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

A system to help you remember more of what you read

robertheaton.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 77 posts

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#61

Post by BeetleB »

allworknoplay wrote: post #42

I find that simply sitting and thinking while -- and after -- reading nonfiction (or fiction, if it's got good ideas) burns the facts and ideas in as well as anything. I don't think most people allow as much time for reflection and mind-wandering as they ought to; expecting yourself to remember fact after fact without taking time to really absorb, reflect, and expand on them doesn't seem realistic. It's not unlike a…

I've tried this and failed - I don't retain much a few months down the road with this method. And as with false memories, what I do retain is often not quite right.

My process is not as involved. I take notes in a notebook while reading. Then I make blog posts out of them. This way I can review/consult any time, any where.

This really does slow down my process, though. I used to read several books in the time it now takes to read one. Writing blog posts is time consuming (and my notes are very rough).

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#62

Post by manjunaths »

elboru wrote: post #48
laurieg wrote: post #19

Here's a slightly silly way to keep your brain switched on while reading: Set an alarm to go off every few minutes. When the alarm goes off shut the book and summarise what you read in the past few minutes. Writing it down helps keep you honest (if you do it in your head its very easy to fool yourself). After you summarise start reading again. Forcing yourself to practice recall helps memory. Being interrupted helps…

Interesting, where did you learn that interruptions help memory? I would like to read about it a little more.

It is called the Zeigarnik effect.

https://www.psychologistworld.com/memory/zeigarnik-effect-in...

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#63

Post by adamnemecek »

Terretta wrote: post #2

Underlining and highlighting have a mechanical failure for recall — they do not exercise the output circuits even once. Instead, if you want to remember the thought you were about to highlight or underline, write it out long hand , and from short term memory not copying rote , in a note book. This exercises the full path: reading, comprehension, decision you’ll need to recall, storage, retrieval, and output from ment…

Highlighting works however don’t highlight as you read. Instead, once you have read a page, think about what on the page needs highlighting and highlight.

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#64

Post by organic_markov »

totalperspectiv wrote: post #47

If anyone is interested in a deep dive on this topic, I highly recommend 'How to Read Book' by Adler and Doren. It is a fantastic how to on learning and understanding new ideas. https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Classic-Intelligent/dp/...

Here's a nice summary of the algorithm: https://pastebin.com/wGFMM1pZ

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#65

Post by dsnuh »

laurieg wrote: post #19

Here's a slightly silly way to keep your brain switched on while reading: Set an alarm to go off every few minutes. When the alarm goes off shut the book and summarise what you read in the past few minutes. Writing it down helps keep you honest (if you do it in your head its very easy to fool yourself). After you summarise start reading again. Forcing yourself to practice recall helps memory. Being interrupted helps…

This sounds a little like Pomodoro method, but for reading.

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#66

Post by azeirah »

deltron3030 wrote: post #27
azeirah wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried maintaining a zettelkasten (zettelkasten?) Using software, but all available software just seemed overly convoluted and weird. Another huge problem was that I read everywhere, anywhere and anytime. Maintaining a zettelkasten required me to be at home, near my desktop. I've tried many, many, many things, and have written like 5 different note-taking programs over time, nothing ever really worked for me. Eve…

Interesting, I was eyeing the reamrkable as well, but for drawing. It's hackable, it runs Linux right? So it might be possible to hack into a portable Zettelkasten with good UX! :)

Oh yes definitely, it comes with root-access by default (and Vim preinstalled!). And there are interesting open-source libraries available to hack in new features: https://github.com/canselcik/libremarkable

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#67

Post by fishyofsea »

My reading changed after adopting a similar system. Reading on a Kindle and with a new Google doc created for that book, I:

1. Highlight the passages that are important along the way

2. After each chapter I try to summarize its important points and any challenges I have to them.

3. Over multiple chapters, I have a section at the top "Key Ideas" with the top 5-10 points over the course of the book.

4. After the book is done, I edit the doc to include a "My Thoughts" section and gather all my critical thoughts into one place. This is probably the most valuable.

Overall, even if I don't remember the details of a book, now I have a collection of summaries that I can pull up to remind myself about each book if it comes up again later and I need a refresher.

As a bonus, it's super easy to write a review of the book afterward because you have all the pieces almost already in place.

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#68

Post by PuffinBlue »

maaaats wrote: post #36
PuffinBlue wrote: post #16

I have a somewhat similar system but without writing anything in the book, because I use ebooks, and it's not quite as intensive. An example is here[0] but basically I keep notes on: Places Things Characters Plot Nothing too long and it's all filled in in a few seconds in an Evernote notebook/note as I read along. The main reason this is effective for me is that I can very quickly look up a character/place/plot in on…

Kindle has this as a feature called XRay. Can click a name for instance, and quickly see relevant info so far.

I don't really want anything to do with connecting the Kindle to the internet. Mine has never been off airplane mode and books are transferred by USB so xray isn't very useful to me. Also it means I can't simply scan over the notes to see catch up.

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#69

Post by WhATiSCaMeLcaSE »

I also find it useful to organize my notes by topic rather than by book/author/time. Over time, I will build a master reference for topics that I'm interested in.

OneNote/Evernote is especially helpful when you use handwritten idea maps (e.g. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvGG5UqSCqXTnjq9_pD_gb7SJPce). I can't run out of space on my page and I can easily modify the contents if I find better material down the road.

Re: A system to help you remember more of what you read

#70

Post by everdev »

allworknoplay wrote: post #42

I find that simply sitting and thinking while -- and after -- reading nonfiction (or fiction, if it's got good ideas) burns the facts and ideas in as well as anything. I don't think most people allow as much time for reflection and mind-wandering as they ought to; expecting yourself to remember fact after fact without taking time to really absorb, reflect, and expand on them doesn't seem realistic. It's not unlike a…

It's also about applying what you learned and creating those neural pathways. I love reading about space and physics but without applying it in my life or having in person conversations about it I don't retain the information as well as other subjects that I practice and discuss regularly.
Post reply on HN