Memorize the Faith! (and Most Anything Else): Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters
by Kevin Vost
List Price:
Our Price: $12.57
You Save: $7.38 (37%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $10.41 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Kevin VostBrand: Spring Arbor/Ingram
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-07-01
ISBN: 1933184175
Number of pages: 250
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Book Reviews of Memorize the Faith! (and Most Anything Else): Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters
Book Review: Extremely useful material
Summary: 5 Stars
I've never really read one of these types of books before, so I was rather skeptical of the claims made by the book and by previous reviewers. I was very surprised to find that the methods narrated in the book actually work quite well. It's rather difficult to sum up a book like this in a review, so let me just briefly explain his method. Kevin Vost advocates the loci memory method, originated by the ancient Greeks, continued by the Romans, and picked up by the great Thomas Aquinas. It essentially involves creating a location in your mind (Vost uses a house, which is probably the easiest location to use), and then to associate certain images with specific coordinates within your location (associating a welcome mat portraying Adam and Eve just inside the front door, for instance, to remember John Adams). It is much easier to remember located images than to remember simple lists memorized by rote, and it allows you to visualize the list you are remembering, making it possible to start at any point in the list and travel either forwards or backwards with relative ease.
Vost uses the loci method to memorize the apostles, seven deadly sins, books of the Bible, the rosary, etc. His specific examples weren't all that useful to me, as I already knew much of the information, and I'm not a Catholic. However, seeing the method in action really helped establish my use of the method, though several of his examples were annoyingly silly and unhelpful. I just used the exercises he gave as practice, and skipped several of the ones toward the end once I got the hang of it. If you do that, however, make sure you skim though and look for the sections where he talks about how to do specific things, because he includes many helpful tips in the middle of the exercises.
I was hoping to use the method to better learn latin, but I found that it doesn't work very well with language learning. It can be helpful to learn a few specific words you're having trouble with, but it's really impractical to use for anything beyond memorizing set lists (whether lists of items, persons, or of words making up specific phrases you with to memorize), not for fluid things like language, especially inflected ones like latin. Despite my inability to use it for what I had intended, I am still quite satisfied with the book. It really helps memorize things both more quickly and for a longer period of time. Just this evening, on a whim, I memorized all of the U.S. presidents and the dates of their terms in office. Thanks to the method Vost explains, after only 45 minutes of work, I can begin anywhere in the list of presidents and move either forward or backwards in time and list all of them along with the dates of their terms (and if you're wondering about retention, I find that if I spend about two minutes running through any specific list every week or so, I can keep it perfectly in memory). With Vost's method the difficult part is no longer memorizing the objects, but thinking of ways to represent the objects in your mnemonic home. You just have to get creative, and you'd be surprised what you can come up with. I had a Mallard for Millard Filmore, the Eiffel Tower for Eisenhower, etc. Once you get the hang of converting the objects on your list into memorable things to place in your mnemonic house, it's a piece of cake to memorize just about anything you can think of. I wish I had known about this when I had to memorize things for tests in college; it would have drastically cut down on the time spent memorizing them, and I might have remembered the things on the test for more than a day. I highly recommend checking this book out, not because the book itself is well written (I didn't think it was anything special), but because Vost keys you in to extremely helpful ideas which have been around for millennia.
