Feeding my Reading

December 4, 2005 4:19 PM

What do you retain and gain from casual reading? I was just looking over my mostly non-fiction bookshelf and a few questions came over me. Of all the hours I have spent reading all of this, how much have I really retained? I look back on books I have read and can remember the premise and theme, but as far as recalling all or even some of the many arguments, anecdotes, etc. included within the book, I don't have a clue. Do I have a incredibly bad 'reading' memory or is this a common occurence. And what am I really gaining from all of these hours spent reading if I have a scant recollection of it all? Am I being entertained in the moment? Becoming subconsiously wiser? Most of what I have read about intelligent reading seems too rigourous for a lazy sunday afternoon in the hammock. How can I remember what I read and extract the most value?
posted by jasondigitized to education (21 comments total)

Well, I just enjoy the act of reading -- experiencing the book's story in real time. That said, I discovered that there was a sort of tipping point for me. I might not remember all the details of a specific book, but once I became (in my 20s) a serious reader (a couple of books a week), all the books started running together (in a good way) and creating a pool of general knowledge in my head.

In my 30s, I started feeling like a generally well-informed person.
posted by grumblebee at 4:34 PM on December 4, 2005

I've always read a lot of fiction and non-fiction (about a book a day now, not counting classwork; in the past, it's been as high as three books a day or more), and I used to work in my local library. I guess in some ways I read primarily for entertainment, as I'm obviously more likely to read interesting books, and I like the way books fit into my day (five spare minutes before class starts, half an hour waiting for the bus, an afternoon under a blanket). I also like the other features of books -- small, portable, generally not heavy; they don't require equipment, and don't need to be recharged. Books also smell good.

I do think that I'm learning from the books, though. I tend to remember a lot of what I read -- if you mention a title of a book I read in middle school, I'm probably going to be able to give you the plot and theme, although I may forget characters' names. I may be unusual in that, though, and it's not a very useful skill. More than that, books let you know where to look for information. If I want to know about London's subterranean features, I go to Underground London; if I want a short history of nearly everything, I know I should get, well, A Short History of Nearly Everything.

More than that, I think, fiction opens your mind just by letting you experience life from a different POV. It's not an effect you notice ("Well! Now I know what life is like for an XYZ!"), but I think it's more likely to let you see both sides of any question that comes up in real life. I think that reading just generally makes you open to more experiences.
posted by booksandlibretti at 5:06 PM on December 4, 2005

It is not necessarily the same thing to remember what you read and to "extract the most value." It seems to me there are at least three things you can get out of reading. First, pleasure or stimulation during the act or reading. Second, information and ideas that feed the huge mass of information and ideas already in your head, changing the way you think about things in ways that can be extremely subtle or dramatic. And third, memorization of specific arguments and examples that you can reconstruct at a later time. All of these things are valid and useful. I think that unless you have an organic problem such as Alzheimer's disease, you are unlikely to accomplish only the first of these three things when you read a book. You will almost certainly accomplish the second as well. As for the third, I believe people vastly overrate its importance.

I think the way to begin is to figure out what you mean by extracting the most value. What do you want to get out of a book? It will vary from book to book. If you want to be able to recall all the arguments and facts from a book, you may have to read it several times.

If you want to maximize the impact of a book on the way you think, it's helpful to talk about the book with others, both while you're in the middle of it and afterward. This is a big part of the value of classes, book clubs, and study groups. It can also be helpful to keep a journal in which you record your thoughts about the book as they come to you. That doesn't mean taking notes; it means becoming aware of ideas and questions striking you and taking the time to write them down rather than just keep going. Just writing them down helps create synaptic connections, but reviewing them later and recording the reactions you have to your previous reactions can really be intellectually productive.

On the other hand, reading books just for the inherent pleasure of it is completely valid. Ignore anyone (including yourself) who tries to make you feel stupid because you forget some or most of what you've read. Life's too short for that nonsense.
posted by dh65 at 5:10 PM on December 4, 2005

I have the same problem, jason. One thing I noticed was your description "mostly nonfiction." I read much less fiction now than I used to, and I miss it. I feel compelled to keep up, I think, with the "real" world, but I fondly recall my days of fiction reading, and some of the books and characters.

In some significant way, there's more truth in fiction than nonfiction. More "space" to convey deep meaning, more to inspire thought, more to really remember.

Do you remember novels better than nonfiction? Maybe that's a clue to read more fiction. (Understand this is all spoken from a glass house: Do as I say, not as I do.)
posted by clicktosubmit at 5:14 PM on December 4, 2005

I worked at a place where the security guard at the front desk read tons of books and systematically copied each one into a notebook. I have no link, nor proof, but I recall reading someplace that you learn differently when you go through the process of writing something down- different pathways in the brain or something. Might be something to look into, but it sounds seriously unfun to me.
posted by pissfactory at 5:32 PM on December 4, 2005

Talk about it with other people. Even if they haven't read it, bring it up in conversation; and even if you don't, try to 'carry it' with you, applying it to your life and seeing what it means in that context, so that you could talk about it if you had to. Nietzsche used to talk about how, if you couldn't think about something while walking, you haven't really thought about it.

