Try out the TRIAM

Have you ever watched a movie played backwards from the end to the beginning? I haven’t, but surely there must be an app that does that. If not, there darned well should be. It occurred to me that while the movie might not be quite so enjoyable in reverse gear, a better understanding of the storyline might be one of the backwards perks. Starting out from the destination makes a lot of sense to me and until that particular movie app is developed or located at the app store, books might be a low-tech method for such a time-reversal method of assimilating information.

First off, a lot of time could be saved, in as much as: if you didn’t like the ending, why bother going any further back? If you start at the beginning, it can take quite a while before you throw the book into the recycling bin, because you may be one of those fair-minded people — such as myself — who want to give the text a chance to grab your attention.

Interestingly, the time reversal information assimilation method (TRIAM) can be easily and effectively applied to my own book, The Secret Sign of the Lizard People, without any loss of meaning or misunderstanding of the underlying concept. My advice is to start with a paragraph or two and work your way up to a chapter. Once you get used to the technique, the whole book is available for your retrograde consumption.

It’s actually like getting two bites of the cherry or having your pie and eating it, depending on your preference in gastronomic adages. Before you know it, you’ll be applying the TRIAM to War and Peace and 1984. And I don’t think it’s any great exaggeration when I tell you that you may never read another book in boring, old forward gear again.