by Tansel Ali
19. In Bavaria what is defined as a staple food?
20. Lycopersicum esculentum is what common food?
General knowledge answers
1. Dom Perignon; 2. Lake Superior; 3. the Moon; 4. farrier, also blacksmith; 5. mackintosh; 6. sword; 7. string; 8. dictionary; 9. Uranus; 10. Louis Pasteur; 11. Thomas the Tank Engine; 12. talc; 13. judo; 14. zero; 15. tea; 16. on the toilet; 17. rabbit; 18. jellyfish; 19. the Olympics; 20. hippopotamus.
Country answers
1. Pennsylvania; 2. Greenland; 3. the Amazon; 4. the Pacific; 5. 12,750 kilometres (7922 miles); 6. the Daintree in Far North Queensland; 7. Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle and London; 8. Barcelona; 9. St Petersburg; 10. Uruguay; 11. Portugal; 12. Greece; 13. India; 14. Sydney Cove; 15. Netherlands.
Film answers
1. John Wayne; 2. Roundhay Garden Scene, made in 1888; 3. Katharine Hepburn: four Oscars and twelve nominations; 4. Bette Davis (as Margo Channing); 5. Peter Jackson; 6. Keanu Reeves; 7. Jodie Foster; 8. Hammer Horror; 9. Casablanca; 10. Peter Weir; 11. Roald Dahl; 12. Les Misérables; 13. Tarzan; 14. Clark Gable; 15. Fury Road.
Garden answers
1. Capability Brown; 2. Kew Gardens; 3. the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; 4. yellow; 5. blue; 6. lotus; 7. elm; 8. nasturtium; 9. tulips; 10. Rosa mundi; 11. apricot; 12. coolibah tree; 13. cactus; 14. lettuce, old French/Latin; 15. flowers, specifically roses.
Sport answers
1. yellow; 2. Rocky Marciano; 3. golf; 4. Switzerland; 5. five; 6. India; 7. lawn bowls; 8. bishop; 9. Peter Beardsley; 10. Robert Baggio; 11. Evonne Goolagong; 12. 99.94; 13. Sam Snead, eighty-two wins; 14. 121,696, Carlton v Collingwood VFL grand final 1970; 15. Duke Kahanamoku; 16. polo; 17. 9.58 seconds; 18. 37 goals, Geelong def. Melbourne, round 19,2011; 10. Dawn Fraser and Ian Thorpe; 20. 42.2 kilometres (26.2 miles).
Arts answers
1. red, yellow and blue; 2. an unfinished object; 3. Rudolf Nureyev; 4. Mona Lisa; 5. to be played softly; 6. Pablo Picasso; 7. three; 8. Dante Gabriel Rossetti; 9. egg yolk; 10. pottery; 11. Ringo Starr; 12. Dadaism; 13. Dame Joan Sutherland in 1962; 14. Les Enfants Terribles; 15. 3.5 × 7.8 metres.
History answers
1. 23 April 1564; 2. Catherine of Aragon; 3.1 September 1939; 4. The Battle of Trafalgar; 5. 1945; 6. 1979; 7. 9 November 1989; 8. Gough Whitlam, 1984; 9. 14 November 1994; 10. 1 January 1999; 11. Twenty-eight; 12. 1215; 13. 1 January 1901; 14. Apollo 11; 15. Irish; 16. Jonas Salk, 1952; 17. 1990; 18. 14 July; 19. Uranus; 20. Four: Abraham Lincoln, 1865; James A. Garfield, 1881; William McKinley, 1901; John F. Kennedy, 1963. 167
Book answers
1. Diamond Sutra, dated to AD 868; 2. print on demand; 3. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple; 4. The Merchant of Venice; 5. Thomas Mann; 6. Maurice Sendak; 7. A book available in a digital (electronic) format; 8. 50 inches (127 centimetres); 9. Sally Morgan; 10. cuneiform tablets dated to 2300 BC; 11. Enid Blyton; 12. Bill Bryson; 13. J. R. R. Tolkien; 14. Ernest Hemingway; 15. Dumbledore; 16. Boris Pasternak; 17. Exodus; 18. jockey; 19. P. L. Travers; 20. The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
TV answers
1. Parker; 2. 1960s TV series starring Skippy the kangaroo; 3. The Onedin Line; 4. George; 5. Bostonian George Carey in 1876; Scotsman John Logie Baird is often cited but his ideas weren’t until the 1920s; 6. Fanny Cradock; 7. Antiques Roadshow; 8. Top of the Pops; 9. Bam Bam; 10. Noah Taylor; 11. 1959; 12. Ian McShane; 13. Knight Industries Two Thousand; 14. 1985; 15. Wilfred.
