Chris Aldrich

While researching the links between mnemonics and shorthand, I just came across "A complete guide to the improvement of the memory or the science of memory simplified: with practical applications to languages, history, geography, music, prose, poetry, shorthand, etc." written by James Henry Bacon and published by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, London. https://archive.org/details/b21293405 (Third Edition, 1890). The major system appears on page 59, though it has a few transposed letters/numbers compared to more modern versions of the system.

Isaac Pitman, who published the book, was also the inventor of Pitman shorthand which was introduced in 1837 and is structurally similar to the Major System.

The book seems to be based on Bacon's prior work "The Science of Memory Simplified and Explained: Or, A Rational System for Improving the Memory, Etc" written in 1861.

Josh, if you feel it appropriate, you can also add the book above to http://blog.artofmemory.com/free-books-on-mnemotechnics-581.html

#memory #shorthand

Oh the irony in "Some diseases of the rectum and anus" being written in 'shorthand' https://archive.org/details/b2398448x

There is a reasonable possibility that John Robert Gregg structured his shorthand on the Mnemonic major system based on the previous work of Pierre Hérigone and others following the publication of "The Anti-Absurd or Phrenotypic English Pronouncing and Orthographical Dictionary" by Major Beniowski in 1845.
https://archive.org/details/antiabsurdorphr01benigoog
http://boffosocko.com/2014/07/05/the-mnemonic-major-system-and-gregg-shorthand-have-the-same-underlying-structure/
http://blog.artofmemory.com/history-of-the-major-system-1092.html
#Shorthand #Memory

I'm always kind of surprised that in situations like these that people aren't using some of the newer technological advances that take simultaneous advantage of research like that mentioned in the article, but also newer as well as older technology. In particular, I always recommend some of the technology by Livescribe who make the Pulse and Echo smart pens (http://livescribe.com). These technologies use traditional pens which have embedded optical scanners and microphones so that both the written words and the spoken parts of lectures are recorded - and more importantly they're directly connected within the technology. This can allow students (disabled or not) to capture all of the spoken lecture and even allow them to go back later and supplement their notes. Bookmarking technology built in also allows one to easily come back to important points to to easily skip around within the lecture to quickly find the portions they'd like to relisten to or add additional notes to. For those who caught most of the lecture the first time, they can use signal processing technology built in to listen to the lecture at 1.5 and 2x speed for quick reviews. Because the electronic files for these pens are sharable, if a student misses class, they can literally get the notes from someone else and not have missed anything (except for perhaps visual aids, but these can be easily photographed with any cell phone). I'll also mention that one's notes can be pushed through additional optical scanning software and be converted from handwriting to type if necessary.

Additionally, one commenter spoke about learning touch-typing, but I don't think anyone mentioned shorthand, which isn't taught very frequently anymore, but it can be highly useful in educational settings. As an excellent example meshing both Livescribe and shorthand I recommend Dennis Hollier's article (The Atlantic, June 2014) "How to Write 225 Words Per MinuteWith a Pen" (http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/yeah-i-still-use-shorthand-and-a-smartpen/373281/). Another related tool which seems to have gone out of vogue in the late 19th century is memory training for improving studying/recall. I've written in the past how the Major memory system is identical to the method behind Gregg Shorthand thereby making both easier to remember and use (http://boffosocko.com/2014/07/05/the-mnemonic-major-system-and-gregg-shorthand-have-the-same-underlying-structure/).