Super Memory It Can Be Yours by Shakuntala Devi

Book Review of Super Memory It Can Be Yours Ageless Memory in 12 Practical Lessons by Shakuntala Devi

The book Super Memory It Can Be Yours by Shakuntala Devi starts with a sci-fi story written by one of her acquaintances. I read the story and wondered ‘How this anti-technology, stone-age-was-so-much-better story found its way into this book?’ And I completely lost interest. Eventually Shakuntala Devi explained how the technology is actively working against human competence. Then I remembered how I used to save all the numbers and names in my mobile till one day while going to office it was stolen.  ‘Oh yes,’ I thought, ‘I know what she meant.’

In her book Super Memory It Can Be Yours, Shakuntala Devi doesn’t teach you any magical trick. Instead, she tells you how years of practice and right habit can release the memory power that remains underutilised. First, she discusses the factors that directly or indirectly prevents you from remembering things. Emotional clutters – she calls them. She suggests we develop a positive mindset. Optimism optimises memory – she says. Super Memory It Can Be Yours also tells you how to increase your concentration.

Then Shakuntala Devi classifies the remembering process based on the dominant organ that is used in the method. Some people react more to visual stimulants whereas some other may use their auditory skills. Some remembers movements better than anything. Again some may use a mix of all the above. The majority of us use a little bit of all the above, though any one of the three is always the dominant. Several tests are provided to identify which particular class you belong to.

Subsequent chapters in Super Memory It Can Be Yours are devoted to remembering numbers, names etc. For each of them there are a number of methods to choose from. Shakuntala Devi emphasizes on using imagination to associate things. The stronger the association the longer the impression will stay. Let the imaginations be absurd. No one is there to criticise. It’s for your own good, so have a go with it.

Investing a personal meaning in a name  makes remembering it effortless – because the reference already exists in your memory.

Now as for the association, the whole thing depends on what’s best for you to imagine. It can be a celebrity, a river, a mountain range or a movie. All that’s important is to create a picture around it – a picture that is vivid and stimulating. You can also associate silly, absurd words. Association, according to Shakuntala Devi is a personalised thing. One should always feel free to make them any way one likes.

There are methods discussed in Super Memory It Can Be Yours to remember long numbers, but I will discuss here only two. In first method, you break a long number into manageable groups.

For instance, 2963452561 is a ten-digit number. So break it down thus:

1       2      3     4 





296    345    25     61

Also we can pronounce the groups in a rhythm. Sometimes we use this method spontaneously without actually being aware of it. In second method, Shakuntala Devi suggests we substitute each number with an alphabet resembling it. For example, 1 looks like a T, 2 can be replaced with N, 3 with M and so on. Alphabets are visually more stimulating than numbers. Besides for long numbers like a year, we can make words with each number and then construct a sentence, which is always easier to remember than the number itself.

In Super Memory It Can Be Yours, Shakuntala Devi covers several other aspects like the best ways to take notes. There are also an entire section devoted to common misconception people have regarding the memory techniques.

I found this book by Shakuntala Devi fascinating. I learned a great deal about memory enhancing techniques. There are exercises at the end of each chapter. I found them particularly useful. They are like math games, puzzles that you can use at parties to impress others. However the real aim of Super Memory It Can Be Yours is to build a set of habits that not only improves your capacity to remember stuffs but also guides on how and where to implement those strategies.

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How to Write a Simple Book Review by A R Abbott

Book Review of How to Write a Simple Book Review by Allyson R. Abbott

How to Write a Simple Book Review by Allyson R. Abbott is a comprehensive guide on literary criticisms. Amazon is a good place to post your reviews. It is by far the largest book seller online. As per as the quality is concerned Amazon is the most reliable organisation. Their rating structure consists of both a grading system and a provision to post justification/explanation for your ratings. Not all the reviewers post lengthy, academic level, painstakingly written reviews. Even brief one sentence reviews along with appropriate grading produces impact.

It takes a great deal of time and energy to publish even a small book containing a hundred pages. The main objective of the author is to reach the readers. When you read a book, how is the author supposed to know if you liked it or hated it? The only way is to write your feedback – a book review. This is a serious business, because your feedback is what will help the author in the long run.

Even if you hate the book, or did not finish it because the spelling, formatting or grammar, was so bad you took it to a charity shop, let the author know. How can they ever improve their craft of writing, if they never get feedback?

Though How to Write a Simple Book Review by A. R. Abbott is primarily about re viewing books on Amazon but it also explores other platforms where you can send your feedback to the author and other readers. You can always send direct emails to the authors letting them know your opinions. You can write a guest post in one of those blogs that post regular book reviews. You can also share the link in Facebook with a word or two about how you liked the book. All this immensely helps the author as well as the readers.

