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From underwater breathing equipment (as described by Aristotle) to star charts (drawn on the walls of the Lescaux caves, 33,000–10,000 years ago), James Russell describes the inventions of ancient times. There are chapters on everyday life, with items as diverse as alarm clocks, make-up, games and chewing gum; mechanical and industrial technology, including the spoked wheel and movable type; military inventions; medical breakthroughs; scientific advances; and mysterious lost inventions such as Greek fire, Maya blue and the Baghdad battery.

After introducing some of the strategies used to fix things in memory, such as key words and memory palaces, this source book of mnemonics is arranged in ten chapters on subjects from British history (No Point Letting Your Trousers Slip Half Way is for the royal dynasties) to difficult spellings (Memorizers Need Easy Methods Of Noting Important Content). Off-mint.