Tài liệu Genius by Mike byster ppt

Copyright © 2012 by Brainetics, LLC
All rights reserved.
Published in the Unted States by Crown Archetype, an imprint of the
Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Crown Archetype with colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-307-98585-9
eISBN 978-0-307-98586-6
Printed in the United States of America
Book design by Jennifer Daddio/Bookmark Design & Media, Inc.
Jacket design by Andrew Janik
Author photograph: Lynnette Astaire
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
First Edition
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INTRODUCTION
3
A Memorable Story
If I were to ask you to picture a green apple in your mind, you
would have already done so by the end of this sentence. That’s
about how fast I can solve lots of complex math equations. I can
square any three- or even four- digit number, such as 3,567 times
3,567, in my head within seconds. I can divide a three- digit num-
ber by a two- digit number, such as 974 divided by 78, and arrive
at the answer instantly. And I can unscramble the longest of words
or place words in alphabetical order immediately. I know— it’s a bit
freaky and unbelievable. When I perform these feats for live audi-
ences, the crowd, which is usually made up of elementary school

students, teachers, and parents, always roars: “Whoa!” . . . “Oh
my God, that is awesome!” . . . “No way. You’ve got to be kidding
me. That’s not possible.” . . . “I bet you were just born this way!”
But then I have to tell them the truth: I was not born this way.
I’ll also admit right off the bat that I’m not a psychologist, brainiac,
or even someone who understands the science of math and memory
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2 MIKE BYSTER
down to the neurons and synapses. I don’t have an MD, and I’ve
never studied neurology. But I do know this: training your brain to
unleash its fullest potential doesn’t hinge on genetics, inherited IQ,
access to the best schools, or even medical breakthroughs. Accord-
ing to researchers at both the University of Illinois and Princeton, I
possess one of the fastest mathematical minds in the world. Why?
Because I continually teach myself how to use my brain in fun
and cool ways that enable me to process and memorize informa-
tion much quicker than others. These techniques have helped me to
become smarter, more productive, and exceedingly more imagina-
tive. In this book, I’ll share them with you.
Let me be clear: this is not a “memory” book. I’m not here
to just teach you a trick to memorize or recall the Declaration of
Independence in a heartbeat. Without question, you will learn ef-
fortless ways to memorize information, from the driest and most
arbitrary details to comprehensive facts and lengthy passages,
but I want you to know from the get- go that the strategies in this
book will help you become a better, more effective individual in
all that you do. These lessons and their related exercises will en-
hance your ability to communicate, innovate, impress others, stand
out in a crowd, get ahead of your peers, move up the social— and
corporate— ladder, magnify your employability and moneymaking

capacity, learn to make excellent decisions, solve problems large
and small, spot trouble and keep a keen eye on the future, plan
that future, speak publicly with ease, be a stronger player in games
and sports, ask for what you want, adapt to new situations and
circumstances, handle crises, work under pressure, be more inde-
pendent, and so on.
I could list hundreds of abilities that can be enhanced by mas-
tering the skills detailed in this book. Throughout the chapters,
I’ll point out specifi cally why you’re learning a given stratagem or
being told to do something that seems impossible or impractical
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3GENIUS
(such as multiply two- digit numbers in your head), but regardless
of the specifi c lesson you’re reading about on any given page, I want
you to always be keeping your eye on the bigger— and much more
monumental— picture and prize: developing a mind that thinks
like a genius. And living up to your greatest potential.
Will you become the next Einstein, Oprah, Steve Jobs, or For-
tune 500 CEO? I can’t make any promises, but I will pledge that if
you read this book, wholeheartedly think about its material, and
try my exercises (more than once!), you will begin to optimize the
inherent power of your brain, squelch any anxieties you’ve had in
the past when it comes to math and memorization, and allow your
creative, inventive, and imaginative self to propagate in directions
you never thought possible. Using your brain the way I am going
to teach you will open you up to mastering anything in life, from
foreign languages to music, cooking, negotiating, communicating,
and even establishing better relationships with others. You will
also be giving your health a boost, because my exercises will give
your brain a good workout and you’ll fi nish this book with much

