The Memory Championships

This article on the awesome feats of the memory champions ("Forget Me Not - How to win the U.S. memory championship") reminded me of one of my favorite novels from my younger days -- Little, Big by John Crowley. In it is a massive tangled house, full of memories, and in it is a character who uses the trick used by the memory champions to remember things: building a landscape--like a house--in your head, and adding details to the house to trigger memories you want to retain.

Glancing at the 84 rave reviews of the book on Amazon, I am picturing myself rereading Little, Big on my sun porch this summer when the weather is good again. I intend to remember this plan, so the sun porch looks particularly nice; on the rocking chair is a model of a complex little house that I can't quite understand from the outside.