When Lynne Kelly released The Memory Code, it immediately changed how we understand human memory.
In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, Lynne joins me to reveal how ancient oral cultures used a variety of memory techniques to store vast amounts of knowledge.
These methods include:
There’s something for everyone in this fantastic book.
And as I update this podcast description in 2025, I can see the delight in my face from the video I shot upon its arrival:
https://youtu.be/u2Z3SW8s0dg
But being a fanboy of memory science and the history of ancient memory techniques isn’t the only reason I could barely contain my excitement about Lynne’s book.
I’m also a fan of the present moment and how memory interacts with it.
So getting to speak with the author of The Memory Code as a fellow mnemonist was a real treat.
That’s because Lynne doesn’t just study ancient memory traditions. She always uses them.
Scroll up and hit play as Lynne and I explore The Memory Code. You’ll want to listen to this episode a few times to fully grasp how her discoveries rewire what we think we know about human memory.
Discussion points include:
* How a skeptical science writer became a memory practitioner by replicating memory techniques used by ancient cultures.
* How humans once regularly memorized 1600 plant names and locations (while thriving on less than a third of them).
* The role of rituals and Songlines in long term memory encoding and retention and specifically how Lynne uses these techniques in her daily life.
* Why Lynne’s associations with her Memory Palace Songlines have become so strong, she cannot relocate from her environment. This point will help you avoid Memory Palace Agoraphobia.
* The potential relationship between social inertia and a cure for Dementia (or at least a serious reduction in the number of cases and their severity).
* Why your brain is a set of “chemical locations” and how these can integrate with other locations in the world to help you remember. Jesse figured this out in a big way as you’ll learn in his Magnetic Memory Method Review and Testimonial.
* What we’ve lost in schools and what Lynne is doing to bring formal memory education back into the curriculum.
* What Nobel prize winners have shown us about how and why the brain associates information with locations naturally.
* Why the continuous culture of Australia is so beneficial to the study of memory.
* The economic history of memory training and why the going rate for one memory song could be exchanged at a very high rate.
* Why knowledge is so essential to human survival.
* Why vivid imagery in stories and dancing is far more memorable than straight, unencoded information.
* The 3 kinds of “Memory Spaces” anyone can use to remember information and get it right – very important in everyday education and matters of life and death.
* Why some information was restricted in early societies to avoid the so-called “Chinese Whispers Effect.”
* Why ancient groups of people were not naive or living in clouds of ignorance. Learn how science is helping us discover their incredibly sophisticated ways of knowledge – far from primitive!
* The power of multi-sensory mnemonic methods for helping you make fast associations.
* The importance of playing with the stories and images you create in order to facilitate rapid encoding and long term recall.
* The secret skill all children have (one of the barriers that far too many adults unnecessarily let themselves get in their way).
* The possible role writing might have in decreasing our visual imagination abilities.
* Why you need to memorize based on a firm foundation upon which layers can be built.
* Examples of how kids are using mnemonics to memorize physics equations using location-based mnemonics.
* How children are learning about art using Memory Palaces and other memory techniques that enable the teachers to help young learners achieve better grades.
Helping young people is essential, but Lynne talks about how all the same techniques apply across the board to people of every age. No matter how time crushed you may be.
As you continue listening, you’ll learn:
* Why memory techniques will save you time, not consume it.
* Why memory techniques should be taught within the curriculum of schools, not as a separate subject.
* Why memory techniques have inspired students to BEG for testing, not run shrieking from their exams.
* The role of cold in creativity and memory with respect to cold showers and the vagus nerve.
This conversation with Lynne Kelly remains one of the most profound explorations of memory I’ve recorded on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast.
We’ve since recorded conversations about her books Memory Craft and The Knowledge Gene. But this one will always hold a special place in my own memory.
Do yourself a favor and read this book. You won’t regret it.
The Memory Code on Amazon.
David Abram’s The Spell of the Sensuous
https://youtu.be/o817Zefvmfk
