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Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

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Re: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

#41

Post by zuck9 »

randomnumber53 wrote: post #10

I am a mildly dyslexic. I have excellent reading comprehension, but I read about a standard deviation slower than the average reader. Thus, I don't think I've ever read a book "only once," since in order to understand much of anything, I always end up reading each page paragraph, sentence, or word until I understand it before I progress.

I find myself doing this too. When I usually read stuff, I understand it on the first read almost every time but when I'm reading something that I need to grasp completely like a book or article, I reread the same lines, even in easily comprehensible novels.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

#43

Post by Qantourisc »

Once had to read a fiction book for school, and write a summary. By the end of the book I drew a blank, and I had to skim the entire book again.

Technical books are a lot easier to remember, well assuming you are reading them to learn something (specific ). But that also implies you read something think about it, make exercises, learn it and THEN move on.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

#44

Post by mjklin »

Here is my procedure for anyone interested:

* I read all books through audio, with the PDF of the book and the Voice Dream app on iOS.

* I make highlights and notes as I go, then export to a text file when I'm done. So I have the highlights on one hand and the highlighted PDF on the other.

* If I think the notes are important, I will break the text file into individual notes and index them with SCAN and/or dtSearch. I've heard DevonThink is perfect for this, but it's Mac only.

I could probably integrate spaced repetition here, but I haven't explored that yet. Just my $0.02.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

#45

Post by annie_ab »

Well, it's a good thing to ponder on and it's also a pressing issue. In most of the cases, I only remember those facts and incidents, which have affected me or appealed to me in a significant way. When I read a book, I can relate to particular parts based on my life experience, my culture and environment. Sometimes, longer retention of a book depends on how much the book is awe-inspiring and the age of the reader. I guess the pressing issue is to learn and retain relevant things for a longer period of time after reading a book

Re: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

#46

Post by ics »

cristianpascu wrote: post #39
ljk wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>For example, after reading a book, writing down the summery, your opinions and insights at that point would help you more than remembering every detail. I usually type up notes "on the cloud", what's your opinion on writing up notes v.s. typing the notes?

I find using a computer while reading a book to be very distracting. Or a phone. I don't like scribbling on a book. I'm hopeless. :)

See my response below regarding note cards. As an alternative, a twice-folded sheet of letter size paper may be more available and gives you much more space. I lay the card down either beside the page I am reading or on the back cover (you can affix with tape if this makes it easier) depending on the size of the book.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

#48

Post by dpeck »

muddyrivers wrote: post #18

This happens to me as well. Here is my experience and interpretation. Before I turned ~20 years old, I was able to remember almost everything from a book, except exact numbers and foreign names. Along with getting older, I could remember less and less. However, I feel a good book has greater and greater influences on me. It makes me think more, gives me more perspective, makes me realize more how little I know and un…

Glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about technical books. I feel like for me now its much more of a challenge for me to remember how to put my designs into a language the compiler/runtime for a language understands than most any other part.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

#49

Post by sytelus »

ljk wrote: post #33
sytelus wrote: post #25

Your brain has a policy of use it or lose it. If what you are reading is relevant to what you are doing, you would remember it otherwise finer details would mostly evaporate rather quickly. This is not just about books but for other things in life too, for example, your past travels or people you meet day to day. Some people are fortunate to have photographic memory way in to their 30s but that's rare. For most thing…

>For example, after reading a book, writing down the summery, your opinions and insights at that point would help you more than remembering every detail. I usually type up notes "on the cloud", what's your opinion on writing up notes v.s. typing the notes?

I type my notes in "the cloud" too. Typed notes vs written notes, there is pretty much no contest. Searchability, longevity, mobility etc points are too strong to ignore. Most books/papers I read are in fact in pdf form these days. I use GoodReader on iPad to do annotations as I read and that stays with my PDF. The one thing I have yet to figure out is how do I do that with audio books. My commute allows me to read 1 audiobook each week but because of lack of annotations and systematic reflection, it's super hard to get true value out of them.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

#50

Post by Vellin »

My brain tends to retain information that it can "see" being played out or performed. Formulas and equations for example from math textbooks or whatever have to be focused on and drawn out as if I have a tiny go pro looking down the end of my pencil at what's being written in my mind as I read the content. Sounds strange but when I actively make myself retain it this way I can usually bring it back from my memory very well remembering the "go pro on pencil video" of the content I need to remember.
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