When I come across a profound excerpt or cool quote I stash it in my Random Excerpts section of my note taking app.
It's a pleasure to go back and read the cool things I've totally forgotten about.
Read to forget
51–60 of 71 posts
Re: Read to forget
#52Reminds me of the purported Ralph Waldo Emerson quote which rings true for myself as well: “I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
According to the quote investigator website, Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote is dubious.
Re: Read to forget
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Such statements are profound and vacuous, vapid because it holds for many other areas. I cannot remember all the naughty movies I have seen even though they made me ......
Why would wide applicability be a mark against an idea? Do you feel the same way about gravity and normal distributions? Your example is an excellent one though because it shows a corollary to the way that quote was intended in this conversation. How it was meant: "It's OK to not remember everything you've read verbatim, because the important parts mixed into who you are/were." Your corollary: "We must be careful abo…
That last sounds a little bit Vonnegut: We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
Re: Read to forget
#54I found it more useful to read more books than read one book again and again. This helps me to reinforce the same concept from different angles. Our brain is a pattern matching machine, and it automatically picks up related concepts.
That's true, and it's also the reason why it's so important to ensure your information diet is of high quality. Any concept (especially harmful or radical ones) can be reinforced. I had to learn this lesson a long while ago when I realized many sites I casually browsed were injecting and repeating many dark thoughts that weren't truly reflective of reality. I've been way more careful of my daily intake and the groups…
Can relate. Also information diet changed for me over time, as what is "high quality" is subjective based on where I am.
In 2016 I used to browse free webinar. In 2021 youtube self-help videos. Now-a-days only focused on history books as already learned everything needed for self-help.
And most often we focus on what we don't know. In my exp I wasted most time rereading stuffs I already knew.
Re: Read to forget
#55Completely agree that the biggest benefit from most texts is absorbing new ways to think, and developing familiarity with subjects and ideas.
Most individual facts will evaporate, but it’s likely if I need them in the future I will rember where to look.
> I remember co-workers highlighting large chunks of text, sometimes 40%.
Only quibble, is nobody underlines things they plan on remembering.
It’s a tool for focusing the mind.
In rare, very rare occasions I have benefited as well from being able to review a book in record time since the points my brain works from are all underlined and page corners bent.
That might be one out of a thousand books.
Mostly, creating a physical act, to accompany the mental act, of identifying key points, is the point.
I don’t just underline, but mark things with stars, exclamation points, happy faces, etc. in the margins. Institutionalizes paying attention, lets my hands move so my body doesn’t think I am supposed to be taking a nap, and creates regular but very micro-pauses where I process the words I am decorating.
Re: Read to forget
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, I actually take OP’s somewhat flippant remark as a very real counterpoint to both the article and to the Emerson quote: be careful what you consume, lest you become it. I have met people whose core sexuality is obviously shaped by porn, I’ve met people who eat unhealthy food every day and are surprised that they’re unhealthy, and I’ve met people who read/watch a ton of useless shit and it subconsciously or…
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I take the opposite perspective on everything you've said.
Is it really that sad of a death? Many people die every day, and a few of them happen to have a ton of cameras shoved in their face. Why should anyone care about some minor celebrity?
I don't know what all this mourning is about, but it seems fake to me. The real reason why people should be upset is that it sets a precedent for political violence, so why not be upfront about it?
>It made me think about the famous part in The Twits (how if you say nasty stuff, you become ugly).
Ugly people are ugly, and nasty people are nasty. Don't get it twisted, real life is not a fairy tale. The cause and effect is reversed.
> AFAIK It's not true, but it's such a wonderful analogy. Kirk was an inflammatory figure, and spent a great deal of time talking about negative things. This was, essentially, a big part of what he did for a living - he talked about really sad things to win debates.
I don't know, it seems like he pretty much just rattled off standard talking points from the conservative playbook. My perspective is the opposite, the takeaway is that he wasn't that controversial or meaningful or deeply effective.
The tragedy is not that his life's work was cut short, it's just that his life's work was not that important in the first place. It's inevitable that we all kick the bucket one day, what matters is how we spend our time.
That's also what makes the killing so strange to me. He was a rather inconsequential figure, so the idea that someone would be driven to madness over him is pretty unusual and speaks to some sickness.
>Less that it makes you ugly, and more that a tragedy can seem, after the fact, strangely coherent for people who make their lives around tragic things.
People are cheering or mourning because they want to see "their side" win regardless of the principles or civility. It's not that complicated.
Re: Read to forget
#57I love this advice! Maybe with a caveat that reading is also a good way of discovering what's worth re-reading. If the ideas/evidence from the first read really capture you, then go back again and read more deeply.
I think even more so than non-fiction, this is really true of literature that gets labelled "difficult". I find a lot of people bounce of more dense/experimental texts, especially poetry, because they want to understand every aspect of the text. That's especially true when there's external pressures as well, like with school-children reading Shakespeare.
In my experience, being more loose about the need to understand every part of a text deeply frees people up to actually enjoy things a lot more.
Re: Read to forget
#58Noticed this while studying accounting. Mountains of technical standards that you forget pretty rapidly but it accumulates to a sort of subconscious technical instinct
Re: Read to forget
#59This stands in pretty stark contrast to a recent popular post on here about how important memorising things is to developing knowledge
Re: Read to forget
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
I highlight as a way to categorize my annotations. I highlight in Zotero as I go, and in the highlight's comment section briefly jot down why (e.g. something to follow up on, or whether this reminded me of something else it contrasts with). I dedicate a certain colour to "background references I should have", another to ~ "things I disagree with" etc., which I find useful when coming back over the paper to type up my…
> Out of interest, why have you been considering Logseq? Primarily because it's FOSS; I love Obsidian (I even pay for it) but I have to consider the possibility that they'll be bullshit and start charging for stuff or start restricting things arbitrarily. If Logseq becomes bullshit then I (or someone else) can fork it and maintain/grow it. It's also written in ClojureScript, so legally I have to kind of like it :). I…
I tried Logsec for a few hours, prolly should work with it more. It looks like a great tool, but I don't like nested bullet lists as a way to organize information. I'll check out your blog.