Dominic O'Brien (Saturday, August 10, 1957-) is a British mnemonist and an author of memory related books. He is the eight times world memory champion and currently works as a trainer for Peak Performance Training. He began developing the mnemonic techniques that have made him famous when he saw Creighton Carvellotelevision programmes such as The Human Body[1]. memorize a pack of 52 playing cards in under 3 minutes. Additionally, he has written many books about memorization techniques such as ‘How to Develop a Perfect Memory', ‘Quantum Memory Power', ‘Super Memory Power', ‘Learn to Remember', ‘How to Pass Exams', ‘The Winning Hand' and ‘The Amazing Memory Box'. He often travels, giving lectures, and is often seen on
Dominic O'Brien has an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for memorising and recalling, with 8 errors, 54 shuffled packs of playing cards.
Harry Lorayne (born 1926) is a memory-training specialist and magician who has been called "The Yoda of Memory Training" by Time magazine. He is well known for his mnemonic demonstrations and has appeared on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." [1] His book The Memory Book was a New York Times bestseller.
Lorayne is also a notable figure in the card magic world and has published several books and videos on that topic. He is a writer of technical literature for magicians and has a clear and informal writing style. Magic magazine May 1999 included him in a list of the 100 most influential magicians of the 20th century.
Lorayne wrote and published the magazine Apocalypse for twenty years (later republished in books). His latest book for magicians is Lorayne: The Classic Collection, an updated collection of his first four magic books of the 1960s, and recently he completed Mathematical Wizardry-magic with numbers.
Lorayne has also coauthored The Memory Book(ISBN 0-345-41002-5) with Jerry Lucas.
To show his amazing memory power,Harry Lorayne stood beside the President of the club he was visiting and was introduced to each member.The number of members of a club often reach 1000-1500. After an hour and a half later, Lorayne spoke about memory for about 20 minutes and then asked if anyone had a question.He promised that if he couldn't greet the questioner by name,he would pay him a $1000... he never had to pay out a cent.[citation needed]
In 1961, Harry Lorayne published a book called Secrets of Mind Power. The book tells readers how to improve their thinking skills for optimal success and says: "Don't take things for granted, or as truisms, merely because you hear them proclaimed loudly, repetitiously, and from people or sources that you've been made to believe are incapable of stating anything but facts." The book gained many avid readers, including a few icons. In Chronicles: Volume 1, Bob Dylan writes that he read Lorayne's book shortly before breaking through as a music star after finding it in the book collection of a friend.
Tony Buzan (1942-) is an author and educational consultant.[1] He is a proponent of the techniques of Mind Mapping and mental literacy. He was born in London, is an alumnus of Kitsilano Secondary School, and received double Honours in psychology, English, mathematics and the General Sciences from the University of British Columbia in 1964. He is probably best known for his book, Use Your Head, his promotion of mnemonic systems and his Mind Mapping techniques. He launched his own software program to support mind mapping called iMindMap in December 2006. His website, http://www.buzanworld.com/ Buzan World, cites trademarks on the phrase 'Mind Maps' which he has registered in many countries.
Following his 1970s series for the BBC, many of his ideas have been set into his series of five books: Use Your Memory, Master Your Memory, Use Your Head, The Speed Reading Book and The Mind Map Book. He has since authored or co-authored over 100 books.
Most of his teaching generally divides up into: general awareness of the extensive capabilities and capacities of the brain and its functions, memory skills, reading skills, Mind Map note-taking and note-making, creativity, and how brain function can be improved over time into old age.
Buzan developed Mind Mapping whilst at University, out of the frustration that traditional notes took up so much time to create and review. He has argued that Mind Maps are an efficient way to take notes from lectures or books. Brother Barry Buzan, who co-wrote The Mind Map Book, suggested the technique could also be used to capture notes from one's own creative ideas and is useful in business.
As a popular psychology author, Tony Buzan has written on subjects relating to the brain, genius quotient (GQ), spiritual intelligence, memory, creativity and speed reading. He is the founder and President of the Brain Foundation (not to be confused with various medical-related bodies with the same name) and also the Brain Trust Charity, the World Memory Championships and the World Championships of the Brain. He was a co-founder of London's Mind Body Spirit festival as well as the Mind Sports Olympiad.
Buzan and his followers claim that his techniques can dramatically improve study performance and results. Critics can say that Mind Maps can have limitations as well and may not be suitable for all types of information or solve all problems related to learning. Also, there are numerous historical references to concepts resembling Mind Maps but under different names (e.g. Spidergrams). Therefore Buzan may not truly be the "inventor" of Mind Maps but the first person who systematically and successfully marketed and exploited this learning technique in commercial terms.
Tony's brother Barry Buzan is currently Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics.