Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#31

Post by dsplittgerber » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:38 PM UTC

For non-fiction: Remembering key concepts is a lot easier if you try to apply what you've learned to other articles, books or even the news you read.

Try to actively remember what you recently read and how it fits with what you're reading now. Which point does the author make? Does it concur with what you've read before?

Active recall and the application of recently acquired knowledge to novel ideas garantuees remembering key concepts for far longer than otherwise. Also, thinking about key concepts in connection with various topics makes your brain rewire the information and you'll remember it more easily ever after.

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#32

Post by kiba » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:38 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #22

This guy has some defect of memory. I remember plot, character, lines, ideas from books. Not all of it, but all the good bits.

It is probably not a defect of memory but a difference in the way minds work. What you have done is committed the typical mind fallacy.

One example is imagination. Some people can have really vivid imagination, being able to count the strides on a tiger. Others have no ability to do imagery at all. Most are probably in-between.

In my case, I can't really impose my imagination over reality as if I am viewing a movie. Let just say they like viewing at reality and imagination every other frame.

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#33

Post by aheilbut » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:41 PM UTC

If you read a book a couple more times, you'll remember a lot more.

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#34

Post by robryan » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:41 PM UTC

Another point to add to this, I read many articles online every day and given the vague task of recalling these articles and what I took away from them I couldn't. But if I'm discussing a topic or listening to a talk on something everything relevant I've read feels front of mind again and allows me to draw new conclusions from what I've read that I wasn't really able to earlier without them all front on mind.

Really handy when, In a lot of topics relating to the kind of topics frequently on hacker news I can have long and insightful conversations with people where I have plenty to contribute myself.

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#35

Post by robryan » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:43 PM UTC

aheilbut wrote: post #33

If you read a book a couple more times, you'll remember a lot more.

I know someone who does that, reads it so fast the first time that I don't think they fully take it in then will go back and reread if it's worth it.

Personally I like to go at a pace where I can make all the connections and take what I want from it the first time, then move onto something else.

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#36

Post by adambyrtek » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:45 PM UTC

klbarry wrote: post #6

I don't relate at all - I believe I remember the content of every book I've ever read, and the main takeaways of it.

What about names? I cannot remember the names of main characters from a book I read last week.

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#37

Post by sabat » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:48 PM UTC

Because we get the gist of them; we experience books the way we experience life. We learn from both, regardless of whether we memorize specifics and details.

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#38

Post by rubashov » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:54 PM UTC

"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." -- Albert Einstein

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#39

Post by Kaizyn » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:55 PM UTC

Arun2009 wrote: post #10

My key take-away from the article was this quote: “There is a difference,” she said, “between immediate recall of facts and an ability to recall a gestalt of knowledge. We can’t retrieve the specifics, but to adapt a phrase of William James’s, there is a wraith of memory. The information you get from a book is stored in networks. We have an extraordinary capacity for storage, and much more is there than you realize.…

There are some interesting ideas along this same line in this essay/lecture by Douglas Hofstadter:

http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/hofstadter/analogy.h...

Re: Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?

#40

Post by ivanzhao » Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 4:57 PM UTC

ivanzhao wrote: post #29

An analogy would be traveling in the brain jungle, where your conscious mind might not be able to recall the specific routes, your foot nevertheless leave marks in the jungle that make later traveling on the same paths easier or possible.

All in all, answers to problems like this become very obvious once we separate our so-called conscious mind and the inner subconscious zombie that in fact does most of the mentally/bodily processing.

For example:

1. Do you know all your vision can "physically" see at any moment is only about a thumbnail's size at an arm's reach, yet your inner zombie construct a vivid 3D environment.

2. What if I lower your house's keyhole by 2"? You would still reach for the old spot then realize something is wrong. But who's remembering the old location? Not your conscious self (otherwise every moment you type a key you have consciously validate). The memory keeper is your inner zombie.