Want to Play Scrabble Like a Pro? Here's Your Memory Trick

Bennett Schwartz is one of the nation's leading memory experts, and when I visited him in his office at Florida International University, he was standing at his desk. A soft sunlight crowded the room. Large windows framed the palm tree-lined quad outside. Dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and slacks, Schwartz appeared to be quietly talking to himself, with hushed, mumbled words, and for a long moment, it seemed as if he was some sort of monk, living in another, more esoteric world. Schwartz turned around, putting the book away with an easy gesture. It turned out that when I walked into the room, Schwartz was honing his Scrabble skills. He had a Scrabble tournament the next day, and he was practicing words from a book devoted to the game.