Food and drink answers
1. wine; 2. nori—seaweed; 3. apple; 4. pimento; 5. green; 6. orange; 7. jugged hare; 8. true; 9. up to 75,000; 10. truffles; 11. rice; 12. mushrooms; 13. anchovies; 14. tiramisu; 15. banana; 16. South American dish of marinated raw fish or seafood; 17. fruit or vegetable purée, used as a sauce; 18. haggis; 19. beer; 20. tomato.
Quotes
1. ‘The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.’ Aristotle
2. ‘Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.’ Napoleon Hill
3. ‘Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.’ Albert Einstein
4. ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.’ Robert Frost
5. ‘I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.’ Florence Nightingale
6. ‘What you seek is seeking you.’ Rumi
7. ‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’ Michael Jordan
8. ‘The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.’ Amelia Earhart
9. ‘Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.’ W. Clement Stone
10. ‘Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live’. Jim Rohn
11. ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.’ John Lennon
12. ‘The mind is everything. What you think you become.’ Buddha
13. ‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.’ Mark Twain
14. ‘The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.’ Alice Walker
15. ‘The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.’ Chinese proverb
16. ‘An unexamined life is not worth living.’ Socrates
17. ‘Eighty per cent of success is showing up.’ Woody Allen
18. ‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.’ Pablo Picasso
19. ‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.’ Steve Jobs
20. ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ Maya Angelou
21. ‘You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.’ Christopher Columbus
22. ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.’ Henry Ford
23. ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.’ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
24. ‘The best revenge is massive success.’ Frank Sinatra
25. ‘Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.’ Anaïs Nin
Sports statistics
The Ashes
Source: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/team/series_results.html?id=1;type=trophy.
AFL
Round 23, 2014
Narrative illustration
Rather than always using mind maps, try and draw some pictures freehand to visually narrate the following article.
Skilled incompetence
Chris Argyris
‘Managers who are skilled communicators may also be good at covering up real problems.’
The ability to get along with others is always an asset, right? Wrong. By adeptly avoiding conflict with co-workers, some executives eventually wreak organisational havoc. And it’s their very adeptness that’s the problem. The explanation for this lies in what I call skilled incompetence, whereby managers use practised routine behaviour (skill) to produce what they do not intend (incompetence). We can see this happen when managers talk to each other in ways that are seemingly candid and straightforward. What we don’t see so clearly is how managers’ skills can become institutionalised and generate disastrous results for their organisations. Consider this familiar situation:
His immediate subordinates agreed that they must develop a vision and make some strategic decisions. They held several long meetings to do this. Although the meetings were pleasant enough and no one seemed to be making life difficult for anyone else, they concluded with no agreements or decisions. ‘We end up compiling lists of issues but not deciding,’ said one vice president. Another added, ‘And it gets pretty discouraging when this happens every time we meet.’
A third worried aloud, ‘If you think we are discouraged, how do you think the people below us feel who watch us repeatedly fail?’ This is a group of executives who are at the top, who respect each other, who are highly committed, and who agree that developing a vision and strategy is critical. Yet whenever they meet they fail to create the vision and the strategy they desire. What is going on here? Are the managers really so incompetent? If so, why?
392 words
Guitar scales tablature
Practise some scales on the guitar.
Learn to play a song on guitar using tablature
This is the introduction to Metallica’s song ‘Nothing Else Matters’.
Memorise guitar chords
Although we didn’t learn chords earlier, try and memorise the placement of fingers on the strings here to ramp things up a bit.
Passwords and numbers
Memorise these passwords:
9KSYz6sT
ZB9FJrec
HNNfRrx9
n8c4MSSP
agqDxace
dMLxyPvq
JtbKBjkY
WVGuU76A
cGVFfMru
eGWEGxDu
daLqTrvx
fHNpZqg8
uwjapjuK
WtKP8umq
vdXEsTNG
q9c5ygWm
cDqw84j8
TLeqUhcw
eKxpfWDS
fPp2dZVr
2PdTVMtB
ectRn8YY
DdLPeuh2
VHHqUWfz
Memorise these PINs
7 5 0 4
3 0 9 9
4 0 4 3
8 6 0 9
7 3 9 3
0 7 4 7
5 1 6 2
0 5 7 8
2 2 7 2
3 4 1 9
5 5 5 8
2 8 0 2
Memorise these credit card details:
06871698916988
Expiry date: 7/20
code: 117
PIN: 0442
4913732066730948
Expiry date: 12/19
code: 481
PIN: 9814
6319340759660136
Expiry date: 1/17
code: 973
PIN: 6412
6519494067666435
Expiry date: 4/16
code: 860
PIN: 8876
9916793426815443
Expiry date: 1/11
code: 211
PIN: 4287
1705946746384619
Expiry date: 9/16
code: 307
PIN: 5455
0988320270915367
Expiry date: 4/23
code: 105
PIN: 6297
4555885617170456
Expiry date: 11/14
code: 200
PIN: 3987
Memorise these telephone numbers:
Shane charles
Ph: 0421 766 760
Plumbing corporation
Ph: (02) 9878 1123
AcE Window cleaners
Ph: (03) 7781 1936
Vijay Varma
Ph: 0488 910 238
Sandy Beach
Ph: (07) 8662 5627
Bobby Becker
Ph: 0444 980 016
Hairdresser
Ph: (03) 9891 1652
Liu Xiu Lang
Ph: 0467 877 563
Challenges
Now that your memory toolbox of techniques is in good shape, here are a list of challenges for you to consider:
• Mind map a recent issue of a magazine such as Australian Women’s Weekly, Zoo, Men’s Health or Frankie.
