I think the author of this article was speaking about more long formats where there are more concepts covered. I get the irony too it made me chuckle before I even read your comment. My takeaway from this was that the way each person learns to retain information is different. I went to high school with a lad who had a near photographic memory and was a voracious reader and I always wondered how he could do this.
My son has an eidetic memory, I am so jealous. He's a great musician as well, and while I can sing well, I'm hopeless at any instrument I've ever tried. I'm a decent coder, but he's really good. It's a good thing that I believe that success is having your children surpass you! Wow, did I drift off topic! More on-topic stuff in a minute...
I am continually amazed by a phenomenon that has occurred throughout my life wherein I am involved in a conversation that interests me and at some point I’ll say something that I know is absolutely true to me but are words that I haven’t seen together in my conscious mind before I say them. This happens all the time with my wife where my subconscious will come up with an analogy to try to understand a concept that she has put forward. I think this is my brain’s way of creating congruence between us. I agree with you that children should surpass their parents. Here’s hoping!
When I was in college, I took notes in class and then took notes as I read the books. To study, I’d rewrite both sets of notes into a text describing what I felt was important, then studied that. It was time consuming, but led to great retention when the tests came.
When I’ve tried highlighting, I’ve found myself highlighting too much, pretty much destroying the whole point of the concept,
When reading for fun, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction I tend not to structure the process at all. I find that retention then is hit-or-miss, some things I don’t remember at all, others really stick with me for years. The concepts that intersect with practical experience, and the ones I explain to other people are the best retained.
OMG, the highlighting comment had me laughing out loud! I do that too! And it DOES destroy the point of doing it. Hilarious. I’m going to be more discerning from now on. Thanks for the reminder!
Improving the way you learn is really exciting because it is one of the investments that pay off every time you learn something in the future. It’s similar to investing money, the sooner you learn how to do it well, the larger compound interest you are about to reap.
I’ve slowly started getting into the habit of writing summaries and reflection of the books after completing them, or while in the process of reading them and I have seen a dramatic increase in my ability to remember and to recite ideas from the books that I previously weren’t able to do so fluently.
That helps a lot. I've also found that if you have a friend or relative who's interested, explaining what you're reading to them can really help retetntion.
When I was in college what helped me remember what I was learning was writing the information down - taking notes. I could even recall the notes in my mind when taking a test. It seems to register the information for me. I always highlight and can’t donate books for that reason. There’s notes in the margins too. Thank god for recycling and Kindle, although I don’t use one. I love actual books. And since this sheltering in place, I feel totally done with virtual learning. I also love in person classes. Technology is great but will never replace humans for me.
It’s ironic to read an article about how you forget what you read in an article. There are some good tips in here though
I think the author of this article was speaking about more long formats where there are more concepts covered. I get the irony too it made me chuckle before I even read your comment. My takeaway from this was that the way each person learns to retain information is different. I went to high school with a lad who had a near photographic memory and was a voracious reader and I always wondered how he could do this.
My son has an eidetic memory, I am so jealous. He's a great musician as well, and while I can sing well, I'm hopeless at any instrument I've ever tried. I'm a decent coder, but he's really good. It's a good thing that I believe that success is having your children surpass you! Wow, did I drift off topic! More on-topic stuff in a minute...
...but what a great place to drift off to.
I am continually amazed by a phenomenon that has occurred throughout my life wherein I am involved in a conversation that interests me and at some point I’ll say something that I know is absolutely true to me but are words that I haven’t seen together in my conscious mind before I say them. This happens all the time with my wife where my subconscious will come up with an analogy to try to understand a concept that she has put forward. I think this is my brain’s way of creating congruence between us. I agree with you that children should surpass their parents. Here’s hoping!
Not the first article I’ve read on this topic nor will it be the last, but it’s certainly the most actionable I’ve come across.
When I was in college, I took notes in class and then took notes as I read the books. To study, I’d rewrite both sets of notes into a text describing what I felt was important, then studied that. It was time consuming, but led to great retention when the tests came.
When I’ve tried highlighting, I’ve found myself highlighting too much, pretty much destroying the whole point of the concept,
When reading for fun, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction I tend not to structure the process at all. I find that retention then is hit-or-miss, some things I don’t remember at all, others really stick with me for years. The concepts that intersect with practical experience, and the ones I explain to other people are the best retained.
OMG, the highlighting comment had me laughing out loud! I do that too! And it DOES destroy the point of doing it. Hilarious. I’m going to be more discerning from now on. Thanks for the reminder!
I’ve slowly started getting into the habit of writing summaries and reflection of the books after completing them, or while in the process of reading them and I have seen a dramatic increase in my ability to remember and to recite ideas from the books that I previously weren’t able to do so fluently.
That helps a lot. I've also found that if you have a friend or relative who's interested, explaining what you're reading to them can really help retetntion.
When I was in college what helped me remember what I was learning was writing the information down - taking notes. I could even recall the notes in my mind when taking a test. It seems to register the information for me. I always highlight and can’t donate books for that reason. There’s notes in the margins too. Thank god for recycling and Kindle, although I don’t use one. I love actual books. And since this sheltering in place, I feel totally done with virtual learning. I also love in person classes. Technology is great but will never replace humans for me.