The best Memory Improvement Self-Help books: Reddit reviews

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Read the book "A mind for numbers" by Barbara Oakley and take the course "learning how to learn"

Link to course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra/dp/039916524X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=a+mind+for+numbers&qid=1570212770&sr=8-1

Edit: if I remember correctly, you don't have to pay for the course if you're not able to. Hope this helps you :)

The Feynman Technqiue can be a good place to start. Basically entails learning a concept and then writing it down (or explaining it in your head) in a way that would be understandable to a class of 3rd graders. That way if there's any gap in your understanding you can figure out where you need to improve your understanding. Makes the ideas very strong in your mind like you are looking for.

You could also check out Moonwalking with Einstein. It sounds like that's more the sort of thing you're looking for. It goes into teaching the reader how to use the memory palace technique to develop a near perfect memory.

EDIT: Added the second paragraph.

Check out the book A Mind for Numbers. Really insightful for CS majors IMHO.

This process (called the diffused mode of the brain) is discussed in depth in a book I read a few years ago called A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra).

Would highly recommend if anyone is interested in how your brain learns things - especially abstract concepts like mathematics and programming.

Hey man we all get discouraged when learning something new.

You should check out this https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra-ebook/dp/B00G3L19ZU

The author was terrified of math throughout high school and joined the army after graduating. When she was ~25 she realized the work she was doing was not going to provide her a great future, and she went back to school for an engineering degree. During this time she learned how to overcome her issues, and she's now doing a PHD.

I really liked the book, I got it on Audible but wouldn't be surprised if the library had it :) She covers strategies to deal with solving new problems and also procrastination.

I'm early thirties, and left a controlling ex a couple years ago myself (still married because they keep "accidentally" dropping the ball on their end, but that's another story). I had a discouraging experience going back to school while we were still living together, and it made me nervous about trying again. But this time has been totally different. I'm graduating from CC this spring with a 4.0!

We adult students have a lot of things going for us. There's the benefit of life experience and a fully developed brain. We tend to be more organized and driven, too. You may even find that material you struggled with as a teen comes more easily now.

However, I still get panicked every semester that I'm going to lose focus and flunk. Recently I've started having nightmares that I'm going to fail a class and not get to walk for graduation. I'm also worried because I'm starting STEM "weed out" classes next semester, so the difficulty is about the ratchet up significantly.

I'm managing by keeping my focus mostly on my current semester. I also bought a book called <em>A Mind For Numbers</em>, which is recommended for folks who aren't so confident in their math skills. It focuses on strategies for studying more efficiently and reducing the time you feel like you're grinding away but not getting anywhere.

I know it's scary, but school won't be as bad as your fear is telling you. Community colleges are very supportive places, with lots of resources to help you succeed. Take advantage of advising, free tutoring, and disability services (if panic attacks continue to be a problem). Don't let fear stop you from getting that degree! You can do it!!

I was very similar to you, and found the book <em>A Mind for Numbers</em> incredibly helpful for helping develop effective studying techniques (I read it my last semester in school, and kicked myself for not reading it sooner). There's a coursea course called &quot;Learning how to Learn&quot; by the same woman (+ a man, iirc) that seems to cover the same content.

Good luck!

Integrating the right hemisphere is the way. Music is the simplest…memory palace is another option.

This is a great book that goes over the latter.

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143120530/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_DFTSKV40W19561PP8FS4

This book I read gave a neurological explanation for procrastination. They stuck someone in a fancy brain scanner gizmo and gave them a task that would trigger their procrastination. What they saw was that the anticipated discomfort you mentioned lit up the actual pain centers in the brain. They also saw, however, that this brain activity stopped when the person actually started the task. Based on this, their advice was "start by just doing a little." But in your case, it sounds like the pain response continues while doing the task. Emotional flashback?

If their model is correct, then maybe your problem isn't actually "procrastination," but you're getting the same end result of avoidance and dissociation. If so then tactics for dealing with procrastination aren't going to help as much as expected- and obviously you've tried quite hard!

I’m sorry, that’s sounds so frustrating, college-level math and physics can be very unforgiving if your high school math foundation is weak. It sounded like you have put in the hard work but struggle to see results. That’s an indication that your current study strategy/habit is not working and it’s time to learn some new study skills, to study not just harder but smarter. Here is the perfect book for you:

https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra-ebook/dp/B00G3L19ZU

I benefitted a ton from the book. I also agree that it would be a good idea to take a semester off to focus on your mental health and study strategy, review high-school math using Khan academy, and do some soul-searching to understand why you are in college (what’s your life goals?) so that when you are ready to come back, you will be in a much better mindset with better background and strategies to get through the struggle.

I don't know if it counts as self-help, it's about improving your memory: Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything.

Check this out at the library.

I have faith that it’s there. I’m 29F and celebrating 2 years of marriage this month. Currently reading this book, “Owning Your Own Shadow” [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062507540/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdo_t1_DwPGCbAR3Y0DV] and it’s legit helpful

Edit: more

This book on Inner Bonding has done wonders for me.