The first time I really loved Moby Dick, I saw it everywhere, in everything I did. It came back to me at every moment of the day. I don't know if that's what you're looking for, but that helped me. And if a book doesn't do anything for you, why read it?
posted by koeselitz at 5:37 PM on December 4, 2005

You don't have to remember facts to learn from books. You will see things from another person's perspective, which will teach you more than remembering the action will.
posted by Airhen at 5:42 PM on December 4, 2005

Sometimes I take nothing from a book, like Delilo's Underworld. I remember nothing from that book.

But other books never leave me, maybe a passage, maybe a character. Maybe a poem recited forever.

And like others have said above, sometimes it is just really fun. Bright Lights Big City may not change your life, but its a lot of fun to read.

And, being a better reader is never a bad thing. You may form better arguments, get a few words to add to your arsenal, maybe learn something about yourself you never knew.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 5:47 PM on December 4, 2005

What do you mean by retain? You can't list by rote all the arguments of each book at the drop of a hat -- but when a situation arises where a point made in one of those books is relevant, you probably remember the point (even if you don't realize that's what's happening).
posted by winston at 6:09 PM on December 4, 2005

I identify with what you're saying. Even though I was an English major, specific plot details, points of argument, names, etc., tend to fall away from of my brain. I have made my peace with it, though, because I have a compensatory skill: I have kind of an uncanny memory for where I read almost everything. I can remember the topic or basic thrust of just about every magazine or newspaper article, poem, or work of fiction or nonfiction I've ever read in my adult life, which allows me to search and retrieve just about all this information when I want to. In a way, I think that's more valuable than remembering each element or detail of a smaller number of works. I feel like I can hold command over more information by retaining a sense of scope over thousands of resources, rather than exact plot elements of maybe a few hundred.

Even if I couldn't do this, though, I would still feel the reading was valuable because it builds new synaptic connections. New ideas and expressions expand the brain, making it more able to think more combinations of new thoughts. Every experience you have does this, of course, but reading is a wonderfully efficient way of expanding the brain's capability without necessarily leaving home.
posted by Miko at 7:05 PM on December 4, 2005

Sometimes I'll read a book I haven't read in ten or fifteen years and come across a phrase and think, "So THAT's where I got that idea." You aren't necessarily aware of the connections you make based on what you've read in the past.
posted by callmejay at 7:54 PM on December 4, 2005

I have found that if I just read a book with no context I don't retain much beyond some facts and figures. If I have context for it, a class, another book, a discussion I retain a lot more. And my memory is horrible in general- I was never able to learn from textbooks in college, and stopped buying them pretty much my second year. Therefore I end up going back and re-reading a lot of books once I know more about the subject. Same with fiction: novels I really enjoyed with excellent characters? I can probably quote long sections verbatim, pulp fiction books OTOH I can read over and over as I retain nothing.
posted by fshgrl at 8:07 PM on December 4, 2005

I agree, context is key. I tend to read in pockets- I like an author, so I read everything they've written. Then I see they're really interested in this topic, so I find some books on that topic. One of those books mentions this other book... and so on, and so forth. I like seeing how things connect.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:29 PM on December 4, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

I've got two ideas for you. I used to teach speed reading, and reading fast doesn't do you much good without retention. A surefire way to increase rentention is to talk about the books to other people. But other people aren't always around or interested, so you can get the same effect by stopping at the end of each chapter and repeating what you remember out loud. This forces you to a) assimilate the material into your own concepts as opposed to only the author's and b) hear the material again, both increasing the number of times you encounter it and the number of senses you encounter it with. If a chapter is too much at first, that's fine. I recommend ratcheting up. Try doing it at the end of each section, each page, or even each paragraph if your memory needs a lot of work.

Second, especially for non-fiction, I do really like Adler's book. Assimilating the structure of the book or chapter before you read it will increase your retention. And after you've done it consciously for just a little while (like a month) it will be very easy to do it Sunday in the hammock. I found upon reading Adler's book it was all stuff I already knew, but it was good to elevate it to a conscious level if only to know what to do when I started lapsing into old ways.
posted by ontic at 9:25 PM on December 4, 2005

One, much of what you read, becomes part of your subconscious and builds on other things you read.

Unless you process some of the data (copying things you find interesting, being tested, discussion groups) you'll have difficulty remembering the information, particularly if it's not of any immediate use. You're a good generalist, and yes, it's hard to know what you'll need to know. It'd be great if everyone read about book about survival before crashing on a desert Island.

