Comment by Arun2009 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Arun2009 | Hacker News Reader

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I find that the true challenge is not reading, but internalizing what I have read. I often find that books that I read eventually get summarized to a few pithy statements in my memory (if I am lucky). Most of the body is gone after a few months. I sometimes wonder if there is any point in reading books (particularly non-fiction) if you will eventually lose most of it.

I have tried using Anki to capture my knowledge, but it's not easy to stick to it regularly, and it may even be an overkill. Two of the reading projects that I wish to complete are Campbell's "Biology" and Myers' "Psychology". These are not difficult books, but tax the memory quite heavily. I have covered significant chunks of both books earlier, only to give up in the middle and move on to the next shiny thing. Next year I wish to resume at least one of them and cover them systematically with the help of Anki until I have truly mastered the content. I don't think you can undertake reading 100 books like these if your intention is to truly imbibe the content and make it available to you in an active form.

Also, some books contain not just information, but skills. Mathematics and programming are more like swimming or riding a bicycle rather than studying History - you are learning to do stuff, not just absorb data. Readings like these where there is significant amount of doing in addition to the reading itself will also be slower than what the post mentions.

Think of it like training data for a neural net. An image classifier is impacted by every image was trained on even if it does not remember it and was little changed by a specific image.

I think it's worthwhile to simply be exposed to an idea even if you disagree with it because it may shape how others think. It took me a while to understand that the religious mindset is based on the idea you're accessing a source of truth. I am used the Bayesian mindset of updating probabilities, so it's a very alien mindset.

PS: It's often the little ideas that really stick with you. Legally marketing something as "The Best" is a meaningless statement, so subtracting it from marketing copy is interesting. "These are --- ---- steaks!" Ha Ha, true enough.

You don't need to memorize the books - likely the information you gained is there without you even realizing it.

Re-reading is always an option as well.

I have this same issue, but the point is not to "have a bigger tree trunk," the point is to "spread your branches further" - if you need to expand upon a single topic further, you can delve into a book you've already again with a pad and pen and start taking real notes, and get similar books to explore the topic further.

As for simply remembering what you've already read is about, I find leaving a quick review on GoodReads takes care of that. I can go back and look over my review when I'm listing books to recommend to people.

I tend to feel the same as you regarding the body of the book being gone after a while. However, I do feel like every book I’ve read colors in my view of the universe just a bit more. Over time, I think it adds up to more than we might think. Also, I would imagine that our subconscious minds are gobbling up a lot of the major points of these readings, to be used at a later date. It’s all going into the intuition mill!

I hear you, but I also fear that these sort of intangible benefits that we think ought to exist might not exist after all. When I read a book I definitely feel that I have accomplished something. I even take notes. I certainly acquire bragging rights! But when I actually try to pin down exactly what I have learned from the book after a few months, I am mostly lost except for a grand overview of the subject.

I think I might retain only around 10% (if that) of a good book that I read. I wonder if I might have been better off reading just the 10% in the first place (provided I can get the right 10% somehow). You could cover 10 times the number of books at that pace with nothing lost!

For sure! At best I’ll usually be able to recall the main idea of the book, and a few supporting examples. I still think it seeps into our minds in other ways :)

Sounds like you might enjoy Blinkist. It’s a paid app that gives you the highlights of a book. I tried it and thought it was interesting, however, I actually enjoy reading entire books. So it felt like I was doing CliffsNotes for stuff I enjoyed reading about. Also, you’re depending on the service to pick out what’s important. What resonates with them vs what resonates with you could be two different things.

I think we get too hung up on trying to wring every last drop out of life. If you like reading, read. The important themes you come across in different books will naturally reinforce and connect amongst themselves.

I totally agree with you and have been on a similar mental journey on the last few years. I used to read phenomenal amounts.

But I’ve found myself very disillusioned by the reading of books, to the point that I don’t actually do much of it anymore.

I’m too distracted by the fact that it seems pointless. Or I’m dispirited by the thought that to make it not be pointless requires large amounts of school-like study (notes, self testing, regular revision etc.)

I’m not sure what to do about this. I don’t think not reading is a viable life strategy, I just don’t quite get it right now.

Perhaps it might help to deflate your expectations. I look at books, like I look at tv shows or movies. The long term usefulness of consuming might be questionable but that does not make the act of watching / reading any less worthwhile. I actually think that reading less is good if you were reading prodigious amounts. When I read A LOT it's usually an indication of a lack of balance in some aspects of my life that I try to correct. If you want to ease back into reading without taking it too seriously go for the fluffy page turners. There's tons of non-fiction books too which are engaging and quite readable. Anytime somebody tells me they don't read a lot, it's usually because they are not reading anything that interests them.

I also have this problem. I've seen a few sites around that take reference notes. sites like blinkist.com, or even personal book notes like sivers.org/book

I like the idea of these sites, my brother and I have been working on our own version for fun: https://bookbreakdowns.com

But I feel like just trying to write your notes in your own words by memory forces you really to digest the material, and is way more useful than any notes someone else takes. I'll often find that I can't even write down what I just read 5 minutes ago.

I think for nonfiction books because so many expound similar concepts, that if you get 1 or 2 good ideas from a book, it was time well spent.

At least with Campbell, you can find corresponding study guides from the publisher filled with ways of testing your knowledge which are amenable to SRS.

For books in general, you might find Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book useful.

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