more confi dence in yourself. And that is perhaps the best gift that I
can give you. With confi dence, you’ll have the courage to strive for
anything— to do and be whatever you want.
My program can help anyone— anyone who tries, that is. As I’ll
reiterate throughout the book, the lessons and strategies presented
here work best if you fi nd ways to apply them to your own life.
If a certain technique doesn’t work for you after you’ve tried it a
few times, then dump it from your personal toolbox. Move on to
another, more effective method. I’ve seen these lessons help people
from just about every walk of life, from young students to retirees
hoping to preserve their mental faculties, from entry- level employ-
ees to executives, CEOs, and those in serious leadership or political
positions, and from parents to teachers, mentors, entrepreneurs, in-
ventors, doctors, lawyers, restaurateurs, writers, and philosophers.
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4 MIKE BYSTER
Even if you’re terrifi ed of math, hate numbers and puzzles, and de-
spise games like Scrabble and Boggle, I believe I’ve got something
for you that you can not only enjoy but use to enhance your mental
capacity. By the end of the book, you will have amassed your own
unique collection of tools that make sense to you— and that work!
You won’t fi nd these lessons in formal education or even in
adult enrichment courses. They are unique to me, and while some
of my techniques follow long- established secrets to speeding up
mental processing and sharpening memory, the vast majority of the
strategies in this book were invented by me, starting when I was
just eight years old.
From Trading Commodities
to Trading Memory Tricks
I wasn’t an ace student as a youngster. Not until I learned how

to self- train my brain did I start performing better in school. For
much of my adolescence, I received mostly Bs in math but also a
few Cs and Ds— even one F. Years later, when I went back to my
own middle school to teach my techniques to students, one of my
old teachers put it bluntly: “But, Michael, you were never the smart
student. What happened?!” Luckily, my parents always believed in
me and somehow knew that I’d fi gure out how to do well in school
and life over time. I’m not so sure, though, that they ever believed
I’d take my skills this far.
One of the most important takeaways in this book is learn-
ing how to notice patterns in the world— from the patterns found
in numbers and words, to the patterns in other academic subject
areas, such as history and science, to the patterns in everyday ac-
tivities such as driving to work or punching in phone numbers. I
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5GENIUS
began to notice patterns at a very early age, a lot sooner than most
people. When I was just three years old, playing card games with
my great- grandmother taught me about higher and lower num-
bers. During preschool, at the age of four, I memorized all of the
US presidents’ birth and death dates, in order. I was developing a
talent, but I still didn’t know exactly what I was doing. In other
words, you couldn’t have asked me then how I managed to be so
“smart,” much less teach anyone my method. In the third grade,
my teacher, Mrs. Carlson, told the class that we had to memorize
the planets of the solar system. I vividly recall her instructing us
to move to the back of the room, saying, “Don’t return to your
seats until you have all of them memorized.” She then added that
we should think about the following sentence: “My very educated
mother just served us nine pizzas.”

Obviously, she had given us the clue to having all of the planets
stitched into our brains quickly. It took me about fi ve minutes to
memorize the list from Mercury to Pluto (which technically is no
longer a planet, but it was back then). Flash- forward one year. In
the fourth grade, my class was sent home with the task of commit-
ting all fi fty states and their capitals to memory. Contrary to what
you might think, I still didn’t know how to make this easy for my-
self. I studied all night long, staring at the list of all fi fty states and
their capitals: Bismarck, North Dakota; Columbia, South Caro-
lina; Salem, Oregon. . . . Some states seemed to have unlikely capi-
tal cities, while others were just plain hard to remember, let alone
spell (Montpelier, Vermont?). I thought perhaps the words would
magically melt into my brain if I just glared at them long enough.
My parents kept coming into my room yelling, “Michael, get to
bed already!” But I wouldn’t give up.
The next day I felt defeated, tired, and overwhelmed. I didn’t
have the capitals memorized, and trying to push all that informa-
tion into my brain at once made me barely able to recall anything
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6 MIKE BYSTER
at all (except for my own state’s capital of Springfi eld)! But I also
felt cheated. I went up to my teacher, Ms. Sain, and asked her why
she hadn’t given us the secret sentence that matched the states and
their capitals. She looked at me like I was nuts; she wasn’t like Mrs.
Carlson. Thankfully, my mother came to the rescue and helped
me to come up with a song that would allow me to recall all of
the capitals, accurately and on the spot. And it worked. From that
moment on, I knew that I’d have to fi nd not only my own ways of
remembering information but also my own ways of organizing and
fi ling away important data. It was also then that I began to really

