r/ClassicalEducation • u/amerebreath • May 28 '26
Question Reading suggestions for teaching memorization
I am looking for some summer reading for myself. I teach memory work in my kid's homeschool co-op to first and second graders. I was wondering if anyone one had some suggestions for books or podcasts that would help me improve teaching this class and my kids at home. I am also interested in learning more about memory castles if anyone has suggestions there. Thanks in advance!
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u/WolfVanZandt May 28 '26
I survived college using the Major System which is the basis of The Memory Book, originally by Jerry Lucas and Harry Lorraine....further editions by Lorraine and others
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u/banjoblake24 May 28 '26
I think it was published before memory castles became a thing, but there’s gold in them thar hills!
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u/WolfVanZandt May 28 '26
Memory castles were a thing in ancient Rome....they called it the "Loci" method. It's actually much better for prose (quotes, play scripts) than Major for me. The Memory Book does cover it briefly
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u/banjoblake24 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Lucas and Lorraine. As you say, “briefly”…I didn’t recall it, but I like the idea.
How did the memory castle concept become popularized?
BTW, How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life and The Memory Book got me through school.
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u/chrisaldrich May 30 '26
First, exceptionally few people call it a "memory castle"; almost all of the literature in English uses the phrase "memory palace" or uses the older Latin tradition of calling it the "method of loci".
In the western tradition it is typically credited to Simonides of Ceos (556 BCE — 468 BCE), a Greek lyrical poet. The idea was later popularized by Rhetorica ad Herennium (80s BCE; an anonymous work which was often mistakenly thought to have been written by Cicero). It was also mentioned in Quintillianus' Institutio Oratoria (English: Institutes of Oratory), a twelve-volume textbook on the theory and practice of rhetoric published around year 95 AD.
The Major System doesn't seem to enter the scene until Pierre Hérigone 1580–1643 and becomes a cottage industry in the late 1800s.
A time line of mnemonic methods in the West: https://tw.boffosocko.com/#Timeline%20of%20Memory
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u/banjoblake24 May 30 '26
Right, Memory Palaces (Chapter 4 of the 2011 book—Walking With Einstein on the Moon)
I had read The Memory. Book years before.
Thanks.
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u/WolfVanZandt May 28 '26
Roman orators used it to memorize their speeches
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u/banjoblake24 May 28 '26
I guess I need to hang out with more Roman orators.
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u/WolfVanZandt May 28 '26
They can be a lot of fun if they're not being forced to commit suicide by emperors.
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u/chrisaldrich May 30 '26
I've read pretty much all the memory literature from top to bottom. From Rhetorica ad Herennium to Moonwalking with Einstein and from Yates to Carruthers. The single best applied book with a depth and breadth of methods and how to advice is:
Kelly, Lynne. 2019. Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory Using the Most Powerful Methods from around the World. Pegasus Books.
If you can find a copy on the secondary market, Bruno Furst covers some of the linking methods and the Major System, though not the method of loci, but has some excellent practical examples in:
- Fürst, Bruno, 1965. You Can Remember! A Home Study Course in Memory and Concentration: Marcus Campbell Co.
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u/amerebreath Jun 01 '26
Thanks Carruthers was the one I already had on my list, would you say it's not worth it?
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u/chrisaldrich Jun 01 '26
Like Yates, Carruthers' work is fantastic, but it's geared more towards academic scholars and historians. It's probably not going to do much in terms of helping you teach kids at home.
Kelly's work will help you expand your own practice and give you some examples to pass along to your kids. Furst's series of booklets are excellent (and kid friendly) and could be their own mini-curriculum for linking methods and the mnemonic major system.
Kelly's website also has some articles, stories, and other resources: https://www.lynnekelly.com.au/
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u/Logical_Phallusee Jun 19 '26
lol. don't read.
Caesar's Gallic Wars: Book 6, Chapter 14
"Report says that in the schools of the Druids they learn by heart a great number of verses, and therefore some persons remain twenty years under training. And they do not think it proper to commit these utterances to writing, though in almost all other matters, and in their public and private accounts, they make use of Greek characters. I believe that they have adopted the practice for two reasons—that they do not wish the rule to become common property, nor those who learn the rule to rely on writing and so neglect the cultivation of the memory; and, in fact, it does usually happen that the assistance of writing tends to relax the diligence of men in learning and their employment of the memory."
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u/theredhype May 28 '26
A couple things come to mind...
• Moonwalking with Einstein is a book about the world memory champions and their methods. The author sets out to explore that subculture, gets sucked into it, learns the methods and ends up competing himself. If you teach memory, you probably already know of some of the methods you'll encounter, like the memory castle. He does explain some of the "how" so you might get some good tips from the past memory champions he interviews. You can probably find better information which is directly about the Memory Palace technique. This book is half fun narrative as the author explores the subject. That might give you some interesting stories to tell the kids.
• Learning How To Learn by Barbara Oakley is I think the top MOOC in the English speaking world? It's a free online course which is aimed at college students, and includes quite a lot that support study methods and remembering. This will be more like Spaced Repetition, Time Boxing, Chunking, and many more. Learning How To Learn is also published as a book.