These posts may not be in the best possible order for a presentation of the Dominic memory system, because I decided to keep the posts in mostly chronological order in order to help keep clear what people are referring to when they make a response.
If you start looking through this and think it's not relevant to you--keep reading. Jason England's second post is a treasure trove of information. After you read it, some the earlier posts may be more useful to you.
By: jason england
Hi gang.
As some of you may know, I am a big fan of memorized deck work. I am also interested in the broader subject of memory systems in general. For the past several months I have slowly been piecing together a memory system that I believe to be the fastest, most efficient way to memorize a deck of cards. (For those in the know, it's the Dominic System, used by arguably the best memory champion in the world, Dominic O'Brian.)
While the Dominic System offers several advantages over other systems such as David Roth's and Harry Lorayne's, it also has a few drawbacks. For one, it is pressed into service much slower than the Roth/Lorayne method. It has to be outlined and a memory framework has to be constructed before you can begin using the full power of the system.
All of this prework pays off though, in the extreme gains in speed you achieve. ALL of the competetors in the World Memory Championship's 'Playing Card Memorization' event use the Dominic; none use the Roth/Lorayne...it's simply too slow, even at world class level. (The current record is 43 seconds, held by Andy Bell, who read Dominic's book and then used the system to beat it's "originator"! Dominic is still current and 5 time World Memory Champion.)
And so, I need to ask for some help in completing my framework for the Dominic System. I need for the members of MT to help me come up with names that fit the following initials:
OA OB OC OD OE OS OG AO AC AN CO DA DS DG EA EB EC EG EH SO SB SE SG SN GO GA GC GS GG GH GN HO HB HC HD HE HG HN NO NB NE NG NH NN
Here are the stipulations: the names must be of PEOPLE or CHARACTERS that are easily PICTURED. For instance...DA might initially bring to mind Doug Adams author of "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". The problem is..who the heck knows what he looks like? Even if I could find a picture of him on one of his dustcovers, it wouldn't work as well as simply trying to find another person whose face DOES come to mind quickly. Same goes for "GO" as George Orwell...anyone know what he looks like? Me either. ONLY as a last resort do I want to try and familiarlize myself with faces that I've never seen before to go along with their initials.
I prefer the initials to be actors or some other type of celebrity. People whose faces come to mind INSTANTLY. Obviously this is going to be difficult in some of these cases, because I've already racked my brain trying to think of these. But that's what help is for...right?
Another stipulation is: NO reversing the order of the initials/names! EC is a tough one to get...but if only you could reverse the initials to get Eastwood, Clint. The problem is that I've already got Clint Eastwood; he's filling the CE spot. (All of the above initials have mirror images of themselves in the Dominic System.)
So...if any of you can come up with some celebrity names that match these faces...please email them to me, or post them here.
If anyone is interested in the Dominic System, email me and I'll try and send you the details. For those of you whose feathers just got ruffled at the thought of me giving away someone's hard developed 'system', you should know that the "Dominic System" predates Dominic O'Brian by about 2,500 years by his own admission. It's as much his as Lorayne's system is Lorayne's. The "Lorayne System" is also hundreds of years old. (I don't know that Harry ever claimed it as his, but he doesn't go out of his way to credit his predecessors in his memory books for the public either.)
Once I complete my framework, if anyone out there is interested in what I use, I'll be happy to send you the initials and names I have compiled. (By the way, even though a complete list of initials/names is included in Dominic's book, "How to Develop a Perfect Memory", he included many names that quite obviously mean something only to someone who is from the UK.)
Since I am from the US, I need names of predominatly American celebrities, although a mega-star like Elton John could certainly be used. Too bad I don't need an "EJ" huh?
I hope you guys can help me to find some obvious names that I have simply overlooked. Please give my list a look.
Thanks in advance to all.
By: Josh Mandel
A few names and initials from your list:
EA = Ed Asner
AC = Art Carney
OD = Olivia DeHavilland
NG = Newt Gingric
By: David Fritsch
Here are some quick suggestions for the E's EA Ed Asner, EB Ellen
Barkin, EC Eric Clapton, EG Elliot Gould or Erin Gray, EH Ed Harris
A suggestion: look for entertainment/sports/celebrity lists on the web, especially in alphabetical order. For example, I checked Yahoo->Entertainment->Actors/Actresses and looked under A for DA and quickly found David Arquette, Dan Ackroyd, and Desi Arnaz
By: Jim Maloney
Here are a few I came up with...
