The Art of Memory
The book that founded the academic study of mnemonics, from the Greek memory palace to Renaissance magic.
Yates traced the classical art of memory, the loci and images of the memory palace, from Simonides and the Roman rhetoricians through the Middle Ages to Giordano Bruno and the Renaissance occult. Published in 1966, it created the field and remains the first book anyone is sent to.
Recommended by 1 Person
Joshua Foer
It’s the book that started the whole field of academic research into the art of memory. For anyone interested in the subject, it’s the first thing to read. Yates starts with the ancient Greeks and tells the story of how the art of memory began, then went through a number of transformations. In the Middle Ages, it became associated with religious remembering.
Interview · October 2012
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