hone my skills in pattern recognition. I became adept at fi nding the
hidden codes, formulas, and shortcuts to performing quick math-
ematics, playing with words in different order to exercise my mind,
making up weird and bizarre stories or poems to store information
I’d need to recall later, and basically learning to think outside the
box to tackle and solve daily problems. I also discovered the value
in being able to focus and concentrate as few others can— just by
building certain “muscles” in my brain that everyone has, but that
not everyone knows how to fl ex.
By the time I got to college, my talents in math were paving my
way, and I eventually majored in fi nance. When I graduated, my
cousin landed me a job as a commodities trader at the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange. It was the perfect place for someone like me,
and my lightning- fast brain had people calling me “the Human
Calculator.” I stayed there from 1981 to 1997 as a full- time trader.
During that time I never once thought about teaching or engaging
with children. But then, in the fall of 1997, another cousin of mine
asked me to visit her high school to “show off” what I could do with
my brain. By that time I had mastered all sorts of math tricks, so I
could perform some astonishing mental stunts, such as multiplying
large numbers and adding a long list of digits in a split second.
Even though I was hesitant at fi rst, I accepted the invitation.
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7GENIUS
Up until that point, with the exception of a few times when I per-
formed as a bar stunt, I mostly kept my gift to myself because I
was embarrassed by it. Part of me still felt abnormal; “Rainman,”
after all, was my nickname at work because I could freakishly do
wild math in my head, just like Dustin Hoffman’s character in the
movie of that name. I didn’t know what the kids at my cousin’s

school would think of me. But I was delightfully surprised by the
reception I got. Those teenagers loved me. I think they were sur-
prised that I didn’t show up in geeky- looking clothes and a pocket
protector. When one of them asked, “Can we learn how to do that
too?” my world soon took a dramatic turn.
This request presented a whole new challenge for me. Initially,
I didn’t know which of my skills were actually teachable. I’d take
long walks by the lake and try to break down the methods that
came so automatically to me. “Okay, what am I doing when I’m
doing that? What do I do next?” Since over the years I’d trained my
brain to work so fast, slowing it down to make sense of it all was
tough. But I eventually simplifi ed my tricks, patterns, and short-
cuts down to bite- size pieces that I could share with others. And
no sooner did I start interacting with kids than I began to realize
that much of what I can do is in fact very learnable. It somewhat
startled me to know that others could pick up on how I use my
brain and likewise perform some of these amazing mental gymnas-
tics just by trying and practicing. This was a defi ning moment for
me, because once I had proof that my skills could be taught, I cre-
ated an interactive presentation and began to visit more schools in
my local area. Because my presentations were so lively and engaged
the kids, they were more like “shows” than the lectures or formal
lessons they encountered in their classroom studies.
It didn’t take long for word to get around about what I was
doing. I started to focus more on the younger students, the kids
between grades four and eight, including those with special needs
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8 MIKE BYSTER
or learning disabilities. These were the most impressionable stu-
dents of all; gaining these skills at an early age would enable them

