Chapter 05 of 5
The Memory Palace
An ancient trick that lets ordinary people remember extraordinary amounts.
- The Legend
A collapsing banquet hall
Ancient writers told of the poet Simonides, who stepped outside a banquet moments before the roof fell in.
- The Discovery
Remembering by place
The bodies were unrecognisable, but Simonides could name the guests by recalling where each had been sitting.
- The Method
The method of loci
From this story came the 'method of loci': placing things you want to remember at locations along a familiar route.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
What did brain scans of memory champions in 2003 reveal about their skill?
🧩 How Memory Works (and Fails)
- 01The Man Who Couldn't Make MemoriesOne patient's surgery revealed where new memories are made.
- 02The Forgetting CurveThe man who measured his own forgetting — and what he found.
- 03Why Spacing WorksThe science of remembering for good — and why cramming fails.
- 04Memories That Never HappenedWhy vivid, confident memories can still be wrong.
- 05The Memory PalaceAn ancient trick that lets ordinary people remember extraordinary amounts.