GG - Gilbert Gottfried
GC - George Carlin
GH - George Harrison
NN - Nick Nolte
EH - Elizabeth Hurley
By: Ed Andres
EA=Ed andres, just picture me shoveling a grave. *wink*
OB=Obie (old ben) I know thats what you are using for this.
HG= hugh grant (hookers)
By: Jason Y-H
CO - Conan O'Brien (Late Night Talk Show Host)
DS - David Scwimmer (Ross on Friends)
SO - Shaquille O'Neal (Basketball Player)
SB - Sandra Bernhard (Unattractive Comedian)
SE - Shannon Elizabeth (Very Attractive actress in American Pie (the naked girl, Nadia))
GA - Gillian Anderson (Scully on X-Files)
GH - Geri Haliwell (Red-Haired Spice Girl)
I know you know at least some of these people. All the other people I know personally (you wouldn't know them). More to come, I'm dtermined to get these done by tonight!!! Hope you can use at least one of these.
By: JR
HB Halle Berry (babe!)
HC Harry Carey (big glasses, baseball announcer)
OD Oscar DelaHoya (boxer)
AC Aldo Columbini
OG Oscar the Grouch (sesame street)
GG Gina Gershon (grrr... awesome in "Bound")
OS Orenthal (OJ) Simpson
By: Jason Y-H
Here are a few more:
DG - Danny Glover (You know him)
SG - Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy)
HG - Heather Graham (Austin Powers Babe, Boogie Nights (Roller Girl),
Swingers, And a major babe)
By: Steve Mayhew
OA - Opr Ah (or Old Ammar (see Kenner's book for memorable image))
OB - Old Dirty Bastard (rapper)
OC - Orlando Cepeda
OD - Olympia Dukakis
OE - Old Einstein or Old Elvis
OS - Omar Sharif or OJ Simpson
OG - OctoPussy Galore (trust me - you'll remember)
AO - Annie Oakley
AN - Aaron Neville
CO - Charles Oakley
DA - Don Alan or Desi Arnez
DS - Deion Sanders
SO - Scarlett O'Hara
SB - Steve Beam
SE - Sheila E or Sheena Easton
SN - Sam Neill
GO - Gary Oldman
GS - Grandpa Simpson
GN - Gena Lee Nolin (Baywatch)
HO - Madonna
HD - Heavy D (rapper)
HE - Happy Easter (go with a bunny)
HN - Harry Nilsson
NE - Nick Van Excel
By: jason england
Wow. That is the first thing that comes to mind. The response I
received (and am still receiving) was awesome. I got almost 2 dozen
emails alone from folks who didn't post here on MT in addition to the
threaded responses that you all can read. One well known magician and
heck of nice guy even called me from across the country to give me his
exhaustive list. Some of the responses were absolutely perfect, most
were very good, and 1 or 2 were somewhat obscure...but still the
effort was appreciated.
You guys really embarassed me with a few of the more obvious ones that never occured to me. HC = Hilary Clinton?! How did I miss this one? She's my boss's wife for heaven's sake! SB = Sandra Bullock...duh. There were others equally obvious...again, I don't know how some of them escaped me.
There still remain a few that are unaccounted for. They are: OA OB OC OG AO SG HD HE NO NB NE NH
I realize that some of you have already sent in suggestions for some of these initial pairs, but for one reason or another, I either couldn't picture the person well enough, or there was a conflict of interest in some other aspect of the Dominic System. Those familiar with the system will know what I am referring to.
So, if in the next few days or so, you guys think of a good actor or celebrity that fits in these initial sets, drop me an email or post here.
Again, thanks very much to all who responded!
Here is some further information on the Dominic System for those who asked about it in email and or by post.
The crux of the Dominic System is called the "journey technique". In it, you create a journey through some place that is familiar to you. (Your home is a perfect place to begin.) You choose a logical starting point such as your front doorstep and move in a logical manner throughout your house. This journey will replace the "peg" system for those of you familiar with the Roth/Lorayne methods. Each spot on your journey gives you a location for your memory item. (I'm sure some of you already see where this is heading.)
Your journey can be as long as you like. My journey starts in my house, and goes through my neighborhood to a place about 4 miles from my house. I utilize stores, friends' houses, gas stations, and even simple interesections for my locations. Took about 10 minutes to come up with a 52 step journey. (To memorize a world record 35 decks, Dominic created 35 separate 52 step journeys! Okay, so he's a mutant. You'll probably need only 1.)
