I am fascinated by the subject of memory and how we can increase it.

Great magicians such as Harry Lorayne and Sal Piacente are known more for their memory work than their magic (and their magic is superb).

While I am still working to increase my natural memory I love good psuedo memory magic tricks. I will list some of my favorites (with references so you know where you can find them) but I would love for you to list yours as well. This subject has always intrigued me so I'm looking forward to what others have to post.

Some of my favorite routines:

• More Memory Man by Joel Givens (available as a download at Vanishing Inc. or on Joel's book "Sessions"
  The original Memory Man routine is by Micah Lasher and is on page 2509 of the black Apocalypse book, vol. 16 - 20 (vol. 18 No. 6, June 1995)
  Magic Café threads: Rain Man Ain't Got S#$^ on Joel Givens!, More Memory Man - Joel Givens
  
  
• The Marlo Opener by Sal Piacente (found on Sal Piacente's Expert Card Magic Lecture Notes, Volume 1 DVD) Sal Piacente's version of Ed Marlo's "Marlo's Miracle Routine". Ed Marlo's original routine is in his book "Marlo In Spades" and "Cardially Yours".
  Magic Café threads: Sal Piacente's Memory Opener, Review: Sal Piacente's Expert Card Magi......es (1-2), Ender's Review: Expert Card Magic - Lec......iacente)
  
  
• Rain Man by Lennart Green (found on Lennart Green's "Green Lite" DVD) Based on Simon's Aronson's awesome Shuffle-bored
  Magic Café threads: Shuffle Bored, Simon Aronson's shuffle board
  

I will post more later but I'd like to see what others think.

Other Café threads:

-Rain man effects
-Pseudo memory tests
-Psuedo-memory demonstrations
-Memory effects
-Mentalism vs Memory Demonstrations: A Dilemma
-John Linden's The Rain Man Glimpse

Some other memory resources:

- Memory Effects - A Resource of Mental Marvels (Great resource of memory effects by Scott Cram, his website is headinside.blogspot.com/)
-Harry Lorayne Memory Books
-Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and S......erything (interesting book on Joshua Foer's compelling journey as a participant in the U.S. Memory Championship)

Please feel free to post other memory resources (books, films, videos, etc.), whether they be for learning or just for entertainment.

Well, I appreciate your passion and effort that went into this post.

I like Bill Malone's "Hands Off Memory Test."

I've been using More Memory Man by Joel Givens for years. I love it. You can do it impromtu.

Great material - I'm only going to add one of my personal favorites: Pit Hartling's Unforgettable. I also recently have had a lot of fun with Denis Behr's Photographic Memory effect. Very clever.

More Memory Man by Joel Givens +1

It's my go-to FASDIU card memory routine. I also do genuine memory demonstrations via a standard peg memory system.

More memory man can be accomplished with a marked deck. In the demo the deck isn’t shuffled either. Wouldn’t waste money on that.

Except the routine can be done FASDIU - a borrowed, shuffled, even incomplete deck....

Except the chances of having to borrow a deck are so rare that it’s just not worth it.

I'm not sure if you realize, pegasus, but one is not REQUIRED to borrow a deck to do the routine. You can actually use your own shuffled, incomplete deck. And before you post again--let me clarify. One is not REQUIRED to use an incomplete deck, either. You can actually use a full 52 card deck--AMAZING, isn't it?!?

I'm just messin'. Seriously, though, for close-up, informal, impromptu performances, this is a fantastic routine. As I'm thinking about the times I've performed this, it's almost always been with a borrowed deck. Whether playing poker with friends or at a party demonstrating a memory feat. In those cases it would look odd to pull out my own deck, when another deck was already available or within arms' reach.

As an afterthought, one point that this routine has over a marked deck is that you can name many cards in succession BEFORE you look at their backs. Certainly you can combine this routine with a marked deck, but based on the structure of the routine, is wholly unnecessary.

I noticed that he was naming cards after he’d looked at them. Stood out a mile. Sorry. Not for me.

I used to use the Lasher effect years ago. Given's addition is a solid choice for those looking to extend the effect.

You really gotta' start reading the good stuff, guys!!!!

Well, I think I qualify as a good stuff reader then, when I recommend "Pseudometry" by Terry LaGerould from Apocalypse Vol 2 No 12. This goodie is a realistic looking trick that requires only very little actual memory skills. In effect, you seem to memorize an entire shuffled deck in one quick run-through! Harry's handling of LaGerould's idea makes it a breeze to perform. I use it in the context of a pseudo gambling demonstration. By the way, the trick plays much stronger than it reads, so it's probably prone to being overlooked by many readers.

Just wanted to say Wow to the last effect. That is really great.

Scott Cram is the man for this. Take a look at his blog.

Bob Cassidy’s “Card Memory” is killer. Matt Mello’s “Photographic” as taught by Matt Johnson on Penguin was an entry point for me.