Hey Fellow Bookworm, This quarantine is the best time to brush off that dusty bookcase. Crack open those books you haven't even touched since you bought them in the last book fair you attended.
I'm an avid reader too. I have spent countless hours in fantasy worlds in the far unknown. But I read too fast. Too fast that I don't even remember the events or details from the book. Eek.
Although I recorded these books in my Goodreads read list, I haven't kept specific details in my memory bank.
Is it just me, or do you have the same problem as I have? 🤔
But let's not judge ourselves too quickly. As David Allen said, "your mind is for having ideas, not holding them."
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” - David Allen
So if you want to absorb more of the books you read, here are some tips from some of the most famous bookworms on remembering more of the books they read:
Tim Ferris
In his vlog, he explained that he highlights and writes down notes on the book he reads. Even though he is reading for pleasure, he wants to capture the ideas that he resonated with and apply it in his own life.
He highlights things that he can implement in his business, quotes, something he finds interesting, or ideas he can use in conversations.
You might find writing or taking down notes in your books sacrilegious. Before, I felt the same way too. Maybe that's the reason why I don't remember as many details from the books I have read in high school.
I found out that I'm a kinesthetic learner. The best way for me to learn is to interact with ideas through tactile response. If you can't add simple numbers without writing them in the air or a piece of paper, you might be one too.
I'm not yet fully on-board with this idea, but one way that I interact with ideas in books is by reading them in e-book format. I am less anxious about "breaking" them.
As a side note, please don't write your notes in books that you only borrowed.
Bill Gates
He reads about 50 books a year! That's about one book a week. I, on the other hand, can't even finish a book in a month. 😆
In this Quartz interview, he explained that "if you read enough, there's a similarity between things that make it easy, because this thing is like this other thing. If you have a broad framework, then you have a place to put everything."
Let's break this down. We learn by building on the things we have known so far.
Remembering what you read builds on the same structure of learning.
If you're a math student, you can't possibly solve a PMDAS problem, without knowing the fundamentals of algebra: parenthesis, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction.
By identifying the similarity of the ideas from the books we read, we create novel connections. These novel connections are what prompts us to remember what we read.
Thomas Frank
He might not be as famous as the two thought leaders above, but Frank has also covered the same topic as this article. He became a renowned YouTuber by helping students earn better grades through his channel, The College Info Geek.
In his video, he also notes the same steps as Ferris and Gates. He remembers what he reads by sharing what he learns. All of his YouTube videos are from the ideas he learned from the books he read.
So how can you share what you know? It can be as simple as sharing an idea with a friend. You can even write a book review, an article, or a vlog about it. This sharing is the crystallization of the connecting idea.
Tiago Forte
While he hasn't achieved the status of the likes of Ferris and Gates, he has created a novel idea for remembering what you read - it's through the Building a Second Brain methodology. This goes back to David Allen's quote, "your mind is for having ideas, not holding them."
If you are an avid bookworm (and I know that you are), you have libraries of books you have read. So many notes and highlights! Unloading mental capacity to a reliable second brain helps us unclutter ideas for creation. He advocates using a reliable system to sort and organize all your ideas outside your brain - a second brain.
Through Building a Second Brain, we can make a framework that operates outside the construct of our physical brains. This framework can improve connecting ideas. You can learn more about the second brain here.
Forte's process encompasses all the above tips from famous bookworms, and he has boiled it down to three steps: capture, connect, and create. Sounds familiar, right?
Capture the ideas that resonated with you. Connect the ideas that you resonated with to your knowledge base. Then, create something new. Forte said that the ultimate goal of collecting ideas is to create and share them with the world.
Here in Nani Cafe, we have book reviews to share our thoughts about the books we read. Be sure to check out our digital library.
TL:DR; to put simply, you can remember more of what you read by: (1) capturing the ideas you resonated with; (2) connecting these ideas into your knowledge database (second brain); and (3) creating and sharing these connected ideas with the world. With that, I hope you remember more of what you read. To remembering more books, Beth
Comments