Two, fiction, is often experiential - sure it's the story, but it's also about how a storyteller presents information, gives you insights to both their characters and yourself.

Want to 'retain' more? Each new book, write a paragraph per chapter, in a single notebook. Now, once a week or so, take five minutes and refresh a 'book' in your head.

I wish I had done that. :(
posted by filmgeek at 9:36 PM on December 4, 2005

For me, reading is a way to make sense of the world (and occasionally have fun doing so). I used to have an almost photographic memory. This has dimished somewhat now that I'm in my 30s, but I still retain way more than most people. I find that I'm able to pull information from parts of my brain and use it to make sense of situations.

I majored in English. From childhood to university graduation, I read several fiction books a week. When I finished my undergrad, I suddenly went on a "fiction strike". I quit reading fiction. I then became obsessed with "practical" books, like those focused on marketing, business, and computers. This continued for about 8 years. Once I finished my masters and had a baby, I suddenly regained an interest in fiction. I'm not quite reading at my old pace, but I suddenly find poetry and fiction interesting again. And, aside from baby books, I'm not quite so interested in non-fiction. Perhaps this is because I've remembered once again that there's more to life than a paid career.
posted by acoutu at 9:45 PM on December 4, 2005

I think generally you can remember much, much more information in practice when something related comes up rather than thinking about what you got from the book. In fact, even right after you read the book you'd be able to come up with much more information when quizzed about what you learned as opposed to being asked to describe it yourself. I'd say I retain the majority of a book permanently for situational knowledge, and maybe 10% that I could list on cue (I use the word "permanently" with very low authority since I'm only 17).
posted by abcde at 9:59 PM on December 4, 2005

Read books in the same field of knowledge. I find I get more from books where I already know something about the area, and as I read I can say things like "that's interesting, book X thought Y - how does this compare?" First book on a subject - in one eye and out the other, why did I read that? Fifth - you'll be posting on MetaFilter as a world expert! (ahem)
posted by alasdair at 2:48 AM on December 5, 2005

Sometimes my gf likes for me to read aloud a chapter of the book I'm reading to help her fall asleep, and she often asks questions about the plot (if it's fiction) or the concepts (nonfiction) covered in the book, which forces me do an inventory of what I've read and understood up to that point. I've noticed this whole process helps me retain what I've read much better. So I think ontic's on to something. Now I just have to start reading whole books to her or father a child to read to.
posted by Devils Slide at 2:56 AM on December 5, 2005

I definitely learn things from non-fiction, casual reading. I've picked up a lot about different cultures from reading books set in countries other than the U.S. Or with characters from different cultures. I'm positive that I've learned more history by reading historical fiction than I ever did in history classes in school. And I read a lot of crime/mystery/forensic novels which has taught me about forensic evidence science.

Now, in each of these cases I'm sure some of what I read isn't accurate. But over time, the same "facts" come up again and again, and I guess I'm assuming that the repeated ones are fairly accurate.

I don't read these books in order to learn anything. They're just for pleasure. I've just realized that I have picked up stuff over the years when I've thought to myself, now where the heck did I learn that?

I'm also pretty sure that my above-average spelling skills and bigger-than-average vocabulary is due to reading a lot, and that includes non-serious reading.

Even without any of those "gains", don't you consider the enjoyment you get out of reading "gaining something"?
posted by INTPLibrarian at 1:49 PM on December 5, 2005

The non-fiction books I read tend to be written by journalists for a general audience. Usually they are more interested in facts and ideas than great themes and writing. I share fun trivia I come across as I read. I have a mind for trivia, and I tend to remember weird and quirky facts. On the rare occasions where I'm reading an incredibly well-written non-fiction book, I have a hard time not raving, talking and writing about it.

I just finished "The Guns of August," and I was constantly amazed by parallels between strategic decisions made 91 years ago in Europe and strategic decisions being made in the Middle East today. There was no way I could read this stuff and keep it to myself. Everyone I talk to learned about that book until I was through with it.

With fiction, I try to think about every book I read and fit it into my greater understanding of literature. I think about how it's written -- the language. I think about major themes. I think about characters. I look for literary allusions. As I'm reading, I share significant impressions with people around me. If I know anyone else who has read the book, I talk to them when I'm done to share impressions. Even if I don't know anyone who's read it, I blog my impressions. Specifically thinking about the book in a meta- context, then talking and writing about it, helps a lot with memory retention.

When I read Faulkner for the first time last year, his writing blew my mind. I don't think I could have not talked about it. My memories of his books are tied in with my memories of conversations about his books.

That said, I do tend to forget characters' names and a lot of nitty gritty plot details not long after I finish a book. Sweeping impressions, thoughts about themes, memories of great or mediocre writing, basic plot outlines -- these things stick with me. That's enough, as fars as I'm concerned.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 10:20 PM on December 9, 2005