Chapter One, Building the Palace Summary and Analysis

In 1596, a Jesuit named Matteo Ricci teaches the Chinese people how to build a memory palace; the palace's size is determined by how much they wish to remember. However, these palaces are not to be built in the physical world, but within the mind. Further, they can only be built in three places—drawn from reality that exists, from pure imagination and fiction or a combination of the two. These constructs allow concepts to be created and stored in the mind; Ricci believes that humans can remember anything by associating a memory with an image. Ricci explains to the Chinese that this idea derives from the Greek poet Simonides. He tells them this so that they will inquire about the religion that gives him this power of memory. He is pleased to...