it so well. But as I add more information about each bird (I may read it or hear it when out birding …) I just add it to the story I have attached to that bird. I tend to have a story for each of the 82 families then the individual species / characters within each story, and then constantly enhance those stories. So the entire bird guide is not written down, only my initial list.
Interestingly, the bird guide in my head is coming out notably different from the books we have. I suspect the same will happen with you and the trees. For each bird, the books have full descriptions and calls and everything about each. I find I am encoding the identifying features only. I am adding calls for the birds who we hear call, but not for those which are more often seen silent. I am encoding what birders call the jizz - what makes that bird clearly that bird. The brown treecreeper is often on the ground while the white-throated tree-creeper is more often higher on the trunk - so that comes into the story. I need nothing to identify an emu - they are so distinctive, so my story includes nothing about ID. When it comes to a striated fieldwren, though, I have quite a bit about how to tell it from all the other little brown birds.
I expect with trees you’ll do the same. Some are obvious and so you’ll encode little. Some are similar, so you’ll encode a great deal. I have just started doing our eucalypts and wattles/acacias so will be very interested to hear how you go and join in a discussion.
*Glut *is a fun little book that glides lightly over an enormous number of subjects. I’m sure you’d find loads of congruent info in it.
I ordered your book. Problem is, I’m in the middle of writing a book myself so I can’t promise I’ll get to it immediately but I’ll take a look as soon as it arrives.
Are you happy to say what you are writing - I’d be very interested. I know that when I am writing I have no interest in reading anything that is not directly related to what i am working on.
I’m writing the history of robots in popular culture. Amazingly enough, that’s never been done before. Robots have appeared in all genres, books, stories, comic books and strips, movies, radio, television, along with their myriad mentions in popular science, which demonstrably influenced their fictional appearances.
This was literally a chapter from a larger work looking at the ways people created a literal Future out of the rise of technology in the age of electricity. I extracted this piece for a starter book. It will be published by McFarland’s. That’s the connection with Glut, since information systems, shorthanded as computers, are a core part of that Future in popular culture. I’ve been posting associated material, mostly lighter stuff, at my website, Flying Cars and Food Pills.
Yes, the amount of reading and viewing for this is overwhelming but I reserve 20-30 minutes each morning and evening for pleasure reading so I can go through a few extra books a month. I’ll have to wait until I see your book before I can decide whether it can be broken into small chunks or needs concentrated attention to do justice to your argument.
Thank you! That all sounds really interesting. What a great discovery to make that it hasn’t been written before. It is great that you have a publisher as well.
I had a look at your website and it is really interesting - sound like things are going very well. Please post here in Marketplace when the book is published.
Well, as a fan of archaeology and prehistoric sites as long as I can remember, I’m intrigued. I just bought the kindle edition and look forward to giving it a go.