Foreword (Part 2)

I remembered G.I.'s on a ship in the South Pacific, heading for New Guinea. They played records over and over again in order to learn the native tongue. One evening I was surprised to see friends in Message Center sleeping with earphones on, and this group learned the language most rapidly, impressing the officer in charge.

Others, who spent their evenings smoking, chatting, gambling, or writing letters, said they had no time for extra study, and were told by a member of the advanced group what the secret was.

"The truth is," he explained, "I study during the day just as you do, but each day I learn more than you, because I've broken the barrier—I know the elementary words and phrases—and now it's fun to hear the next lesson. But still, after I've written my letters and relaxed, just before I go to bed, I put the earphones on and listen once more to what I heard during the day. With the earphones on I find I block out all disturbances and discover myself in a new world of learning. When I awake, most of what I heard is part of my new language."

This stayed with me. I thought about the idea often, but I never got around to trying it out or examining its worth. Now this has been done for me, in Learn While You Sleep.

I recalled another incident out of the past while reading this illuminating book. I was in Gouda, Holland, confined for several days in the Diaconnessan de Wyck Hospital, and not allowed to use my eyes. The nurse came over and handed me a little rectangular sponge rubber object, about four or five inches long, to which a cord was attached. She explained that there was a little speaker in the sponge rubber, and if I wished I could put the instrument under my pillow and listen to music for relaxation. The speaker's volume was very low, so low that at first I heard nothing. But when I turned my ear to the pillow I heard everything plainly. Since I was an American, the nurse tuned in the BBC for me.

The curtains were drawn all day so that I would not be tempted to use my eyes. When I closed my eyes and listened on the BBC to the news of England, my memories were re-awakened. London was mentioned, and I saw myself walking through all the areas I had visited in that cosmopolitan city. With these memories in mind I dozed off.

When I awoke I remembered things about London of which I was not conscious before I fell asleep, and I realized that I hadn't dreamed these new memories, even though I saw vivid pictures in my sleep. These were pictures I had previously viewed while walking the streets from Marble Arch to Piccadilly Square, only a few weeks earlier.

As everyone knows, it is not possible to see everything in London in the course of one walk, but always, with each succeeding walk, I was surprised to note that I had passed various sights the day before without realizing consciously that I had seen them the first time. Now, with the little speaker under my pillow setting the stage for me, I found myself recalling myriad things about London, things which, only a few moments earlier, I did not believe I had seen!