Since this blog started with a report from the World Memory Championships, let me give you some details on memory sports. Memory Sports, this term probably exists since 1991, when the first World Memory Championships took place. The results increased dramatically during the last years. The competitions usually consist of ten different disciplines. The competitors memorize numbers, playing cards, words, names and many more things. For example the world record for memorizing the order of a shuffled deck of cards is 26 seconds: Thats two cards per second!
And yes: Everyone can learn that. These skill is based on the mnemonic techniques like the loci method. It is easy to learn: After an few afternoons a number of 40 digits would be no problem for you anymore.
Links:
- http://www.worldmemorychampionships.com - The official events page
- http://www.memorysports.info - statistics
- http://zoomy.blogspot.com - the blog of the former World Champion Ben Pridmore