If you wanted to remember a grocery list in order, you would begin by visualizing your first grocery item on your first step of the journey. Say for instance your first item was milk, and your first step of the journey was your doorstep, you would picture milk on your doorstep. However, you want to be sure to exaggerate some aspect of your mental picture as dramatically (and therefore memorably) as you can. For example, you might picture thousands of gallons of milk gushing in your front door like a dam that had broken. Spend a few seconds with this image and it is locked in your mind for as long as you desire to keep it.
For the next item, we'll use eggs, and our location will be say, the hall closet. Picture your hall closet filled so full of eggs that when you open the door, they come spilling out all over the floor and yourself. Continue throughout your grocery list placing each item to be remembered into the next step of your journey. Bread might go on top of your television, peanut butter in the downstairs bathroom, etc.
To recall the list, simply visualize yourself walking through your home/journey. The images will leap out at you if you have chosen them properly. Almost all of Dominic's techniques use the journey technique in some manner. Learn it, it is a very useful tool. BTW, it is also called the "room" technique in some books. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find that there are many other names for this basic concept floating around in the literature.
To remember numbers the way Dominic does, you have to do what I have been doing for the past several months. That is, compiling a list of people whose faces you can instantly recall without any hesitation. In addition, you must have some identifying action to go along with each individual. For instance, Sandra Bullock driving a bus is perfect. (And I could kick myself for not seeing that one 3 months ago.)
Now you see why I couldn't use some of the suggestions that were given today. I already had NOT conflicting people, but conflicting ACTIONS. For instance, even though both Eric Clapton "EC" and BB King "BB" might be candidates on my list, only one can be playing a guitar, and that pretty much eliminates the other as a participant. (Since no one in their right mind pictures either of these gentlemen doing ANYTHING else but playing guitar!) One of them has to go.
With actors its a bit different, because you picture them in a particularly significant or famous role instead of just "acting" in general. Sean Connery might be sword fighting ala "Highlander" and Charleston Heston might be driving a chariot. In any event, you probably won't get the two confused, even though they are both actors.
Before making this list of people and actions associated with those people, you need to memorize the following table of number to letter correlations.
0 = O
1 = A
2 = B
3 = C
4 = D
5 = E
6 = S
7 = G
8 = H
9 = N
With this table memorized, you write the numbers 00 - 99 on a sheet of paper and fill in the letter pairs that would correspond to each 2-digit number. (Be sure to use 01, 02, 03, etc instead of 1,2,3...this will be important later on.)
After that, you fill in the names of the people you can visualize the quickest that have some easily identifiable action associated with them. Here's some examples:
16 = AS = Adam Sandler teeing off (from "HAPPY GILMORE")
09 = ON = Oliver North swearing in
35 = CE = Clint Eastwood shooting a gun (any movie he's ever been in)
66 = SS = Steven Seagal breaking someone's arm (see note for Eastwood)
Get the picture?
The tough part is that you have to do this with all 100 2-digit pairs. But once you have done this, you are almost home free!
What you now have the ability to do is create complex images. In the Roth/Lorayne systems, for the most part, memorizing a deck of cards would require 52 card images, and 52 number images that are distinct from each other. The final product involves creating an image that encodes only a single card in a location. Using the Aronson stack as an example, the 20th card is the 5 of spades. His mnemonic is NOSE/SEAL. (A seal balancing a ball on its nose.) This is a 1:1 ratio of images to card/position.
With the Dominic system, you can use a complex image to encode two pieces of information into one mental picture. You do this by combining the PERSON of the first number, with the ACTION of the second number. Example: Using our journey and the four number examples I have already provided, if you wanted to remember 16093566, you require only TWO images! You would picture Adam Sandler swearing in on your front doorstep, and Clint Eastwood breaking someone's arm in your hall closet! The first two digits indicate the person, the next two, the action. Adam Sandler is automatically 16 because AS = 16 in our numerical alphabet. And swearing in is Oliver North's action, therefore it can stand only for Oliver North's number, which is 09. Since 09 = ON in our alphabet.
The same breakdown goes for Clint Eastwood using Steven Seagal's action. Clint = CE = 35. Breaking arms = Steven Seagal = SS = 66. I realize it may sound confusing at first, but the initial confusion will soon fade as you grow used to the new system. (It is a big departure from the Roth/Lorayne schools of thought.)
