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The Memory Code

Lynne Kelly has discovered that a powerful memory technique used by the ancients can unlock the secrets of the Neolithic stone circles of Britain and Europe, the ancient Pueblo buildings in New Mexico and other prehistoric stone monuments across the world. We can still use the memory code today to train our own memories.

In the past, the elders had encyclopaedic memories. They could name all the animals and plants across the landscape, and the stars in the sky too. Yet most of us struggle to memorise more than a short poem.

Using traditional Aboriginal Australian songlines as the key, Lynne Kelly has identified the powerful memory technique used by indigenous people around the world. She has discovered that this ancient memory technique is the secret behind the great stone monuments like Stonehenge, which have for so long puzzled archaeologists.

The stone circles across Britain and northern Europe, the elaborate stone houses of New Mexico, the huge animal shapes at Nasca in Peru, and the statues of Easter Island all serve as the most effective memory system ever invented by humans. They allowed people in non-literate cultures to memorise the vast amounts of practical information they needed to survive.

318 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2016

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About the author

Lynne Kelly

22 books155 followers
My new book, The Knowledge Gene was published in Australia and NZ in 2024. It is the culmination of all my work on knowledge systems and memory. It is the scientific evidence humans are all genetically encoded to use our uniquely human skills in music, art, spatial abilities, story and performance to store and convey knowledge - and have been doing so for at least 70,000 years! We all have so much more potential that we are using.

I did a PhD on the way indigenous cultures memorise vast amounts of information when they don't use writing. Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies was published by Cambridge University Press in 2015 and explains the implications for archaeology, offering new interpretations for the purpose of monuments around the world including Stonehenge, the statues of Easter Island and the huge images on the desert at Nasca.

The Memory Code (2016) presented this approach for the general reader. There was an overwhelming response to the book, asking how to implement the memory methods in contemporary life. That is the theme of Memory Craft.. Songlines: the power and promise is co-authored with Indigenous writers, Margo Neale and leads the First Knowledges series. Songlines for Younger Readers was published in 2023, leading the children's series. Both Songlines books have been shortlisted for major awards.

I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and now live in rural Castlemaine. I started writing as a child and am the author of ten books for schools written during my teaching career, and a novel, Avenging Janie. I then started writing popular science, publishing three books, The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal, Crocodile: evolution's greatest survivor and Spiders: learning to love them.

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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Profile Image for Miguelángel.
60 reviews7 followers
January 29, 2018
Resulta que el palacio de la memoria es mucho más que un truco para recordar discursos. Tras terminar el libro creo que me quedó una idea bien clara de qué realmente significa usar lugares y canciones como técnica recordar, más allá de "imaginar un palacio y llenarlo con cosas". Creo que de a poco iré probando a ver si finalmente resulta armar ese tipo de espacios.

Las teorías sobre cómo las líneas de Naca, los moai y Stonehenge son espacios de memoria es muy fascinante, y la autora explica bien su razonamiento. En general es interesante de que los ritos y la religión nacieron en realidad como técnicas para recordar estrategias de supervivencia y tradiciones culturales.
Profile Image for Arianne Gubbins.
4 reviews
November 25, 2024
Qué refrescante leer sobre una investigación tan enriquecedora. Si bien se puede poner tedioso con la cantidad de información, me motivó a continuar la novedad (al menos para mí) de su teoría y la curiosidad de cómo ella la puso a prueba.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews