David Farrow Canadian Guinness World Record Holder, Entrepreneur, Memory Coach Date of Birth: 10.01.1975 Country: Canada

1. Birth and Early Struggles
2. Overcoming Challenges
3. Diagnosis and Alternative Strategies
4. Academic Success and Guinness World Records
5. Partnerships and Collaborations
6. Business Ventures and Philanthropy
7. Personal Life and Advocacy

Birth and Early Struggles

David Andrew Farrow was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, on January 10, 1975. Born to blue-collar parents, he was twice resuscitated during his birth, and doctors predicted that he was unlikely to survive past his first year due to severe medical complications. For several years, he spent more time in hospitals than at home, which had an adverse impact on his academic and social development.

Overcoming Challenges

Despite his struggles, Farrow was determined to overcome his limitations. Conducting independent research, he caught up with his peers and even accelerated a year ahead, although school officials denied his request to skip a grade. Boredom and disillusionment with traditional education led to reduced attendance, which further hindered his progress.

Diagnosis and Alternative Strategies

Farrow was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. Doctors recommended a permanent course of Ritalin, but his mother refused. Instead, he took control of his situation, studying behavioral approaches to address his challenges. By immersing himself in library resources and practicing memory enhancement techniques, he developed what would later become known as the Farrow Method.

Academic Success and Guinness World Records

At the age of 14, Farrow enrolled in high school in Kitchener, where he excelled academically, earning straight A's and laying the foundation for his future entrepreneurial success. At the age of 21, he set his first Guinness World Record for Memory in 1996. Farrow memorized and recalled 52 randomly shuffled decks of playing cards (a total of 2,704 cards) after a single viewing, naming each card in the correct order. This record was broken in 2002 by Dominic O'Brien, who memorized 54 decks. Farrow regained his title in 2007, memorizing and recalling a sequence of 59 separate decks (3,068 cards) after a single glance. Given 14 hours to memorize the cards, he later recited them over a period of approximately nine hours at CTV Studios in Toronto on April 2, 2007. Remarkably, he made only one error, which he corrected himself without assistance.

Partnerships and Collaborations

In October 2008, Sony Corporation engaged Farrow in an advertising campaign for its Sony Reader PRS-700 electronic book. As part of the global "Reader Revolution" campaign, Farrow spent 30 days living in a window display of a DataVision store on New York City's Fifth Avenue. The Reader Revolution campaign was an attempt by Sony to popularize its latest e-book reader and promote digital reading. Sony pledged to donate 100 classic ebooks to educational institutions for every page Farrow read. By the end of the promotion, he had read a total of 44,097 pages (102 books).

Business Ventures and Philanthropy

Following his international recognition for his memory feats, Farrow leveraged his memory techniques and other talents to establish himself in the nanotechnology field. His passion for nanotechnology led to speaking engagements at conferences across North America, including before research and development teams at Johnson & Johnson and members of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Farrow is the founder of the nanotechnology company Accella Scientific Inc. In 2003, he was involved in the process of acquiring a U.S. patent application for a portable, non-invasive HIV diagnostic device. He aims to bring the device to market and revolutionize HIV testing in developing countries.

In 2010, Farrow established Farrow Inc., which as of 2015 had subsidiary companies Farrow Memory, FarrowPR, and Farrowbot. Farrow Memory is an educational corporate training company that seeks to enhance memory capacity using the Farrow Method. Two independent studies by McGill University's Department of Neurology and the National Research Council of Canada evaluated the Farrow Method and Farrow's theory of Memory Modes. The reports indicated that while Farrow's memory techniques do not work for everyone, participants outperformed their results when practicing other memory enhancement techniques.

FarrowPR is a public relations firm based in Buffalo, New York, which was founded in 2012. The firm also provides media coaching, sales training, branding courses, and other services.

Together with Sergio Gonzalez, Farrow co-founded the WMTF, which currently supports students in improving their memory and encourages the formation of memory tournament clubs in schools worldwide.

Personal Life and Advocacy

David met his future wife, Andrea Leigh Zaikell, at the Polaris Star Trek convention in Toronto in 2004. They married in 2008 and currently reside in Buffalo, New York, with their son Alexander, who was born on April 22, 2014.

In an August 5, 2015, article on his website, Farrow shared valuable advice, particularly relevant to school children and their parents. In addition to the well-known warnings about the harm that heavy backpacks pose to students' spines, lower backs, and posture, Farrow and Bob Pritchard of the Somax Institute highlight another serious threat: the potential for reduced oxygen supply to the brain.

Pritchard explains, "When children hold their backpacks up from their chest and shoulders, the body's connective tissue essentially thinks that some of their ribs are broken. Microtears, or tiny scar tissue, form between the muscles to immobilize the area—sort of like a cast from the inside."

"The problem is that micro-tears cannot only outlast the use of the backpack but also tend to build up over time, progressively decreasing the mobility of the rib cage. This, in turn, restricts the amount of oxygen that can enter the brain."

According to Farrow and Pritchard, the consequences of wearing heavy backpacks during school years may continue to affect individuals long after they leave the classroom.