Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

blog.jim-nielsen.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 466 posts

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#41

Post by gverrilla »

akashkahlon wrote: post #37

I realised this some years back, after an advise that if you find reading hard, read faster. Don't spend too much time understanding each word and line. Good advise

That will only work if the author also rushed to write the piece. Understanding is more desirable than finishing a book.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#43

Post by empire_and_sun »

y04nn wrote: post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

Yes, humans are entirely predictable; that's why i deliberately act random sometimes, to prove I am aware of this predictability, albeit this is still predictable.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#44

Post by empire_and_sun »

sublinear wrote: post #39
y04nn wrote: post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

I don't think the blog post necessarily supports this view. You still have your free will. Your past experiences also teach you what to ignore. You are free to do that to my comment. :)

Looping Soup

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#45

Post by the-mitr »

y04nn wrote: post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

you are your long term memory,

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#46

Post by TeMPOraL »

p0w3n3d wrote: post #32
y04nn wrote: post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

Very close to "I am a product of my environment"

Which also reminds me of "You are the average of the few people you interact the most with".

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#47

Post by al_borland »

Zambyte wrote: post #20
al_borland wrote: post #12

>I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me. I heard those quote for the first time about 4 years ago. I had often been a bit disappointed with myself for not taking more notes while reading, or reviewing what I read in a way where I could be one of those people to bring up quotes and concepts, citing back to the original source, with freakish accuracy. This…

I still encourage you to write though. Writing has seriously transformed the way that I think. I refer to my notes very often too.

I still write a fair amount, I just don’t write book reports. The environment I find comfortable for reading isn’t conducive to taking notes that would be needed for writing later.

If there is a particular passages that really stands out I will note it down. I have a little collection of those (and other quotes) I sometimes read through.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#48

Post by ahazred8ta »

thorum wrote: post #27

One form this takes is that, even when you forget the details, you retain the general shape of the subject matter. You might not remember all the details about XYZ, but now at least you know XYZ exists: your internal map of the world is expanded and corrected, even if parts are a bit fuzzy.

There's a trick when reading nonfiction: read the table of contents, then flip ahead and read the entire index. You now have a good understanding of what topics the book covers, and where in the book they are. You can crank through a stack of 10 or 20 books and get a good sense of which ones are really worth reading. 'Half of all knowledge is simply knowing where to find the knowledge.'

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#50

Post by aworks »

bugbuddy wrote: post #9
sharadov wrote: post #5

I've always believed that two things will broaden your horizon - travel and reading. If you don't have the means or the time to travel then your next best option is reading.

We need to qualify what we mean by “travel.” Airline pilots, stewardesses, and other people that travel a lot for work or other purposes do not necessarily have the “broadest horizon.” I think we should use another term to mean “experience other cultures and ways of life.” The same can be said about reading. Reading the entire One Piece manga series is not necessarily gonna broaden your horizons.

e.g. the movie Accidental Tourist
Post reply on HN