[saadshamim]

I've been trying to do this for a few years, this was the first year I hit about 24-30 books/audiobooks. I know pg wrote about remembering books a few weeks ago but I recently developed a strategy, thanks to "Make it Stick", to help me remember content far better then just reading.

1. read the chapter's summary before reading the chapter - I generally use https://www.blinkist.com/, but amazon reviews and goodreads are good alternatives. This allows you to know what the key elements of the chapters are so you can pay closer attention to the important stuff.

2. read the chapter

3. when you get the time write a short summary (usually a paragraph). You generally want some degrading to occur so don't write it right away.

[aggie]

This is great advice. I would also recommend adding just a bit of additional synthesis to your summary if possible, connecting what the chapter/book talks about to other topics or ideas you may have. Creating strong and varied connections helps to build a robust schema in your mind.

I'm curious about your assertion that some degredation should occur before this activity. Can you elaborate on why? My thought is that it forces you to do a bit of reconstruction which aids in the goal of truly writing in your own words.

[saadshamim]

So this was from the book "make it stick", recalling memory strengthens the network, which is why quizzing yourself or doing the simple sample problems at the end of the chapters are more effective then highlighting/rereading notes. The gap is mostly because you want what you've learned to settle into long-term memory where you can find it. Think of it as being a rat in a maze, you are on one side and the memory somewhere on the other, you want to work towards strengthening the path towards the memory, so it's easier to recall the next time around.

[has2k1]

I highly recommend "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer J. Adler, it was quite an eye opener for me.