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Recently in Salon Health & Body

Urge
Flaming man
Queer erotics has its place in the sun at Burning Man's utopia. How fitting that the sun got too hot.
By Paul Festa
[09/16/99]

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He knows me, he knows me not
How can Matt know her so well and not at all?
By Tracy Quan
[09/16/99]

Bringing 'em back alive
How anesthesiologists keep you from drifting away forever.
By Eleanor Stacy Parker
[09/15/99]

Urge
I hate myself
After my marriage fell apart, I learned the culture of gay self-loathing.
By Daniel Reitz
[09/14/99]

Urge
Swooning over the messenger
She can't decide what makes the man: Brawn, brains or big brothers.
By Tracy Quan
[09/13/99]

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Now, though, the subject is memory, and you know that's you. You're losing it. Halfway to senility -- can't even remember what you were about to say. Very soon now you'll be warehoused in a clean, well-lit facility, watching "The Teletubbies" all day and not getting the jokes.

Unless, of course, you get help. Dr. Cynthia R. Green, director of the Memory Enhancement Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has come to your rescue. Her new book, "Total Memory Workout: 8 Easy Steps to Maximum Memory Fitness" (Bantam Books), promises to reverse the corruption of your personal data files. At the very least, Green's book may reassure you that you aren't really coming down with Alzheimer's.

Find out about memory loss due to Alzheimer's disease, click here.

Green's book contains various tips, useful exercises and general advice for improving memory fitness. You'll notice the beneficial effects almost immediately as Green's prose style brings back vivid memories of fifth grade. Chapters are followed by quizzes, with questions of the "True or False: Safety is nobody's business" variety. (From the Step 1 Quiz: "True or False: Practicing better memory habits will help me maximize my memory fitness." Answer later!)

Do the exercises in the "Total Memory Workout" and very soon you'll find that having a better memory is not worth the trouble. For example, the Rhyme Technique, described on page 140: "Many people like to help themselves remember information by making up a rhyme for it," Green writes. A grocery list follows: chicken, chicken broth, wild rice, dried apples walnuts, salt, pepper -- and then a sample rhyme linking them all together:

"Oh, the chicken swam into the broth The rice brewed wildly The apples dried on walnut husks On the salt and pepper sea."

"If you are musically inclined," Green enthuses, "you may even find you like to give your rhymes a little tune. Maybe you'll uncover an unknown talent!"

Maybe you'll be arrested by store security. Your call. Personally, I would recommend using this technique only if your shopping list reads:

Blue
Blue
Blue suede shoes.

Next page | Don't worry if you forget where your keys are; worry if you forget you have keys