Excavating the Memory Palace

"From ancient oratorical handbooks to medieval and Renaissance arts of memory and the digital databases of today, humans have constantly been concerned with how best to organize and retrieve knowledge. A common feature in this transhistorical pursuit has been the use of visualization methods to facilitate the ordering and easy location of memories. Seth Long's Excavating the Memory Palace traces the history of the "memory palace technique" from its ancient origins to its contemporary forms in present-day technology. Today, we have amassed unprecedented amounts of data and information, and there seems to be no end in sight to this accumulation. Long argues that we can fuel knowledge production in the present by revisiting the classical memory arts, the techniques of which reveal connections between memory and creativity and have innovative implications for contemporary data visualization, information processing, and digital communication practices. Excavating the Memory Palace reaches to the past in order to chart a new way forward, providing orientation and guidance as we navigate our way through the digital agora"--