How do you remember what you have read in a book and how do you act on that?
Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
1–10 of 44 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#2I'll take a step back, why do you need to remember what you have read in a book?
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#3[dead]
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#4I'll take a step back, why do you need to remember what you have read in a book?
Adding to that: Write down what you want to get out of the book, for example "Learn how to do X" or "Understand how Y works". This turns passive reading into actively looking for information.
It also helps to work with the ideas in other ways while reading (like taking notes, creating presentations, or writing programs).
I'm currently reading about production scheduling and in parallel writing a toy production scheduling system to make the concepts "click".
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#5Tacit knowledge. Do the book.
For non fiction that is usually obvious. If there are not set exercises then make some challenges up.
For fiction. Maybe a character map? Or make a list of characters and notes against each.
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#6I just do, the same way I can remember most (not all) scenes of a given television episode forever after seeing it once. It is just the nature of intelligence. Memory in not observability though, and so more can be gained from a second reading/viewing.
Chimpanzees, for example, have photographic memory. They remember absolutely everything. Photographic memory is not likely for corvids but their memory may well be superior to humans as well. In that regard they are more intelligent than humans but lack the tools in their toolbox to achieve superior mechanical or functional output.
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#7I'll take a step back, why do you need to remember what you have read in a book?
I asked this mostly for self help books, like time management and others. Obv you would need to remember and act what was discussed in the book to get any benefit from that.
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#8“I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#9I'll take a step back, why do you need to remember what you have read in a book?
Yeah. I read it, and I remember what I remember.
It's kind of a circular definition, but the parts that are important enough to me to remember are the ones that I remember.
Now, if I'm trying to get some specific information, I will often write it down somewhere when I find it.
If it's something like language syntax, the pieces of syntax that I use all the time are the ones that I remember. The ones I don't, well, I know where the book is, and if I need that bit, I'll look it up when I need it.
Re: Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?
#10I've noticed that individuals who put in extra effort to organize and remember information from a book are often content creators on platforms like YouTube. They frequently promote note-taking tools such as Notion or Obsidian.