to really take off as high school students, and later as college stu-
dents . . . and much later as successful adults. C students could be-
come A students, and A students would race off the charts.
I stayed on as a part- timer at the Mercantile Exchange until
2005. Then I took the leap and centered my efforts on developing a
product I could sell, which took the better part of four busy years.
I kept up my free shows, expanded my audience (and boundaries
beyond the great state of Illinois), and even began to teach adults,
targeting faculty members in the districts that had invited me into
their schools. The demand for my live shows kept rising, and I was
doing what I could to keep up with it all while I worked on my new
company, Brainetics, which became the title of my fi ve- part DVD
program. I coined the word by combining “brain” and “athlet-
ics,” which is appropriate for a system that is essentially athletics
for the brain. My goal was to create a program for all levels and
all abilities. Students with special needs, dyslexia, or even autism
would take longer to master the skills, but they would nonetheless
fi nd it as valuable and entertaining as did the straight-A students.
I also found a way to make my program captivating and useful for
parents and grandparents, who could fi nally have something to do
with their kids and grandkids that simultaneously improved their
brains too.
I could not have predicted how fast my program would take off.
It was met with wild enthusiasm from kids and adults alike. After
selling more than 200,000 units nationwide and speaking to nearly
10,000 classes— which I still do for free— I have yet to hear a sin-
gle negative comment about my system. To this day my favorite
testimonials from people who have used Brainetics are those that
express how much it has changed their relationships and family
interactions. I receive letters from kids who say, “For the fi rst time,

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9GENIUS
my dad called me ‘smart.’” And parents and grandparents express
their gratitude for having something so useful that they can “play”
with their children and grandchildren.
Brainetics, however, is much more than play. When researchers
at Princeton determined back in the 1980s that I could do things
with my mind that most people can’t, they were stunned to learn
that I was the only self- taught person in their study. It’s generally
accepted that either you’re born with a brain like mine or an “ac-
cident,” such as a seizure or concussion, cracks opens previously
inaccessible areas of your brain to unleash its full power. I’m living
proof of a third option: self- training the brain to utilize more of its
potential. And now many of my students are also living proof. I
hope that— very soon— you will be, too.
Brainetics offi cially took off in late 2009. By then, 20/20 had
done a show on me because its producers didn’t believe what they
were witnessing. Some of the 20/20 producers had watched videos
of me in action through posted YouTube videos, and they wanted
to put me to the test. So they arranged to have me visit a school
in New Jersey fi lled with “average” students. Clearly, they wanted
to fi nd out if my shows were rigged or if I had an impact only on
gifted students. Well, I proved these suspicions wrong, and to date
that episode remains one of the most viewed 20/20 episodes in his-
tory. I received more than 50,000 emails following its airing, and
it took me a full year to respond to every single one of them. Sadly,
and much to my surprise, not a single one of those responses came
from a recognized leader in education or government, including the
US Department of Education.
It’s no mystery that the US educational system is fl awed. Our

children are falling behind kids in other countries, especially when
it comes to math, science, and reading. In September and Novem-
ber 2009, the last time the Paris- based Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), which represents thirty-
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10 MIKE BYSTER
four countries, administered an assessment of fi fteen- year- olds in
both private and public schools, the United States ranked twenty-
fi fth of those thirty- four countries in math, seventeenth in sci-
ence, and fourteenth in reading. The US government considers the
OECD test one of the most comprehensive international measures
of achievement. I’m not going to spend much time lamenting the
ongoing struggles to educate our children so that they can compete
in the global economy and be prepared for their adult lives. (That’s
another book.) But I’ve recognized one truth that fuels my mission
in life and inspires this book: rarely do we learn how to learn.
Think about your own life: did you ever take a course in how to
learn? I adore and admire all teachers, but the culture of teaching
in this country has left out a very critical aspect of the entire under-
taking. We don’t normally teach the skills of learning. We throw
facts, information, history, equations, and defi nitions at kids, but
often fail to provide lessons in how to absorb all that data, distin-
guish the important from the unimportant, and store a library of
content in their limited brains. Indeed, there is a limit to how much
the brain can take in, process, and remember. What separates the
successful from the unsuccessful— or even the successful from the
extraordinarily successful— is not intelligence or IQ per se; it’s sim-
ply the art of knowing how to learn. I see this day in and day
out with the people I reach through my programs, including adults
who stumble continuously in their attempts to get ahead profes-