Allyson R. Abbott however, cautions against giving away the endings. The purpose of the review is to constructively evaluate a book. Simply narrating the plot is not a book review. Besides, when you give away the ending, the readers loses interest in the book. This adversely affects the sale, even if its a good book. Secondly, a reviewer must not be coarsely insulting. A book is a child of its author. Being rude will not only ruin the author’s reputation but it will also damage your reputation as a reviewer. The author also advises against quoting long passages from the book. Sometimes reviewers can’t control the impulse of padding their articles to unnecessary lengths. The underlying motif is to make it more Search Engine friendly. But this is not how a book review should be written. What readers want is your honest opinion about the book. In case they decide to buy or borrow the book, they will read it for themselves.

Most of us are not interested in reviews because we think there is nothing in it for us. This is a misconception. Being literary critic is a lucrative job. There are places like Fiverr or People Per Hour that actually pay you for posting your review. You can also write your reviews in a blog like this one. There is always an option to write guest posts in blogs. If you have a relevant matter in your own blog, you can also create inbound links to your own article.

If you don’t know how to review a book, this book will definitely help you with that. Even if you uncomfortable in writing formal article, don’t worry. Your book reviews don’t have to be formal. In fact, an informal evaluation always has little bit of personal touch in it. Besides no one is going to criticise what you write. When you are reviewing a book, you’re appreciating the effort that the author has put in it.  However in this book this point is mentioned time and again. I’d say more than 20% of the material is stuffed with it. That makes it somewhat repetitive and boring. Overall the How to Write a Simple Book Review is both educative and fun.

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Common Errors by Terry O'Brien Review

Book Review of Little Red Book of Common Errors by Terry O'Brien

I found Dr Terry O’Brien’s little book on Common Errors extremely useful. It is especially useful for students preparing for exams like PO, IBPS, Clerical, CAT, GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS etc. The structure of this book is simple. Each section deals with a specific portion in Grammar. For example, there are separate chapters on Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs etc. Common Errors come with examples – the incorrect ones, then the correct ones followed by explanations. Unlike other popular Grammar books available in the market, Common Errors by Terry O'Brien is concise and handy.

Personally, I believe that errors mentioned in this Little Red Book of Common Errors are committed as mere habit. The bulk of reading materials available in the internet are filled with Common Errors. Even the social networking thingy is not much helpful. The habits acquired in childhood remains till the end because we seldom examine what we read or what we write. This happens irrespective your educational background or the kind of job you’re in. I once met a High School teacher carelessly disregarding the subject verb agreement. I hear speeches that sound pompous and complicated due to excessive use of adverbs. These things can be avoided. Good Grammar, in my opinion can be grown into habit.

In exams like GRE, you are supposed to identify/rectify usage errors. In banking exams the focus is on reasoning and math section. So naturally English section gets neglected. We need a no-nonsense Grammar book that provides us what we need in a precise manner. Here Common Errors by Dr. Terry O’Brien comes for rescue. I will not only recommend this book, but also suggest that you add a hard copy to your collection and read it once in a while.

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If God was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian

Book Review of If God was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian

If God Was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian, the author of Devil in Pinstripes, is a thriller on corporate banking. Two IIM graduates Sundeep and Swami join New York International Bank. Sundeep Srivastava is an ambitious banker. He believes the end justifies the means. He becomes involved with Naresh, the Doctor Evil of If God Was a Banker. Naresh, it seems, has ample supply of beautiful secretaries who are ready to bed his clients. Here, Sundeep commits his first act of adultery. From then his banking career takes a meteoric rise to fame. But that is only temporary, because (stereo typically) evil always takes all the beating in the end.

The hero in If God Was a Banker, Swami, an epitome of integrity (and probably also of a stress-induced sterility) stands in stark contrast with Sundeep. He loves nothing but South Indian foods, drinks nothing but carbonated drinks, does nothing but banking. He is so downright boring that probably his subordinates consider him a part of their office furniture. But guess what. He weds the prettiest girl whom Sundeep had long wished to bed.

So these two opposite poles work in this bank called New York International Bank. You can imagine what happens in such situations. They get into bitter rivalry. I don’t mean Swami. No. He is supposed to be above this dirty politics, because he is a ‘Tamil Brahmin’ and because he is a god fearing, idli-loving, fiercely honest banker. He is everything a North Indian Sundeep, who is also a hard drinker and a womaniser,  is not.

I am trying to make you understand this. There was rivalry between every other person in this confounded bank. But Swami was never a part of it. In fact he was never a part of anything particular. Naresh is pure evil. Sundeep is being manipulated by him and  does some shadowy dealings. Sundeep also has an extraordinarily healthy libido. Management soon gets the whiff of it.

Now they wants to fire him (That’s good, because considering what he did, I’d like to set him on fire myself). Swami, quite predictably, comes for the rescue. At this point I was seriously thinking if I should quit reading. But hell, I goddamn paid for the book, didn’t I?

The English is good. The story could be better. The characters are in shambles. A real life character is neither pure evil nor impeccably holy. Ravi Subramanian took this point lightly. As a result the book failed to be The Fountainhead and became If God was a Banker instead.

If God was a Banker is however, excellent for killing time. Buy the paperback from Wheeler before boarding the train. Finish it before you reach the destination. Then present it to some banker friend and completely ruin his career.

In case you are clueless about who the God is: for that you have to read the book.

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