Customer Reviews
Indulge yourself! - By: b4-its-2-l8, 19 Jun 2008 
This is a little gem of a book; I bought it thinking it would give me helpful ways of knowing & remembering more about grammar - but it's so much more than this.
The whole book is about mnemonics & rhymes as memory aids, grouped into 17 themed categories as listedin the contents page, which is viewable on the 'Search Inside' feature.
This book is ideal for flicking open & dipping into whatever page it lands on as it not only cites fascinating facts/trivia it also provides the means for remembering them!
To give a flavour of the diversity of informationin this book, here's a rhyme which caught my attention (I hope the information's accurate!) on what's good to choose for firewood:
Beech wood fires are bright & clear,
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for long it's laid away.
Birch & fir logs burn too fast,
Blaze up bright & do not last.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
Even the very flames are cold.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills you eyes & makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room,
With an incense like perfume.
Oak & maple, if dry & old,
Keep away the winter cold.
But ash wood wet & ash wood dry,
A king shall warm his slippers by.
Brimming with fun ways to remember useful and useless facts - By: Ms. Katie J. Down, 17 Mar 2008 
I was given this fun, nostalgic & potentially very useful book for Christmas, & I've enjoyed dippingin & out of it.
The mnemonics & aide-memoiresin ` I Before E (Except After C)', are divided into thematic sections such as `Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' & `Musical Interlude', & include everything from practical ways of remembering spellings & scientific formulae to old-fashioned rhymes to remind one of delightfully pointless information.
The factor that really limits the usefulness of the book as a reference work, is the absence of any sort of index. Let's say, for example, you're after an easy way to remember trigonometry. All you can do to locate the information is to identify the chapter it's likely to be listed in, & flick your way through that until you stumble upon it. Despite this minor frustration, the book is ideal for anyone wishing to find better, or more fun ways of recalling key facts - from fans of trivia to older people struggling with memories less reliable than they used to be. In fact, every household should have one -in the smallest room & on the book shelf.
30 days hath september, April June and November - By: Peter Wade, 15 Jan 2008 Only one minor criticism of this book is that it does not have an index. With computers it is very easy to do an index & any serious book should have one.
I still use the rhyme for the days of the month the famous Thirty days hath September etc
To spell or not to spell taught me that the mnemonic for DIARRHOEA which is a very difficult word to remember & is Dash In a A Real Rush Hurry Or Else Accident.
A common mistake because people get confused with the American spelling is licence / license & practice/ practise
s is the verb & c is the noun, that's the rule that runs the town.
A great little book which deserves a lot of study. It is a must for fans of arcane trivia. There were thingsin there that I had never heard of such as the taxonomic classification & the Buddhist ten states of mind.
A great present for those who think they know it all. They will soon realise they do not.
If you take time to memorise the contents of this book you might achieve number ten being Buddha, the state of perfection.
Memorable - By: Patrick Mullane, 04 Jan 2008 Recommended
excellent
work
about
remembering
data
in
neat
groups
I enjoyed reading this book as it was fun to browse through, with catchy memory titbits that stick with you after the book was completed. Also the simple yet fun cartoons add to the over quality of the book.
Memory, but Imagining is More - By: Thinking A Head, 20 Nov 2007 Great memory aids, but they need imaginative use. Try adding Peter Cave's CAN A ROBOT BE HUMAN? - to make the memory aids worthwhile. While I BEFORE E is great at what it does, using it to think imaginatively about lots of dilemmas adds another dimension. I'd not have thought of this, until I came across both Parkinson's book & Cave's - Parkinson reminds us all of stuff we may have forgotten, but Cave's helps us then to make use of our thinking powers over a whole range of mind-blowing dilemmas & paradoxes, from grammar to rationality to religion. Yes, make use of the past - but to be trite - look also to the imagination & future.
