How to Remember Not to Forget: By Joan Who? and Adam Rosensomething by Joan Houlihan , Adam Rosenbaum Search Amazon for other books by or about Joan Houlihan. Rating: Reviewed by: John L. Hoh, Jr.

Memory is a precious commodity. By "memory" I speak of the human brain's capacity to file, store, and retrieve information, not computer memory.

The book is a expose of the authors' tricks over the years to remember certain things. The book begin by describing the memory process and the three types of memory: Sensory Memory, Short-term Memory, and Long-term Memory. It looks at how the brain sees and processes information. And by understanding the mechanics of brain function, we can map information for our brain to remember. Random pieces of information will have a low recall rate; organizing that same information into groups leads to a greater retention. The book also explores mnemonic devices (mnemonic comes from the Greek "mnema," which means "memory").

Much of what the book discusses I learned at the seminary as we learned how to remember names, remember a twenty-minute sermon, what is found in each chapter of the Bible, etc. Of course, the seminary training for me wasn't always successful. I can remember that the Shepherd Psalm is found in Psalm 23, but the only Hebrew I can remember is "roani Adonai" ("the LORD is my shepherd"). I guess memorizing the Hebrew text was more short-term memory while knowing its in Psalm 23 is long-term from repeated usage at hospital calls (for some reason everyone wants that psalm read when they are in the hospital).

The book also looks at variables that can affect memory, such s diet, rest, and health concerns. It also contains exercises for the reader to work through to improve memory skills while taking Memorology 101.