Lynne Kelly, a science writer and competitive memory expert, dives into the fascinating world of memory techniques. She discusses how ancient monuments like Stonehenge may have served as memory palaces, encoding vital social knowledge. The conversation highlights the extraordinary memory practices of Indigenous cultures and their significance in preserving knowledge. Kelly also explores the neuroscience behind memory palaces, offering practical tips for improving memory and emphasizing creativity in learning through storytelling and spatial associations.
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Memory Palaces
Use memory palaces to improve memory.
Associate information with familiar locations, creating vivid mental images.
insights INSIGHT
Indigenous Memory Palaces
Indigenous cultures used memory palaces long before the ancient Greeks.
Australian Aboriginal cultures show evidence of this method dating back at least 10,000 years.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Handheld Memory Device
Lynne Kelly created a memory device from wood, shells, and beads.
She encoded a field guide to Victorian birds onto this device, demonstrating its effectiveness.
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The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal offers a delightful and highly readable approach to debunking paranormal claims. It covers twenty-seven phenomena, including ghosts, poltergeists, and alien abductions, providing scientific explanations for each. The book is designed to be engaging and accessible, making it suitable for both skeptics and those interested in the paranormal.
Memory Craft
Lynne Kelly
Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies
Lynne Kelly
This book delves into the knowledge systems of historically recorded oral cultures, highlighting how they maintained vast amounts of information using material mnemonic devices. It also analyzes archaeological sites like Chaco Canyon, Poverty Point, and Stonehenge to offer new insights into the purpose of these monuments. Kelly's work provides a fresh perspective on the intellectual capabilities of prehistoric societies.
Memory takes different forms. Memories can be encoded in the strength of neural connections in our brains, but there’s a sense in which photographs and written records are memories as well. What did people do before such forms of memory even existed? Lynne Kelly is a science writer and researcher who specializes in forms of memory in the ancient world, as well as a competitive memory expert in her own right. She has theorized that ancient structures such as Stonehenge might have served as memory palaces, encoding social knowledge over extended periods of time. We talk about how to improve your own memory, the origin of religion, and how prehistoric cultures preserved their know-how.
Lynne Kelly received her Ph.D. in English from La Trobe University. Originally trained as a computer scientist, she has worked as an educator before transitioning into science writing and memory research. She is an Honorary Research Associate at La Trobe University. She is the author of a number of books, including The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal. Her work on memory methods and ancient societies was published as an academic book, Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies: Orality, Memory, and the Transmission of Culture, as well as in trade form as The Memory Code: The Traditional Aboriginal Memory Technique That Unlocks the Secrets of Stonehenge, Easter Island and Ancient Monuments the World Over. Her most recent book is Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory Using the Most Powerful Methods From Around the World.
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas 