sionally. That’s probably why we can’t teach these important skills
to the younger generation— we never acquired them ourselves! The
high- scoring kids in other countries aren’t necessarily smarter than
kids in the United States— it’s just that they know how to learn!
We spend our entire lives learning; it is one constant activity
that all people engage in all throughout their lives. Those of us who
acquire the tools to learn how to learn and make the most effective
use of our learning skills are in a position to achieve a lot more
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11GENIUS
in life. We not only zoom past our peers in formal education and
perform well on tests— including the SAT, LSAT, MCAT, GRE,
GMAT, all the tests following law school and medical school,
and other professional licensing tests— but we quite automatically
attain other skills that are essential to anyone who wants to get
ahead and succeed. Best of all, we attract more opportunities that
feed cycles of achievement. And that is my wish for you. My hope
is that you will acquire these fundamental learning skills now so
that you can maximize whatever it is you’re doing in life, whether
you’re sitting in a classroom most of the day, occupying a chair in
a cubicle, working on Broadway, or leading a company.
Which brings me to this book. If ever there was a written guide
on how to learn, Genius is it. I know that I can go only so far in
my live presentations and DVD program. People have long wanted
me to write a book in which I can dispense all my strategies in one
place, to help anyone maximize his or her learning— and, in turn,
memory— capacity. There are certain lessons and techniques that
actually work better in a book format, and writing this book has
also allowed me to offer more background and provide interactive
exercises that you can take anywhere. Genius takes the best of

Brainetics and my live presentations and puts it into what I hope
will be an engrossing read, and it also breaks new ground by giv-
ing you an entirely new array of exercises, tips, and secrets that are
not found in any of my programs. They are unique to this book.
But just as Brainetics engages the minds of nine- year- olds and
ninety- nine- year- olds alike (and everyone in between), so too does
Genius. I have written this book to be enjoyable and valuable for
anyone, at any age— from the student hoping to do better in class
to the senior eager to stay sharp.
Please don’t be intimidated by the title. I realize that many read-
ers may think that the word “genius” doesn’t describe them. In the
common understanding, the term “genius” is typically applied to
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12 MIKE BYSTER
super- smart freaks of nature who can do unbelievable things with
their minds, but I’m going to give you a new defi nition of the term.
Being a genius isn’t at all about being a super- smart freak of na-
ture, and even you— no matter what you think about your brain,
talents, God- given gifts, and level of smartness— can embody ge-
nius. That’s my promise to you. Genius is your how-to handbook
to becoming your own, well, genius.
How to Use This Book
The book is organized into three parts. The fi rst part, “The Magic
of Memory,” will set the foundation for your journey. It takes you
on a quick tour of how memory functions and explains why a
strong memory is so important to maximizing your brain function
and why we’ll work on strengthening yours throughout the book.
Part I will also help you recognize patterns in words and numbers
that will help you ace the next part of the book.
In part II, “Mastering the Six Skills of a Genius,” I’ll share the

six vitally important learning skills that are rarely taught in formal
education and are essential for unleashing your full potential—
focus, concentration, data retention, thinking outside the box, or-
ganization, and forgetting— and I’ll reveal my devices for becoming
a self- trained “genius.” My hope is that you’ll feel like you are on
a guided expedition: you’ll learn as much in my narrative as you
will in the activities and exercises. Each chapter in this part builds
on the previous one, so that by the time you reach part III, “Ex-
tras: Additional Tools and Resources,” you’ll be ready to put your
new skills to the ultimate test. Every chapter in the book, however,
includes indispensable information for anyone— whether you’re
about to enter the schoolroom or the boardroom. You’ll discover:
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13GENIUS
• Why inherited IQ may have nothing to do with memory
and learning power.
• Why the brain prefers to remember things in groups of
fi ve.
• How to stimulate and optimize the brain’s natural capac-
ity for multitasking (despite the conventional argument
that it’s impossible) so that, with proper mental organiza-
tion, multitasking takes on a life of its own.
• The power of the absurd: how to enlist your imagination
in the task of memory building.
• How to be visual when you don’t consider yourself a vi-
sual learner.
• Why forgetting is one of the most important skills to con-
quer in sharpening the mind!
• Effortless ways to quickly remember names, faces, tele-
phone numbers, schedules, facts, and even your boss’s

