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You can look things up surprisingly easy in the books you've read. I guess, this has something to do with physical experiences you had with them. I use my own library as a memory extender regularly.

But unread books are useless for this purpose unless they are dictionaries or references. And surely there is no point in keeping them in your own home. A proper place to keep unread books is a public library.

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I make a point to read at least the table of contents and flip each page through when i get a new book, even if i won't read it. Of course I already read the table of contents before buying it, and might have skimmed through the libgen pdf, but I still want to "ingest" the physicality of it. I might fold some corners while flipping through as well. It gives me a map, and I will most certainly remember the book when I need to look up some topic, even though my memory is usually terrible.

It takes about 10 minutes and it's well worth it.

Another poster has a counter argument and I'd agree.

Unread books seep in through osmosis. That unread book that's been sitting there for years, somehow, magically, its content feel familiar when you do pick it up.

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