Ask HN: How do you remember what you have read in a book?

[sodiumtech]

How do you remember what you have read in a book and how do you act on that?

[7222aafdcf68cfe]

“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

[meiraleal]

Wow. I came to say this and got a quote from a famous guy

[VoodooJuJu]

Cope.

You get out of books what you put into them. If you can't remember what you've read, it's because you didn't work to remember it (and that's okay). This quote is just cope for people to passively consume and feel good about it.

[muzani]

This was before the era of the internet though, when "book" was the closest thing to a wikipedia page or a reel.

[inerg]

0x54MUR41 is pretty close to what I'd recommend as well but some other notes I'd add:

* Write a short summary of a chapter after reading it

* Don't be afraid to to write notes and highlight important lines in the book if you own it. You own it so make it yours! If you do want to avoid marking it up 3m makes some nice transparent post it's that I find work well (https://www.post-it.com/3M/en_US/p/d/cbgbjrus3149/)

* Before reading the book do you have a specific reason for doing so? If so look at the index at the back and read the sections that are specifically relevant first so that you will have some repetition reading the content.

For me personally I read a lot of non-fiction and like to have the books as reference material so 75% of the books I own are physical. When I read them I highlight important / relevant passages to me and possible make notes in the side margins if I find it relates to another book I have read and remember.

After finishing the book I'll eventually type out the relevant lines I found then and put them on my personal site for easy referencing for my self. This is doubly helpful as it means I'll often re-read the book down the line further reinforcing what I've read. I do have quite the backlog for this but it equally means that if I need to go back looking for a specific snippet on something I likely have it highlighted

I'd also second the recommendation for "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer J. Adler https://www.amazon.ca/How-Read-Book-Mortimer-Adler/dp/067121...

[sky2224]

Instead of trying to remember the literal content of the book, I try to remember the concepts.

Additionally, I don't worry about trying to remember every little detail. I also don't really take notes.

I draw a flow chart of key words as I'm reading. This does two things: 1) It keeps you active, which helps prevent your mind from wandering while reading 2) it gives a roadmap of what you read. Once you filled a page with your flow chart, stop and visit each node and recite how much you're able to remember. Star the items you can't recall and either go back and review that material or move on and come back to review later.

Part of what I'm realizing creating the flow chart does as I'm writing this, is it helps you differentiate between what was easy to remember and what was not. Also, don't try to get fancy with the flow chart, just draw basic circles (nodes) and directed edges. The flow chart should be a DAG, but avoid branching as much as possible.

[aristofun]

I trust my subconscious and conscious mind to filter what is really relevant and to keep it in the right part of the memory.

Most of the non fiction books are watered down garbage anyway. And professional ones you read when you have a specific need to apply new knowledge.

And fiction ones you read for the pleasure.

There is no point in forcing yourself to memorize a book. Unless you naturally do it or feel like doing it.

[jerrygoyal]

which non-fiction books did you find valuable?

[0x54MUR41]

I think there are multiple ways to do it. These are what I can think of.

* Re-read the books

* Summarize the book in one sentence or a short paragraph

* Create or visualize the idea or important points in the books, like https://sketches.sachachua.com/static/2022-08-03-01%20Four%2...

Last but not least, I recommend to read a book called "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer J. Adler. Different books have different strategies to read.

[1123581321]

I read multiple books on a subject. Reading multiple books gives them significantly more context that helps place each fact. I relate them to other things I read and know as well.

Multiple books by an author if it’s fiction/poetry works similarly but that’s more about deepening my appreciation than recall.

[runjake]

1. I highlight important passages in the book.

2. I paraphrase and write down the most important passages in my notes. Paraphrasing is important for memorization and understanding for me.

3. I go back and read highlights after some time and repeat the process.

[Gooblebrai]

I'll take a step back, why do you need to remember what you have read in a book?

[phba]

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".

[sodiumtech]

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.

[muzani]

Why read a book if you're not going to remember it? If you want someone to tell you what to do, that's what articles and tweets are for. Books are meant to go into depth.

[AnimalMuppet]

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.

[rishikeshs]

I predominantly use ReadWise[1] for this. It has something called spaced repetition and gives me daily highlights from books and other sources.

I wrote about it here: https://rishikeshs.com/readwise-review/

[1] https://readwise.io/rishikesh/

[jll29]

If it impresses you enough, your brain will remember it. Especially for the overall "take home"-message, I'd trust the brain to remember it. While there is a soft limit, you can add indefinitely at the risk of forgetting some (hopefully lesser) stuff.

If you want to improve the process beyond that, annotate the margins with a bar and stick a post it note on each page of the book that has something particularly noteworthy. I have a spatial memory, so I often know where in the book the page is that I'm looking for, and where on the page the quote was.

Some where detailed things you don't need to remember in perpetuity, you just need to remember e.g. the first author and year so you can look it up again once it's needed again. Some results will stick to your mind once you've looked them up a lot, so your brain can work like a "LRU cache" of sorts.

[Quinzel]

I don’t remember everything I read in a book. It’s just the ideas that I get from it stick in my brain. It just expands my capacity to think and contemplate different things. Certainly for some things I need to memorise a fact or something, but then it’s just literally a fact I focus on, and I use repetition to ensure I can recall later. But if just reading it in It’s entirety I’m unlikely to remember it all. Certain good books have content that is definitely far easier to recall. I put that down to the authors being good writers, or me being extra interested in the topic.

[atomicnature]

For me - it is a visceral thing, I don't try too hard to remember anything.

But I end up retaining some associations, a kind of mood, and I also tend to grasp the tendencies and attitudes of the author.

So in a way I read between the lines a lot. I am able to read with a kind of generosity of spirit (forgiving, listening, giving charitable interpretations, etc)

This way - I end up forming the most profitable kinds of memories - something that may help me live my own life and solve problems of interest better.

Reading transports you to a different reality than your present (in psychological/experiential dimension).

Which is very important for invention and such.

[Acetylcholine]

How do you remember what you have read in a book

Daydream about the narrative. If there is no cohesive narrative, create one in your daydreams.

and how do you act on that?

Play "pretend" about it, invite friend(s) - dress up, house, larp - immersion - have fun with it!

[Jake_w]

If a book interests you you'll definitely remember it. Maybe not all the details but you'll for sure keep the main points.

[idontwantthis]

If I’m learning from a textbook or something I take notes. If I’m learning to do something then I try to do the thing. Remembering the book isn’t important, learning to do the thing is important. If I’m reading for pleasure I just read.

[constantinum]

I'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.

[swah]

I don't. I have a faint idea of some parts of the book and will remember only when re-reading.. then I'm like "oh yeah, I remember this part, very nice, hmm yeah - now I know right.."

[flaterff]

Tacit 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.

[Areeba_]

By relating the content of the book with real life examples and writing it down with my own explanation