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

The list that the OP read:

- Checklist Manifesto - Made to Stick - Confessions of a Public Speaker - Why Everyone Else Is a Hypocrite - The Power of Habit

I think the fact that he's questioning the value of reading such books is fair (and I find it ironic that he's applying such rigor to try and extract value from such books), but these are hardly the books of great literature. Self-improvement and self-motivation books are, perhaps too often, profit-guided and banal.

You don't read, say, Steinbeck or Vonnegut, to 'remember what's in them.' (Furthermore, things like 'active recall' aren't going to help you out.) Authors you have made it to the upper echelons of literature are the ones who develop distinct voices and talents to attract and evoke you in ways lesser literature cannot (I can barely remember East of Eden , but I can point to the emotions it made me feel and the questions it raised about my life) -- these are the books worth reading, worth bruising yourself on.

Reading is fun. The books that we read start dialogues and introduce concepts that we won't remember until we think of them in association with something else. That the OP has to try and justify reading to himself in some sort of rigorous quantitative fashion is just sad.

And I remember plenty of what I read just fine. (Enough of it to satisfy my requirements to keep doing so.)

Because books are not read for remembering facts, or very few times books should be read for remember a fact. Unless the fact is life altering, or so astoundingly beautiful that it just has to be in your brain.

Books are read for fun, to go through emotions, experiences and get a generic framework to do stuff in life. They must be read for the aha moments and 'You get the point' kind of moments.

Think of it like meeting an interesting person. Do you go about by remember each an every line you talked. You just enjoy the experience, go through emotions and take away what you can.

Reading text books is a little different. That is your art, you need practice and master. That may require you to 'remember' things.

Maybe it's you, guy. I remember what's in books just fine, though sometimes I reread them for the pleasure of enjoying the author's 'performance' - much as I like to re-listen to music I already know quite well.

This is very true.

The best way somebody can teach you something is by narrating a story. I find self help book harping oft-beaten facts all over the book.

Such books put me to sleep.

On the other hand, tell a story and teach you what you want through that story. That will drive the point home.