This came to my attention while reading the essays collected in Tony Judt&#x27;s book <i>The Memory Chalet</i> (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nybooks.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;archives&#x2F;2011&#x2F;feb&#x2F;10&#x2F;tony-judt-distinctions&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nybooks.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;archives&#x2F;2011&#x2F;feb&#x2F;10&#x2F;tony-ju...</a>).  From the review:<p>&quot;Physically unable to write [because of ALS], but with a mind as sharp and active as ever, [Judt] plotted the twenty-five short essays that compose this book in his head, while he was alone at night, using a mnemonic device taken from accounts of the early modern “memory palace,” whereby elements of a narrative are associated with points in a visually remembered space; but instead of a palace, he used a small Swiss chalet that he had once stayed in on vacation as a boy, and that he could picture vividly and in detail. He was then able to dictate these feuilletons the next day from the resulting structure.&quot;