More Memorize the Faith! (and Most Anything Else): Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6
Summary of Memorize the Faith! (and Most Anything Else): Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters
"They laughed when I said I could name all 27 books of the New Testament ...but after I named them all in order, plus the 46 books of the Old Testament, they begged me to show them how I did it." Yes, I know that memorizing the Faith is no substitute for living a holy life, but even devout people can't live by truths and precepts they don't remember. That's why, over 700 years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas perfected an easy method for his students to memorize most any information, but especially the truths taught by Christ and His Church. As the years passed, our need for this ancient art of memorization grew, yet somehow our culture largely forgot it . . . which is why today, when you and I try to remember a list of things, we have to repeat their names over and over. Or, to remember to call the dentist, we tie a string on our finger. And we clutch at any means whatsoever to recall our passwords for ATMs, credit cards, and voicemail, our login names for Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon, and the host of other names and numbers that clog our minds and clutter our days. Now, thanks to the delightful pages of Memorize the Faith!, you can easily keep all these in mind - and learn the Faith! - by tapping into the power of the classical memory system that helped St. Thomas become the Church's preeminent theologian, and made it easier for him to become one of its greatest saints. Here, Catholic scholar Kevin Vost makes available again Aquinas's easy-to-learn method - the method Dr. Vost himself has used for decades to recall names, dates, phone numbers, the first dozen digits of pi (3.141592653589) and even whether, when his wife called him at work today, she asked him to bring home ice cream and toffee . . . or was it truffles and coffee? Indeed, Dr. Vost will teach you to remember virtually anything, but he devotes most of his book to showing you how to improve your memory of Catholic truths so you can live the Faith better. By the time you finish this book, you will have memorized dozens of key teachings of the Church, along with hundreds of precepts, traditions, theological terms, Scripture verses, and other elements of the Faith that every good Catholic needs to know by heart. Memory is the foundation of wisdom. It makes holiness easier. To grow wiser in the Faith . . . and holier . . . turn to Memorize the Faith! today.Memory Improvement Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Memory Improvement Books
Music and Memory: An Introductionby Bob Snyder
The MIT Press; Published: 2001-01-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $93.79
Sparse Distributed Memory (Bradford Books)by Pentti Kanerva
The MIT Press; Published: 1988-11-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $152.56
Origins and Development of Recollection: Perspectives from Psychology and NeuroscienceOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2012-01-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $53.16
Price in other shops:
Brain Builders!: A Lifelong Guide to Sharper Thinking, Better Memory, and an Age-Proof Mindby Richard Leviton
Prentice Hall Press; Published: 1995-09-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops:
Brain Builders!: A Lifelong Guide to Sharper Thinking, Better Memory, and an Ageproof Mindby Richard Leviton
Prentice Hall; Published: 1995-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.79
Price in other shops:
Multiplique El Poder De Su Menteby Jean Marie Stine
Prentice Hall Trade; Published: 1999-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $53.23
Memory (Handbook of Perception and Cognition, Second Edition)Academic Press; Published: 1998-05-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $49.15
Price in other shops:
Memoryby Gallant
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Published: 1984-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Collins Gem 5-Minute Memory Workout: Train Your Brainby Sean Callery
HarperCollins UK; Published: 2008-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys: The Seven-Step Path to Becoming Truly Organized (Compass)by Marilyn Paul
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2003-12-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faithby Robert Barron
Image; Published: 2011-09-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.50
Price in other shops:
Youcatby Cardinal Christoph Schonborn (editor)
Ignatius Press; Ignatius Press; Published: 2011-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.34
Price in other shops:
Seven Lies About Catholic Historyby Diane Moczar
Tan Books and Publishers; TAN Books; Published: 2010-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.83
Price in other shops:
The Rosary Workoutby Peggy Bowes
Bezalel Books; Bezalel Books; Published: 2010-02-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops:
How to Listen When God Is Speaking: A Guide for Modern-Day Catholicsby Mitch Pacwa
Spring Arbor/Ingram; The Word Among Us Press; Published: 2011-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.82
Price in other shops:
If Protestantism is True: The Reformation Meets Romeby Devin Rose
Unitatis Books; Published: 2011-06-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.32
Price in other shops:
The Fathers Know Bestby Jimmy Akin
Catholic Answers; Catholic Answers; Published: 2010-11-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.37
Price in other shops:
Surrender! The Life Changing Power of Doing God's Willby Fr Larry Richards
Our Sunday Visitor; Published: 2011-09-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops:
Fit for Eternal Lifeby Kevin Vost
Spring Arbor/Ingram; Sophia Institute Press; Published: 2007-12-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.60
Price in other shops:
Unearthing Your Ten Talentsby Kevin Vost
Spring Arbor/Ingram; Sophia Institute Press; Published: 2010-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.91
Price in other shops: