IntroductionMany scientific experts will tell you that we justdo not have the ability to recall facts, images orevents perfectly as if we had a photographicmemory. Unfortunately, although people may saythat they do have a photographic memory; thissimply isnt true, as it does not exist. But do not worry as through this book we will showyou the steps that you can take to help improveyour memory. In fact, with a little time and a lotof practice, many people are able to gain theability to memorize what seems to be an impossibleamount of data and information.Even if you just want to remember where youactually left your keys from the night before, thenthis book should help you.You know that in order to gain muscular strengthyou need to exercise, well the same goes foractually increasing your ability to rememberthings. Your brain needs exercise, as well asbeing nurtured. So your diet needs to be good, andyou need to look at taking up much healthierhabits.Unfortunately, because our brains are so complex,they need a lot of effort in order to get them inthe best shape possible. There are a number ofthings that you can look at doing which will helpyou improve the capacity of the retrieval mechanismin your brain. But first, let us take a look athow it is we remember things.To put it in simple terms, our memory is theactivity carried out in our brain to recallinformation that we have gained through experiencesin our lives. However, it is a complex processwhich involves various parts of the brain, andserves us all in very different ways. It caneither be short term or long term. With short term memory, you will find that yourbrain is able to store certain pieces ofinformation for only a few seconds or minutes. Unfortunately, the problem with this memory is thatit is very fragile, and if it were to retain allthe information it receives, your brain would soonbe telling you that it has no more space. Plus,each persons short term memory is only meant tohold around 7 items at any one time, and this iswhy, although you may be able to remember a newtelephone number for a few minutes, you will oftenfind that when you are going to buy somethingonline with your credit card, you need it besideyou, because it actually has more than 7 items onit.Long term memory is all to do with the informationthat you are making an effort to retain, bothconsciously and unconsciously. This is because theinformation may be particularly personal andmeaningful to you, or it is because it is somethingthat you need in order to complete a task or totake some exams. However, there is someinformation that you retain in your long termmemory which will need you to make a consciouseffort in order to recall it, such as a personalmemory which relates to a specific experience ortime in your life, known as episodic memory, or itmay be some factual data that you need to recall,and this is known as semantic memory.