Also, I'm in therapy doing ACT. Which is based on meditation. And I've done that on and off for years.

And

> growing up in this feminist society and cruel world

is not your problem. You are your own worst enemy. Stop externalizing and take responsibility.

Diffused thinking is more conducive to creativity and invention, but while flow is a sign of focused productivity. You need both diffused and focused modes of thinking. Models of innovation, like design thinking, have divergent and convergent stages.

This MOOC on Learning How to Learn has a good introduction to how your brain works. The early lessons are informed by A Mind for Numbers.

Read Moonwalking with Einstein. It covers how to practice improving your short term memory. It will take time and work, but you can make it better.

Yes! I get this. Parts and inner child work always felt more performative than helpful. This book Inner Bonding helped me connect to the inner child stuff at least in a direct, genuine way. The author basically explains that we have an inner adult (our thoughts) and an inner child (our feelings/sensations). We use the inner adult to parent the inner child like a good enough parent would. The book gets very clear on the steps to take and explains why pretty thoroughly. Its definitely worth anyone’s time, I highly recommend it. Just feel free to skip the preverbal trauma chapter. That seemed to take a left turn. As with any self help book take what you need leave what you don’t. Hope this helps!

When you have time (winter break?) read A Mind For Numbers by Barbara Oakley - it's a book about how to learn more efficiently, especially in math/science. It's a very practical book about how the brain learns and how to structure your study in a way that utilizes the literal biological process of learning that happens in your brain.

Also, what u/two-bit-hack said, and practice a lot. Don't be ashamed to watch tutorials and look up answers until you get it, but when you look up answers make sure you take the time to learn why the answers are correct. Real learning takes time and effort. Be persistent, consistent, and patient.

Do you like playing? As in sports, puzzles or games? That's what math is.

At 17, time is on your side for a big turn around. You also have the advantage of not having tarnished your academic record at university. So you can go in with a clean slate and shine. In a sense you picked a good time to get serious about this.

Like others have said, you don't really need that much math for many courses at university. But math is everywhere and being good at it has payoff. You'll become more confident in your intellectually capacities and you may just fall in love with it and open up a career for yourself in something math related.

School was excruciating for me too. I couldn't pay attention to anything the teachers said. So it felt like confinement throughout my childhood. But I loved math. I don't mean math class which I could never follow. But once I understood problems, I loved trying to figure them out. I think anyone faced with a problem at just the edge of their math abilities can be sucked into loving math. This is where the party comes in. So I would say focus on doing actual problems rather than just watching videos or flipping through books. This is especially suitable if you have issues with your attention. These activities have tremendous value once you've immersed yourself a bit. So watch a little do a lot until you find your way. Math is broad there's something in it for everyone.

Also if you get a chance check out this book: https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra/dp/039916524X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1CEEH9CLWN4KC&amp;keywords=mind+for+numbers&amp;qid=1667652954&amp;qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjkxIiwicXNhIjoiMC43NyIsInFzcCI6IjAuNzMifQ%3D%3D&amp;sprefix=mind+for+%2....

To add on to Interesting_Cat6184’s comment the book Inner Bonding helped me conceptualize inner child work much better when the visualization exercises didn’t quite resonate with me. Different things for different people, I’m not so imaginative. To oversimplify it your Inner Adult which are your thoughts, parents the Inner child, which are your emotional feelings along with your senses. You’re literally responding to your body with your thoughts exactly the way a good parent would their child. I highly recommend it. It’s been nice starting to build that relationship with myself so far.

I did the first problem to try to judge its difficulty, although that is subjective. I think a lot of people get used to teachers showing them how to solve problems and then mimicking what the teacher does on other problems. That is what happened to me when I was in high school and I felt like I ran into a brick wall when I took calculus in college. You might benefit from learning about how to approach solving math problems. I'd recommend reading A Mind For Numbers and How to Study as a Math Major.

Salut, eu zic ca "problemele" ar fi astea:
- Ai nimerit fix intr-o recesiune, din ce văd majoritatea firmelor nu prea mai angajează acum, toată lumea merge pe burta, așteaptă sa vadă ce se întâmplă în viitor.

- Încearcă sa privești un pic lucrurile din prisma unui potențial angajator: primește probabil jdemii de CV-uri de la o grămadă de oameni care au terminat cursuri și vor sa între în industrie. Ca sa te cheme la interviu, trebuie să-i sara ceva în OK de pe CV - o experiență, un proiect, o măslină, o atenție. Oricât de junior / internship ai fi, trebuie sa fii un pic util firmei, sa poți sa faci un task mic singur; nu te angajează nimeni ca după aia sa pună un mid / senior dev langa tine 24/7 ca sa îți arate cum sa faci merge și sa citești cod.

- ca parare subiectiva și total neceruta, cred ca ești blocat în tutorial-hell.

