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

nytimes.com

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

#91

Post by jemfinch »

katovatzschyn wrote: post #59
melvinram wrote: post #21

Key phrase: "reading creates pathways in the brain, strengthening different mental processes." I've read a boat load of business books and I don't remember a lot of the specifics in the books but because the books often reenforced a lot of the same thoughts from different angles, I've got well formed mental pathways in my head, which help me in all kinds of situations. Same thing happens if you're a regular consumer…

Could this be why incorrect facts may be recollected as true after proved false? Pathway for "false" not "rewritten / erased" but "pre-empted" by possibly "less robust" "true," to say this colloquially?

Obviously there are at least four people smarter than me here, because I can't for the life of me figure out what in the world you're trying to say.

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

#94

Post by archangel_one »

Terretta wrote: post #81
jordyhoyt wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have definitely had similar experiences and can remember fiction and non-fiction I read from when I was in jr high school like I'd just read it yesterday (24 now). I can recall the plots and what I took away from each. This article and most of this thread is just bizarre to me.

You're not alone. I'm baffled by the premise of a book's memory gone after a month. Even junk fiction, like the 30+ mostly generic Alistair MacLean thrillers I read in high school 25 years ago, are easily recallable. I'm also skeptical at so many comments here agreeing with the article. Perhaps it's a selection bias. I talk books with lots of people and no one has mentioned this phenomenon.

I agree, I would never forget a book after only a month. I know that I have an above-average memory but can't imagine that most people would forget them in such a short time.

If people did, the literature section of the average pub quiz would be a heck of a lot harder than they are now :)

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

#95

Post by LiveTheDream »

huherto wrote: post #43
rubashov wrote: post #38

"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

I have to agree with that. I wish, I spent more time doing things than reading.

It's not too late.

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

#96

Post by nocman »

melvinram wrote: post #21

Key phrase: "reading creates pathways in the brain, strengthening different mental processes." I've read a boat load of business books and I don't remember a lot of the specifics in the books but because the books often reenforced a lot of the same thoughts from different angles, I've got well formed mental pathways in my head, which help me in all kinds of situations. Same thing happens if you're a regular consumer…

"creating marcos"? Marco who? :-D

Please tell me you meant "creating macros" -- or is there some secret meaning of "marco" that I'm missing here?

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

#97

Post by mkramlich »

katovatzschyn wrote: post #59
melvinram wrote: post #21

Key phrase: "reading creates pathways in the brain, strengthening different mental processes." I've read a boat load of business books and I don't remember a lot of the specifics in the books but because the books often reenforced a lot of the same thoughts from different angles, I've got well formed mental pathways in my head, which help me in all kinds of situations. Same thing happens if you're a regular consumer…

Could this be why incorrect facts may be recollected as true after proved false? Pathway for "false" not "rewritten / erased" but "pre-empted" by possibly "less robust" "true," to say this colloquially?

Yes and I think it's part of the mechanism that makes propaganda and innuendo effective.

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

#98

Post by jollojou »

This phenomenon of not remembering what I just read is familiar to me from the moments where I'm about to take an exam after a course. I usually go through the course material two or three times before taking the exam. Just before taking my place in the exam room, I test my self: "what were the five key points in chapter 3". Oh I can't recall them, I'm in trouble!

Fortunately the exams (at least in my university) did not focus on the student's ability to remember exact sentences or enumerate the "five bullets on chapter X". Like in real life, most of the exams required me to remember ideas and their implications, not exact phrases.

To sum, its not essential to be able to recall and speak out some random facts from a book. Its more important to comprehend what ideas were present in the book and what consequences those ideas might have on X or Y. Us humans are not computers but beings capable of creative thought.

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

#99

Post by Tichy »

Maro wrote: post #14

Same is true for movies. I don't remember most movies I watch. Eg. there was this one movie with Morgan Freeman, he worked at a car shop, smoked cigarettes, and he was diagnosed with cancer, and there was another big name in the movie, and I don't remember much after that. [After looking it up, it was Jack Nicholson and the title is 'Bucket List']. There's probably thousands of movies like this floating around in my…

The content of modern movies is not that deep. There probably was not much more story to the bucket list than the summary you provided.
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