Dominic O'Brien
Regulars to the Accelerated Learning area of Project
HappyChild will be familiar with Dominic O'Brien because
I have reviewed a number of his books. I want to talk about
him here because at the age of 43 he has become World
Memory Champion for an incredible 7th time. I have been
watching Dominic for a number of years now and it was he
who inspired me to compete in my first World
Championships back in 1997. Many people who see what
Dominic can do often assume that he is endowed with some
great mental ability that is either genetic or a freak of
nature. Fortunately for the rest of us neither is the case.
Dominic has trained his memory to the extent that he can
memorise 52 packs of cards shuffled together and see each
card only once and do numerous other memory feats that
simply astound audiences.
Does he come from an academic background? Well no, in
fact he was an average student at school and decided to
drop out of college before he could complete that part of his
education. Indeed many people are surprised to hear that
Dominic is dyslexic. Dominic's success has really come down
to a dogged determination to succeed in his field. Captivated
by seeing Creighton Carvello memorise a pack of cards on
TV, Dominic devised his own system to do the same thing.
Pretty soon he was memorising both single and multiple
packs of cards very quickly. World Memory Championship
success came soon after and in the 10 years of the
competition, he has won it 7 times. His success in
competitions is not only due to his dedication and training
required to achieve the high standards required of the
champion but also his deep desire to win. He keeps getting
better with age and is convinced that he can still be
champion when he is 95! His performance does serve as an
inspiration to those who do compete against him but it is
also encouraging to those people who believe they have a
bad memory. Age, dyslexia, education are not barriers to
improving your ability to learn and as Dominic says, if he
can do it, so can you.
Editor's Note: See Michael Tipper's feature article, "An Interview with Dominic O'Brien", May 2002.
To ask about any aspect of Accelerated Learning, e-mail michael2008 (at) happychild.org.uk . Due to Michael's hectic schedule, he may not be able to write back, but will do his best to cover the main issues raised, in future articles [more about Michael on the page here].
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