What were reference books for then? Sneaky cheats of some sort? For some things relying on memory is not the best way. To exaggerate the point, pilots have pro

What were reference books for then? Sneaky cheats of some sort? For some things relying on memory is not the best way. To exaggerate the point, pilots have procedures written down to follow, a check list. They deliberately do not rely on memory. When I was doing things like upgrading server OSs I always looked for the latest check-list and procedures. I could usually remember the steps, but I didn't want to rely on that in case something crucial had changed or something new added. Another thing that springs to mind is that courts don't accept memory as perfect or reliable. Personally I do everything possible not to rely on memory, as I consider my self to have a poor memory, and google helps massively with that. And yes, I considered my memory poor way before google existed.