Of course you know which group of 4 comes first because of the "journey" technique that was discussed earlier. Your front door comes first in your journey, so that is the natural beginning point for our memorized number. This combination of techniques will allow a 50 digit number to be quickly encoded in only 25 images. In theory, it is POSSIBLE to encode a 50 digit number with less images using the Roth/Lorayne systems, but since these systems are for the most part created on the fly, this is highly unlikely.
You would have probably required at least a few more images than the Dominic System to simply remember this 8 digit number using the other methods. With a great deal of thought, you might be able to come up with one or two large words that can be created out of the mnemonic alphabet that Lorayne uses in his books, and that Aronson utilized in creating his stack. But with the Dominic system, all of the work is predetermined BEFORE you see any numbers. 1609 will ALWAYS be Adam Sandler swearing in! Likewise 0916 (or 916) will ALWAYS be Oliver North teeing off! The images will come almost instantly once you really commit your list to memory.
This is what gives the Dominic System its tremendous speed advantage. Almost NO work or time is wasted encoding the numbers into words, and only THEN transferring them into images. The images are predetermined and you simply plug then into your locations (such as the hall closet or doorstep) as needed.
So that is the Dominic System as it applies to numbers. For playing cards, there are some minor changes, but rest assured, the hard part is far behind you. First of all, MOST of the playing cards are simply numbers, and are remembered as such. For instance, the 3 of clubs is already encoded as "CC". Remember, 3 already = C in our new alphabet code, and the second C comes from the suit, clubs.
And as you might have guessed, CC is already on our list of numbers! It corresponds to Charlie Chaplin flexing a cane on the Dominic list, and on my personal list as well. (I saw no reason to change this particular one, as its quite easy to visualize.) ALL of the cards ace through 10 are ALREADY accounted for within the Dominic Number System. (10's are represented by zero.) A few more examples of number cards: The 3 of hearts is the "CH" number. On my list, this is Charleston Heston driving a chariot. The 2 of spades is the "BS" or "Ben Stein" card. (Important!! Remember, the "B" is a 2 in our new alpahabet, and the "S" indicates the suit now, instead of the number 6 like it does when we are dealig with pure numbers.) I picture Ben Stein giving out $5000 dollars of his money. So you see, the number cards pretty much take care of themselves. All you have to do is come up with 12 more people/action pairs to represent the 12 court cards in a deck. Dominic recommends the following:
Make clubs aggressive behavior, diamonds signify wealth, spades is associated with brunettes, and hearts with sex symbols. Some examples might be: who is the king of diamonds aka the "king of wealth"? Surely you mean Bill Gates. Who might be the "jack of wealth"? I don't know...Ted Turner? The "queen of sex symbols"? Perhaps Marilyn Monroe or Cindy Crawford? Who cares which actual people you use...the point is, you can EASILY come up with these last dozen people and actions to complete the requirements for memorizing a deck of cards using this system.
Just make sure that you do NOT duplicate any people or actions on your list. In fact, don't try and get sneaky and fit someone to an illogical activity. (Like Sean Connery playing basketball.) The thing is, you want the INITIAL images such as your "Journey" and your 2 digit combinations to be logical and straightforward. This will aid in your memory of them. It is only when you use the journey technique in conjunction with otherwise everyday objects (such as grocery lists) that you need to exaggerate some aspect of the image to make it stand out in your mind. If Adam Sandler swearing in on your front doorstep isn't weird enough, then you simply need more practice with your visualization techniques!
For memorizing a deck of cards, Dominic recommends using a journey of 52 steps and placing the complete image of both person and action into each step of the journey. In other words...DON'T combine two cards together as 1 complex image and place them both into say, your hall closet. I don't know why exactly he did this, and can see no reason why with practice, you can't use complex images to place two cards into each location like we did with the numbers. For all I know, he actually does this in practice, but for whatever reason didn't mention it in his book. I say do a bit more practice and memorize the deck using only 26 images.
Now, I can already hear some of you memorized deck fans yelling, "But I need to know the specific location of the cards, not just their relation to each other from start to finish." And that's absolutely true. Two comments on this...one, familiarity with your journey will eliminate this problem and give you the information you need. But remember, every step contains two cards if you go the complex image route. Step 1 will have cards 1 and 2. Step 2 will have cards 3 and 4. Step 3 will have cards 5 and 6. The simple formula is: double the journey position and subtracting 1 gives you odd stack numbers and just doubling the journey position number gives you even stack numbers. All people will represent odd numbered cards, and the actions will be even numbered cards. In position 10 of your journey you will have cards 19 and 20. The person is card 19, and the action is card 20.
