{"id":46698,"date":"2026-08-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46698"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:03:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T17:03:00","slug":"book-freak-222-how-to-remember-anything-from-a-memory-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/book-freak-222-how-to-remember-anything-from-a-memory-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Freak #222: How to remember anything, from a memory champion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Get the book<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyday Genius shows that there’s no such thing as \u201cphotographic memory.\u201d Having a good memory is a skill \u2014 and six-time U.S. memory champion Nelson Dellis shows how to improve yours.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Core Principles<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Genius Is Trained<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 2009, Nelson Dellis had an ordinary memory. Then he watched Alzheimer\u2019s disease take his grandmother\u2019s memory away. He decided that would never happen to him. He found a memory champion willing to teach him the tricks of the trade. Today he holds six national championships and two Guinness World Records. His message: what looks like genius is the result of training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memory Is the Foundation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Every skill in this book \u2014 fast reading, quick math, effective problem-solving \u2014 depends on memory. Dellis uses three simple tools to keep everything straight: pictures, associations, and something he calls the \u201cmemory palace.\u201d These are the same techniques the ancient Greek orators used to memorize long speeches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus Is the Multiplier<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Your brain can\u2019t multitask. It switches from one job to the next, and switching slows you down. But you can train your focus. A few minutes of meditation, slow breathing, and the discipline of finishing one thing before you start the next will get you there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Break Impossible Questions into Answerable Ones<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Someone once asked physicist Enrico Fermi: \u201cHow many piano tuners work in Chicago?\u201d Fermi didn\u2019t know the answer, so he broke the question into smaller ones. How many people live in Chicago? How many of them own a piano? How often does a piano need tuning, and how many can one tuner handle in a year? His guess was remarkably close to the real number. It\u2019s a trick worth remembering the next time a problem looks too big to tackle: break it down into pieces that you already know or can look up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try It Now<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  1. Walk through your house in your mind \u2014 the front hall, the kitchen, the stairs. Now place five things you need to remember in five different spots along that path. Later, take the same mental walk, and you\u2019ll find them waiting for you. Memory experts call this a \u201cmemory palace.\u201d<\/li>
  2. The next time you\u2019re introduced to someone new, don\u2019t just nod and forget. Build a quick mental picture that ties their name to their face \u2014 the stranger the picture, the better it sticks.<\/li>
  3. Set a timer for 25 minutes. Put the phone in another room. Work on one thing, and only one thing, until the timer rings. You\u2019ll be surprised how much you get done.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Quote<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI would forget things just like anybody else. And I trained this skill. I learned it from another memory champion and practiced the hell out of it until I was able to do it.\u201d \u2014 Nelson Dellis, interviewed on Here & Now, March 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Book Freak is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run\u00a0Recomendo<\/a>, the\u00a0Cool Tools website<\/a>, a\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0podcast<\/a>, and other newsletters, including\u00a0Recomendo Deals<\/a>,\u00a0Gar\u2019s Tips & Tools<\/a>,\u00a0Nomadico<\/a>,\u00a0What\u2019s in my NOW?<\/a>,\u00a0Tools for Possibilities<\/a>,\u00a0Books That Belong On Paper<\/a>, and\u00a0Book Freak<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Everyday Genius by Nelson Dellis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[76],"tags":[2397],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46702,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46698\/revisions\/46702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}