• Memorise twenty decks of playing cards.
• Meet twenty people and remember their names.
• Read a 300-page book in three hours.
• Memorise fifty telephone numbers from your contact list.
• Memorise and present a twenty-minute speech without any notes.
• Planning a trip? Learn 1500 phrases from a language of your choice.
• Memorise the winners of the Melbourne Cup.
• Teach yourself to learn another instrument—ukulele or a wind instrument?—in less than forty-eight hours using memory and learning principles from this book.
• Join me as a mental athlete in the World Memory Championships.
• Make sure you understand the key memory concepts and techniques before attempting the exercises.
• complete these exercises with a friend to make it more fun.
• Try thinking of other applications for memory now that you’re familiar with the techniques.
• Have a go and don’t give up too easily. What may seem difficult may in fact not be once you get started.
SOURCES
General brain training
This is such a growing area with new websites popping up all the time. To start, though, take a look at these sites for memory training:
For memory lessons, community forums and brain training software try: artofmemory.com.
For those of you who really want to ramp things up, this website was designed by another memory athlete: memorise.org.
Learning tools
With a particular focus on career try: www.mindtools.com.
Two other well-known sites in this space are: www.memrise.com and www.khanacademy.org.
World Memory Championships
See record-breaking memory champion Simon Reinhard in action: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbinQ6GdOVk.
For more information on the World Memory Championships go to: www.worldmemorychampionships.com; for World Memory Championship statistics go to: www.world-memorystatistics.com.
Mind mapping
For more information on mind mapping, go to the founder’s website: thinkbuzan.com, or xMind offers its own mind mapping software: xmind.net.
Speaking to an audience
Take a look at some of these videos online to see what’s possible using narrative illustration:
Illustrator Gavin Blake visually represents Rachel Botsman’s book The Rise of Collaborative Consumption: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrA1QjYKGLY.
For those of you really keen to learn more, Gavin Blake’s website is: feverpicture.com.au.
Shape Your Thinking: Brandy Agerbeck at TEDxWindy City, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bCHq1OvGR4.
www.slideshare.net/DanielaMolnar/narrative-image-thehow-and-why-of-visual-storytelling.
Specific sources as used in the book
Study techniques
Shapes: tutorial.math.lamar.edu/cheat_table.aspx, www.mathsisfun.com/area.html; www.mathsisfun.com/triangle.html.
Trigonometry: tutorial.math.lamar.edu/pdf/Trig_Cheat_Sheet.pdf.
Essay writing: Language and Learning Online: monash.edu/lls/llonli
ne/; essay writing example: www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/essay/sample-essay/index.xml.
Learning languages
A great resource for phrases can be found at wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page. Just type in the language and then ‘phrasebook’: for example, ‘Hungarian phrasebook’.
Aboriginal languages website: users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/AustralianAboriginalGreetings.htm.
The Mandarin phrases on page 104 come from Dig Mandarin. For a more comprehensive list, go to: www.digmandarin.com/120-daily-used-short-sentences.html.
Learning music
Los Angeles Times article: articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/01/health/la-he-0301-brain-music-20100301; also mentioned in: www.hoffmanacademy.com/blog/best-age-to-begin-piano-lessons/.
There are so many sites online with a focus on music, including instructional videos, and some will be better or more useful to you than others. Do search to find what suits you best, but these may be a good place to start:
• Virtual Piano: virtualpiano.net.
• GuitarMasterClass: www.guitarmasterclass.net.
• Guitar tablature: www.ultimate-guitar.com; www.guitaretab.com; www.guitartabs.cc.
General knowledge
There are so many online sites with their own brain teasers and quiz questions. One that’s worth checking out is www.knowquiz.com/doc/10000_questions.pdf.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I never thought I’d write a book, let alone two! My hope is that this one also helps people and makes their lives that bit easier. Thank you to my amazing parents and family who have supported me and given me strength ever since I was a child. They have been my greatest inspiration. I thank my dear friends and colleagues that have supported me along my journey. Thank you to Nolan Bushnell for helping me send my message of learning to thousands of people around the world. To my awesome contributors, you guys are amazing individuals doing extraordinary things. Keep at it! To my readers, I appreciate you taking your valuable time to acquire knowledge and better yourself. You’re also an inspiration for me to keep doing what I do. And finally thanks to my wife and our three beautiful kids. Love you all. Peace.