last keynote address.
And much more. . . .
Throughout the book, I will encourage you to visit my
website, www.MikeByster.com, for additional help and re-
sources. There, you’ll be able to access live videos of the
card tricks that I outline, play games against others or a
ticking timer, fi nd more problems to solve based on the les-
sons of the book, and retrieve important updates and new
information. Enter this password, for access
to extra premium content created just for my readers.
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14 MIKE BYSTER
Of course, you don’t need to know how to square a four- digit
number in your head or instantly calculate the square root of
6,436,343 in order to survive, or even thrive, in the world. But
working the brain in ways that arrive at these solutions is a total
life- changer. It can rapidly expand your brainpower and put you
on a par with the geniuses who already practice the secrets to a
sharp and quick- thinking mind and who win memory games, are
extraordinarily successful, and never lose their keys or need a note-
pad.
It will be obvious how you can best utilize the exercises sprin-
kled throughout the book, as well as how often to do them. Some
exercises will only need to be done once, while others will need to
be repeated in order to strengthen your brain, just as you would
use reps to strengthen any muscle. How will you know? At the end
of each chapter, you’ll fi nd a “chapter guide,” which I’ve purpose-
fully put there rather than at the beginning of each chapter. Ideally,
you’ll try all of the exercises as you encounter them through your
read, but in these guides I’ll reveal more specifi cally which ones

you won’t have to do again and which ones should be done on a
routine basis. Solutions to the questions posed in each chapter are
also found at the end of the chapter. My website offers more in-
depth explanations of those solutions and will take you step by step
through particular techniques or shortcuts. You’ll also fi nd novel
solutions to problems from other folks like yourself on my website.
And here’s an important warning: it’s perfectly fi ne to get
stumped by a game or exercise. I expect that some of my exercises
will challenge you to the core. If you cannot tolerate a particular
exercise, just skip ahead to the next one and come back to it later—
or never again. I’ve created a mix of exercises in this book, from
easy to very diffi cult, and I doubt that they will all appeal to every-
one. So if you fi nd yourself trying to complete a brain workout that
frustrates you or drives you crazy (and makes you want to throw
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15GENIUS
the book across the room), then don’t beat yourself up. Skipping a
few of the exercises won’t be the end of the world. You’ll still gain
a tremendous amount of knowledge and smarts simply by reading
and trying your best.
You might also be inclined to read the main text and save the
harder exercises for a later date. You can choose to read the chap-
ters of this book however you want, even out of sequence if you
like. Although I’ve designed this book to build from one chapter to
the next, in reality all of the lessons and skills I teach are of equal
weight. Some will come naturally to you, while others will require
extra effort. Hey, we’re all different in how we learn, as well as in
how we synthesize stored knowledge from the past to solve prob-
lems in the present. All I ask is that you try not to be intimidated by
anything you encounter in this book. I will provide as much guid-

ance as possible, and then it’ll be up to you to take it from there.
I expect you to return to this book to remind yourself of certain
strategies and to refresh your learning skills. As students of life,
we are never really done with learning. We are confronted with
new information daily, increasingly more so in our modern digital
age. Having the tools to navigate through the infl ux of all the data
we encounter increases our chances for success. Whether you’re a
parent, teacher, student, executive, or simply an “average” person
hoping to enhance the speed, effectiveness, and overall health of
your mind, this book will equip you with a set of skills that will
return multiple benefi ts to you in the future.
And that future can be as early as today. . . .
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