Dear Zettlers,

I am currently wrestling with the question of what to make of mnemonics. I barely dipped my toe in this world. But I never seriously engaged with mnemonics.

But I am in sporadic exchange with Anthony Metivier, one of the or even the current leading teacher of mnemonics, and I have children. So, I feel nudged to take mnemonics seriously.

Part of my hesitation stems from my bad experience with the modern school system. I developed a hefty allergy against dead knowledge, stuff that you just learn for the sake of having it learned, or, worse, to please some superior who doesn’t give a shit and just wants to survive the school day himself.

The beauty of the Zettelkasten Method is that processing ideas according to its principles provides you with a great depth of processing, which automatically improves recall and idea mastery. Mnemonics are not needed, I thought.

But since I met Anthony Metivier and started to snack on his articles, I am opening up to mnemonics. I will give it a serious chance, and so I asked Anthony to create a reading list for a complete deep dive into his work. He recommended starting with his most successful book: The Victorious Mind ¹

The Zettelkasten Method is never independent of the tools used within it as a framework. This is why I always bring ideas like an inventory of knowledge building blocks. Atomicity is not just a gimmick but a serious pledge to break down ideas to their essence. That means that you need to learn about the essence of ideas. General principles of systems thinking apply, too, so you can avoid the death of your system by friction-fragility.

The principles and nature of knowledge as major pillars of the foundational reasoning behind the modern Zettelkasten Method might get company from mnemonics and especially the works of Anthony.

Currently, I am preparing a study plan on how to tackle this challenge, which I will be happy to share.

I am looking forward to diving deep into Anthony’s work and mnemonics in general to incorporate them into the toolbox of the Zettelkasten Method.

If anyone has integrated mnemonics into their workflow, I’d be very happy to learn about it!

Live long and prosper
Sascha