Battle of the Memory Systems

[Rivelli]

Throwing semantics away, the two major systems it seems to be is the Major and Dominic system. Major being more audio phonetic and Dominic being more Visual. Yes of course you have Visual in Major and audio in Dominic but for the most part, thats how they are different in my interpretation.

I get the feeling that the Major system is more popular for reasons I do not know. In the Memory Book and the other ones by Harry Lorayne which is posted on this website is all about the major system. I bought the Memory book and realized it wasnt for me. Looking more into the Dominic system, it seems to me that it is the superior option. By that I mean, most people are Visual learners, it seems easier to link information in the Dominic system and most of the Memory Champions use a form that is similar to the Dominic system.

Also the Dominic system fits easier with Image-Streaming and the other Dr. Wenger exercises.

In the scheme of things, I am pretty new to this but I strongly believe my points remain valid. Can someone enlighten me on the good side of the Major system?

[Brutha]

In general it is other useful to merge multiple systems together.
The major system is practically for enoding numbers.

You might have a list of numbers:
a) 65
b) 56
c) 54
d) 45
Then you can encode the numbers with the major system and attach them to a journey where the locations equal a,b,c and d.

In addition there are also historic reasons. The major method is a lot older than the 'Dominic system'.

[Rivelli]

The Dominic system is a lot more like Loci / Journey / Roman Room I believe. Isn't Loci the first one?

I believe the Number / Shape tricks to be a lot better than phonetic sounds.
IE: 15 = AE - Albert Einstein. Attaching Einstein in a to a Journey seems a lot easier than a having to first figure out a phonetic word then picture that word.

[Brutha]

The Dominic system is a lot more like Loci / Journey / Roman Room I believe. Isn't Loci the first one?

Dominic made in again popular.
You usually have a list of your words that you use in the major system in memory and don't figure out constantly new words.

[Rivelli]

yeah thats one of the major reasons I believe it to be superior system.

You have a specific shape for single digits, specific people for every individual 2digit and an action to go along. Both the Dominic and Major system has a steep learning curve but it seems a lot easier to have the ability to use the same stuff as opposed to figuring out a word for the phonetic sound.

The Dominic System trumps Major because of consistent images already but it gets better because of the actions that the Dominic system has as well that makes the linking between whatever a lot easier and faster.

The obvious drawback with the Dominic system along with the historic versions is that you need many different big journeys depending on a few variables. I am not sure if I will be exercising often to get new material or simply make up new journeys or a combination of the two. I'd still think that most people would pick Dominic over Major any day.

[Stephen]

Interesting thread.

Has anyone any good links for the Dominic system?

Is this system anything to do with Dominic O'Brien?

[Rivelli]

Only in a sense that Dominic O'Brien made the system and won using it till the other competitors started using it as well.

You can simply type 'Dominic System' in google and get the fundamentals of his system but you should really get his book: How to Develop A Perfect Memory. It's very rare but refereed to as the best memory book ever written. People pay a few hundred for the rare found used ones these days. There are sites out there that have the .pdf available for download though.

Ive read most, if not all the memory books and strongly believe Dominic's book is by far the best.