The second thing is: this method isn't supposed to replace the pre-stacked, pre-memorized deck work that is already out there. If you want to do memorized deck magic, I highly recommend you show up with your deck already in order, or use a stack that can be achieved from new deck order. I fully intend to go on arranging my deck in Aronson order before any shows that I do where I want to utilize memorized deck material. Replacing those stacked decks is NOT the purpose of the Dominic system or my endorsement of it.
This system is designed to be the fastest possible method for simply memorizing a deck of cards or a large number. No one said it would be EASY. No one said you would be doing it TOMORROW. It doesn't claim these things, and no one I know describes the system in these terms. It is however the FASTEST way, once you complete the necessary prework.
And of course, there ARE magical applications! No one denies that. You will just have to pick and choose the places where the Dominic System is useful. I can picture eliminating the need to cull an entire suit to the top of the deck for effects that require you to then do 2 faros to disperse the suit every 4th card. "Marlo's Miracle Routine" from Marlo in Spades (p. 13) comes to mind. Great routine, but the estimation part alone can be done with some superfast memorization of the top 13 cards which will only require 6 images to do. (Don't worry about the 13th card; it's going straight to the bottom anyway in this routine.)
What about a quick glance through the deck prior to a ribbon spread selection? You memorize a block of 15 or so cards in the middle of the deck during the course of the previous effect, and you have the makings of the most mind boggling force ever. Your average magician will unwittingly reach right into your ribbon spread and remove a card from your memorized slug. A quick glance through them to remove the jokers prior to finishing the effect will provide all the cover in the world to figure out which one is missing. Done properly, this would be very difficult to reconstruct. Obviously for laymen I wouldn't bother with such a convoluted method, but late night sessions are perfect for this stuff.
For those who asked if Dominic's book is available: sort of. I bought 3 brand new copies from his agent back in September. His agent lives in the UK as does Dominic and I only got in touch with him via email and a third party! I paid $100 US for 3 copies and kept 1, giving 2 to friends. I do NOT have contact info for O'Brian's agent, as I never spoke to him even by email. The book IS scheduled to be reprinted in the future, but who knows exactly when.
Your best bet is to make sure you are on every used bookstore waiting list in the UK. Eventually one will show up. The book itself is large for a memory book, and contains so much good advice on memorizing everything from cards to complete chess games to Trivial Pursuit questions. Its simply awesome. If you can get one...do it.
Also, for the dedicated, there IS a website with a lot of this information on it. I don't know the address anymore because I own the complete book, but you'll find it if you look hard enough...I did. For those very few of you to whom I did send the exact address to last year, keep it for yourselves and very close friends. Let the mildly curious remain in the dark about this site.
I have to finish now because my keyboard is smoking from all the typing I've done in the last 2 hours or so. This HAS to be some sort of MT record for longest post. Bryan? BTW, I don't want to bother retyping this, so if you want it for Collected Wisdom Alain, take it now!
I really hope you folks get something out of this post even if it is just a better appreciation of what is possible with advanced memory techniques. I would appreciate any and all input and questions...post or email me.
By: todd lassen
i dont know if this is the same book jason is referring to, but
dominic's book "learn to remember" is due out june 15, and can be
pre-ordered through amazon. it is 160 pages. cheers.
Editor's Note: The post was made in March of 2000.
By: Lane Wade
NB=Ned Beatty. If you've seen "Deliverance", his face and action are
something you'd probably want to forget.
By: Paul W. Cummins
To your remaining list, and understanding that these are becoming a
little bit of a stretch:
AO = Annie Oakley
HE = Hector Elizondo (actor who plays a doctor on Chicago Hope and has been a "B" character in about a jazillion movies)
By: Josh Mandel
NB: Norman Bates!
HE: Henry the Eighth! (hmm...)
OC: Oliver Cromwell
AO: Ashley Olsen (one of the Olsen twins)
SG: Sara Gilbert (Darlene on "Roseanne")/Sharon Gless/Seth Green
HD: Heather Donohue (the "Blair Witch" girl)
NH: Neil (Patrick) Harris, "Doogie Howser" and "Stark Raving Mad"
By: David Fritsch
A few more possibilities:
AO - Annette O'Toole (Nick Nolte's girlfriend in 48Hrs)
HD - Hugh Downs (20/20)
SG - Steve Guttenberg (from Police Academy "fame")
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