Rubik's Cube Solution

I have been fascinated by the Rubik's cube since my dad got one for Christmas in the early 1980s.  I have never solved it completely on my own, but I have memorized one particular solution based on [1].  I have simplified this solution a bit so that it is easier to remember.  The purpose of this article is to document the solution that I use.  I have found that with as few as 6 moves the cube can be mixed up beyond the point of recognition of what 6 moves to put it back.  From any state of mixed up, the cube can be restored to the solved state in around 100-150 moves.  When holding the cube, each face can be given a label as shown in the following figure.  Also each cube can be referred to by the labels shown (note that LC2 is directly across from RC2, TC3 directly across from BC3, etc.)

A move is defined as moving a face in a clockwise (denoted as +) or counterclockwise (denoted as -) direction. For example:
F+ (rotate front face clockwise)
R+ (rotate right face clockwise or toward the back)
L- (rotate left face counterclockwise or toward the back)
B2 (rotate bottom face twice)

Here are the steps to solving the cube.

Step 1 (Solve top face)
Choose a color (referred to as the chosen color from here on) and solve the cube to the point that this color is completely correct on the top face, and all colors on the front, left, right, and posterior face match as well.  When holding the cube with the chosen color as the top face, the cube will be 1/3 solved.  This step is not difficult to do and no specific moves are needed to do this - just figure it out.

Step 2 (Solve middle face)
While holding the cube with the chosen color as the top face, rotate the middle of the cube so that each middle cube matches the corresponding cube color on the top face.  This move will now correctly place and orient all of the middle edge cubes (FE2/LE2, FE3/RE2, LE3/PE2, RE3/PE3).  Rotate the bottom face as necessary to use one of the following sequences:
2a - move LE4 to LE2 (B- F- B+ F+ B+ L+ B- L-)
2b - move RE4 to RE2 (B+ F+ B- F- B- R- B+ R+)
If one of the cubes is in the wrong place in the middle row, then perform one of these move sequences to first move it down to the bottom row.  After this step is complete the cube is 2/3 completed.

Step 3 (Place bottom corners)
The purpose of this step is to place the bottom corner pieces in the correct place, but not necessarily the correct orientation.  Rotate the bottom face until at least 2 of the 4 corner cubes are in the correct location.  There will always be either 2 or all 4 cubes in the correct location.  The following move sequence will swap the FC3/LC3/BC3 cube with the FC4/RC3/BC4 cube.  If the incorrect cubes are on adjacent corners, one iteration of this move is necessary, if they are on diagonal corners, then two iterations of this move are necessary.
R- B- R+ F+ B+ F- R- B+ R+ B2

Step 4 (Orient bottom corners)
The purpose of this step is to change the orientation of the bottom corner cubes so they are correct.  Try to orient the cube so that BC and BC3 have the correct color on the bottom face but BC1, BC2, and BC4 are incorrect (ignore BE cubes for the pattern) and the top face is the chosen color.  The following move sequence will change the orientation of the corner cubes to the correct orientation from this pattern.  Two iterations may be necessary from this pattern.  If it is not in this pattern, perform this move sequence until it is in this pattern.  You will eventually learn which way to hold the cube for each pattern on the bottom face to get it into the correct pattern after this move sequence.  It may take several iterations of this sequence to get the bottom corner cubes oriented correctly.
R- B- R+ B- R- B2 R+ B2

Step 5 (Place bottom edges)
The purpose of this step is to move the bottom edge cubes into the correct position, but not necessarily the correct orientation.  Hold the cube with the chosen color as the top face.  Either all of the bottom edge cubes (BE1, BE2, BE3, BE4) will already be in the correct location, one of them will be correct, or none of them will be correct.  If they are all correct, proceed to step 6.  If one is correct hold the cube so that the correct one is in position BE4, otherwise it doesn't matter which one is in BE4.  Then perform the following sequence:
(R+ L-) F+ (R- L+) B2 (R+ L-) F+ (R- L+)
Repeat this step until all of the bottom edge cubes are in the right place.  At this point, if the cube is solved you are done, otherwise proceed to step 6.

Step 6 (Change orientation of bottom edges)
This step may be necessary to change the orientation of the bottom edges if the cube is not solved after step 5.  However the move sequence will also change the position, so it will be necessary to go back to step 5 after this step to put the cubes back into the correct position with the new orientation.  Multiple iterations between steps 5 and 6 may be necessary to solve the cube.  There are several patterns possible for the incorrectly oriented bottom cubes.  If possible, hold the cube so that the chosen color is the top face and BE1 and BE2 are the incorrectly oriented cubes.  If this is not possible, it doesn't matter how you orient the cube, but on the next pass through step 6 (after going back to step 5) this pattern will be possible.  Perform the following move sequence:
(R+ L-)  F+ (R- L+)  B- (R+ L-) F- (R- L+) B- (R+ L-) F2 (R- L+)
Go to step 5.

The book by Nourse [1] contains many more patterns and short cuts to solve the cube faster, but much more memorization is required.  I don't recall if the book contains both 2a and 2b, but they are mirror images of each other that allow you to move a cube no matter how it is oriented into the middle row correctly.  Before I discovered this on my own, I performed only 2b repeatedly until the cubes were correct (moving a cube from the bottom edge to the middle edge position and then back again changes the orientation so that the next time it is moved back it is in the opposite orientation).  Because of all the simplifications and patterns, the book is a bit hard to read and follow, and certainly hard to memorize the solution.  Breaking it down into only 4 move sequences to memorize definitely simplifies things at the expense of taking more moves.

[1] Nourse, James G. 1981. The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube. Bantam Books: Toronto / New York / London / Sydney.