Mind Performance Hacks
Encyclopedia
Mind Performance Hacks: Tips and Tools for Overclocking Your Brain is a self help book using psychology
and mnemonic
techniques to improve thinking skills such as memory, creativity, mental math, and other cognitive abilities by Ron Hale-Evans, who wrote and researched approximately 80% of the book material. It is also notable in its use of Perl
programming scripts to supplement a few of the hacks. Inspired by the Mentat Wiki, also created by Ron Hale-Evans, the book was published by O'Reilly Media
in February 2006 as part of the O'Reilly Hacks series. It is considered an unofficial sequel to the earlier Mind Hacks
.
Includes detailed instruction on how to memorize lists of items, mnemonic
techniques to remember large amounts of data, and retrieving memories.
Chapter 2 - Information Processing
Includes how to capture creative ideas, mapping your thoughts, and managing mental clutter.
Chapter 3 - Creativity
Includes brainstorming ideas, working with constraints, memetics
, dream recall, and other creativity enhancers.
Chapter 4 - Math
How to perform mental arithmetic
, and performing large calculations without a calculator.
Chapter 5 - Decision Making
How to foresee important problems, figuring out dominant strategies, and when it's safe to roll the dice.
Chapter 6 - Communication
Overcoming stage fright, learning artificial languages, and more ideas on effective communicating.
Chapter 7 - Clarity
Includes recognizing and controlling complex emotions, avoiding cognitive distortions, and using meditation and hypnosis.
Chapter 8 - Mental Fitness
On how to maintain a healthy brain, via mental warmups, playing board games, getting adequate sleep and nutrition, and assembling a mental toolbox.
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and mnemonic
Mnemonic
A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...
techniques to improve thinking skills such as memory, creativity, mental math, and other cognitive abilities by Ron Hale-Evans, who wrote and researched approximately 80% of the book material. It is also notable in its use of Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
programming scripts to supplement a few of the hacks. Inspired by the Mentat Wiki, also created by Ron Hale-Evans, the book was published by O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media is an American media company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books and Web sites and produces conferences on computer technology topics...
in February 2006 as part of the O'Reilly Hacks series. It is considered an unofficial sequel to the earlier Mind Hacks
Mind Hacks
Mind Hacks: Tips and Tricks for Using Your Brain is a book using cognitive neuroscience to present experiments, tricks, and tips related to aspects of the brain by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb. The book was published by O'Reilly in November 2004 as part of the O'Reilly Hacks series...
.
Content
Chapter 1 - MemoryIncludes detailed instruction on how to memorize lists of items, mnemonic
Mnemonic
A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...
techniques to remember large amounts of data, and retrieving memories.
Chapter 2 - Information Processing
Includes how to capture creative ideas, mapping your thoughts, and managing mental clutter.
Chapter 3 - Creativity
Includes brainstorming ideas, working with constraints, memetics
Memetics
Memetics is a theory of mental content based on an analogy with Darwinian evolution, originating from Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene. It purports to be an approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer. A meme, analogous to a gene, is essentially a "unit of...
, dream recall, and other creativity enhancers.
Chapter 4 - Math
How to perform mental arithmetic
Arithmetic
Arithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations. It involves the study of quantity, especially as the result of combining numbers...
, and performing large calculations without a calculator.
Chapter 5 - Decision Making
How to foresee important problems, figuring out dominant strategies, and when it's safe to roll the dice.
Chapter 6 - Communication
Overcoming stage fright, learning artificial languages, and more ideas on effective communicating.
Chapter 7 - Clarity
Includes recognizing and controlling complex emotions, avoiding cognitive distortions, and using meditation and hypnosis.
Chapter 8 - Mental Fitness
On how to maintain a healthy brain, via mental warmups, playing board games, getting adequate sleep and nutrition, and assembling a mental toolbox.