Cred ca ar trebui să-ți faci un plan (gen ca în Ian 2023 sa fi angajat ca developer (junior sau internship) și pentru asta ai cam ~2 luni sa faci un proiect micuț pe care-l să-l pui pe CV (un exemplu ar fi sa consumi și tu un API public, gen ala de la GitHub, ca sa faci un git repo searcher - folosește și tu o libarie de CSS și vezi dacă poți să-l faci un pic responsive)

Dacă partea de mai sus îți da atacuri de panica și nu știi de unde sa te apuci sa faci asta, sugestia mea ar fi sa termini the odin project (track-ul cu full stack JS recomanda oamenii pe aici). În paralel, îți recomand sa citești cartea asta (te învață cum sa înveți, titlul e ușor imbecili)

Dacă banii sunt o urgență, atunci poți încerca sa aplici pentru poziții de QA, cu mențiunea ca munca e destul de repetitivă și departe de programarea propriu-zisă, așa ca o sa fii în aceeași situație de acum, doar ca o sa poți zice ca lucrezi în IT.

Highly recommend you pick up the book Fluent Forever, I spun my wheels on grammar for my whole life and finally started making progress with this. Seriously, if this is important to you, it's the best $15 you will ever spend.

tl;dr:

The human mind internalizes the grammar of any new language by receiving comprehensible input. Sure, you can consciously learn the rules of grammar (which is a great starting point), but your internal "language machine" will only spontaneously generate correct output once it has taken enough input to learn the rules. And even then, it will only learn the rules IN A SPECIFIC ORDER WITHOUT SKIPPING ANY STEPS. So you can drill grammar exercises all day, but it will never actually make a difference to your writing/speech until you have progressed through ALL the necessary prerequisite steps.

The approach from the book is simple enough: use your conscious knowledge of grammar to create new sentences, give them to someone to correct as necessary (italki.com or hinative.com), and then use them to make Anki flash cards. Grammar comes down to three basic things: add new words, change the order of the words, or change the form of the word - that last one being the difficult part of Greek for native English speakers. As you continually see correct phrases and sentences and test yourself on those three things, your mind will internalize the grammar rules behind them, in whatever order it needs to.

I haven't read it personally, but I've heard good things about the book A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even if You Flunked Algebra).

Hi, I read this in this mystic book called Owning your Own Shadow:

> It is good to remember the old symbol of Christ -the two lines indicated a stylized fish- is a Mandorla [...]

I didn't verify such claim, but in retrospective you may be right and that symbol may not be a Mandorla after all.

May I recommend this book - A Mind for Numbers

Or you could work through the course which is free for now - Learning How to Learn

For Maths specifically, how about working through Khan Academy? Their practice exercises are, to me, pretty good.

Thank you for this a lot!

First my apologies I made bold assumptions when framing my question. To answer your question about "or are they all in some way shape or form reading to commit to memory" What I really was trying to say was: "I am not sure how memorization works truly deep deep down. In order to commit to memory does a topic always have to be broken down into text, read / rehearsed and memorized?" I was mostly curious because I have never really heard of anyone memorizing a video (with the exception of movie quotes). I ask because I am really good at memorizing movie quotes like I am one of those people who after we all go see it in the movies I can quote like 20-30 lines easy.

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Also I do like the idea of "Memory Palace" I read about that in the book Moonwalking with Einstein which I loved! Thank you for all your help, seriously!

Pathological ADHD is a rare disorder, in fact. What you believe to be ADHD may well be caused by rubbish overload. Check this out:

https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Focus-Attention-Think-Deeply/dp/0593138511

https://www.nirandfar.com/indistractable/

Best advice and best course I did (around 30) was the "Learning how to learn" course from coursera - its free and has a companion book a mind for numbers.

Highly Recommend. https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra-ebook/dp/B00G3L19ZU

Personally, I chalk it up to modern phone usage, social media, and the lack of attention spans.

Hear me out: I recommend everyone read &quot;Stolen Focus&quot; by Johann Hari. In the book, Hari lays out how modern technology is causing us to lose our ability to focus on the things we care about, or think we care about. We are losing our ability to enter a state of "flow" or Deep Work, we can't focus on long sustained reading, and our sleep patterns have been utterly destroyed (just to list a few negative effects). Throughout the past few years, students have been hit by the "perfect storm" of technology screen time and social media influence. To put it lightly, they are addicts trained and controlled by HUGE influential software companies. All of these issues are hitting young adults and students the hardest and completely warping their brain (in my opinion). It's nearly impossible to compete with as a teacher.

We need a HUGE societal shift, but I don't think it's ever going to happen. Ideally, schools should completely ban phones while at school (at the very least), and start incorporating more readings and studies about the detriments of screen time. Even MORE ideally, the government should recognize this dangerous societal shift and pass laws controlling phone usage and screen time for adolescents (which I doubt will EVER happen).