Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them? • Hacker News Board

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

#71

Post by CognitiveLens » Mon, Jun 04, 2012, 3:58 PM UTC

JonnieCache wrote: post #48

aaronblohowiak wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC, electricity is used to activate the release of neurotransmitters (intercellular communication is actually chemical, not electrical); the more interesting things are what governs the activation potential, the weights of the inputs and the connections between neurons. assuming that you can modify the activation potential across an axon, you still won't change the relative weights of its inputs or the neuron's con…

>(intercellular communication is actually chemical, not electrical) Passing sodium ions around still sort of counts as electrical though doesn't it, because you're transferring charge? Or have I misunderstood?

The distinction is that generally we think of "electricity" as a cascade of electrons, whereas action potentials are a cascade of ions. The net effect of both is a transfer of charge, but the mechanism is slightly different.

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

#72

Post by swah » Mon, Jun 04, 2012, 4:01 PM UTC

Much simpler to just do the experience of reading a book or see a movie you have completely forgotten a second time. (Of course you must remember which book you've read...)

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

#73

Post by rsanchez1 » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 5:25 AM UTC

Easy solution: just read material that you find interesting enough to remember. Any book that I read I remember fairly well. I often read through paragraphs a couple of times if they have a lot of information or interesting developments. If I try to read a book I don't have interesting, then I just don't remember. I have to re-read it over and over to really get information to stick if I need that information to stick, which was the case in high school English classes.

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

#74

Post by nhebb » Tue, Jun 05, 2012, 2:24 PM UTC

gbog wrote: post #61

nhebb wrote: post #23

I think most logical people understand the benefits of reading, so I'm not going to rehash that. I went a number of years only reading technical books, but I've been reading a lot of Project Gutenberg ebooks lately - a mixture of autobiographies, fiction, poetry, and essays. I don't read them to memorize them. I read them because they interest me. I don't seem to have any trouble remembering their content, but even i…

This "main benefit" is how so superficial. You can watch TV series for the same result. The main benefit of reading good books is to open your mind, understand more things and be more curious about the world.

It's not superficial, and TV is one of the other forms of media I was referring to. I am curious, though, how you purport to know the main benefit that I receive from reading is.

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

#75

Post by paulovsk » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 5:00 PM UTC

ctdonath wrote: post #67

My family has twenty-six bookcases. Some books read, some not. We're going thru the agony of culling books for space reasons (and not making much progress). One strategy is: I intend to fill the largest bookcase with those which formed me ; I may or may not remember (per se) the contents, but I do know that I am who I am in great degree because of those books. The hope is they act as a reminder of who I am (when I lo…

could you make a list of those books that formed you?