reading effectively and efficiently

December 30, 2006 6:59 PM

when i read one book i usually read it once to enjoy it, read it a second time to pull out the bits i need to remember and then a third time to fully understand those bits. This is ok when i only have one book to read in one month but when i have 3 books per week to get through how do i make retention more effective. I would ideally prefer to just do one read but im sure id forget everything or be confused byt the end of the first read. Ive thought about using stickies to help me highlight the most important of things but not sure what i should be doing with em. has anyone got a good system of annotating or reading quiclky effectively? That may sound like a simple question but i always thought the to do list was simple untill getting things done showed how primitive it was, perhaps theres something for anotating that will speed up finding the juicy bits of info 2nd time roudn. Ive heard of speed reading but know little of the method. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
posted by thegeezer3 to Education (10 answers total)

There are a ton of other askme questions on this topic.
posted by MeetMegan at 7:31 PM on December 30, 2006

My system with stickies: start with about 20 of them. Once they are all used, I copy the quotes down into a scratch text file on my laptop. (Amazon's 'search inside' feature is invaluable for this.) Rinse & repeat until there are enough quotes to start putting into categories. The last step is posting all these into my blog. Example: my notes on "Ragtime" & "Freakonomics". ('<<' points to a previous entry on this book.)
posted by of strange foe at 7:45 PM on December 30, 2006

I take notes as I go on a yellow legal pad, sometimes marking the book I'm reading with small sticky flags as I go (especially if I'll soon be writing about it). At the top of the first page of the legal pad goes bibliographical information for the source, and (for fiction) a list of characters, in diagram form if it's a play. In the middle or bottom of page one goes a quick summary of the book, written (mostly) after I finish. On subsequent pages go notes taken as I read, in order, marked with page numbers and stars, for important items.

This leaves me with handwritten rather than computer searchable notes, but it's what I'm used to doing and it works pretty well. My notes go in a file cabinet, and I've found that it's very useful having notes on things you've read years later. Otoh, I tend to do ok reading things through a single time; yet perhaps this method helps me avoid some re-reading I'd otherwise need to do.
posted by washburn at 8:04 PM on December 30, 2006

I find this helps: taking breaks and mentally reviewing what I have just read, and getting it out of my head. Sometimes I'll write down a one or two paragraph summary. Sometimes I'll talk to someone about it, summarizing the details and possibly sharing how they might pertain to our lives or other things we're interested in.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:39 PM on December 30, 2006

red ball point pen
posted by neuron at 10:45 PM on December 30, 2006

I've been struggling with this for a long time, and I think I finally came up with a solution that'll work for me.

I set up a private wiki using pbwiki. Since I generally have my laptop in close reach all of the time, it's easy for me just to fire up the internets and jot some notes down in the wiki. This can include page numbers, links to Wikipedia and Google searches, links to tags I've set up on del.icio.us having to do with the same topic I'm reading about, etc., etc.

Now I'm in the (extremely rewarding) process of copying pages of notes onto the wiki, dating as far back as college.
posted by roll truck roll at 11:49 PM on December 30, 2006

Are you talking about reading fiction or nonfiction? I assume this is for a class.

If you don't mind spoilers, why not read a little *about* the book before you actually read the book? This will help you understand what others have gained from the book, give you an idea as to what are considered the most important themes and how most scholars interpret the book before you even begin reading. Of course, what you *don't* what to do is just regurgitate all those opinions in your class discussions and papers.

I'm not talking Sparknotes here. What about finding editions with good forwords, or reviews in literary journals. If you do some research beforehand, then you can probably do a much more effective job at adding stickies and such in your first reading of the book.
posted by folara at 11:59 PM on December 30, 2006

I would strongly recommend to read How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education - Questia Online Library. If you want a more practical advice, you should visit Matt's Idea Blog: How to read a lot of books in a short time. I found the solution Jason Womack proposes especially helpful.
posted by pu9iad at 1:45 AM on December 31, 2006

For non-fictional reading I always used the following approach:

Read the introduction/abstract and the conclusion first, then proceed to the first and last sentences of paragraphs and any graphs/tables - STOP.

This should be enough to give you an overview. It highlights what you need to read in more detail and what you can easily skip...

In terms of notes this should be enough to give you high level notes (with gaps to fill in where you have decided to read the detail) and should even point you in the direction of good bits to quote...

It also highlights if something is written poorly, lacks structure/inherent logic and is thus a pain to read/easily criticised in your essay/report...

As to working with the text - I always liked to use a pencil, underlining as I go - pencil can be erased (even from library books)!

Although my student days are long gone I still apply this approach at work. At times I have to read legal documents - if I as non-lawyer cannot work out what the document is trying to do within 10 minutes it tells me I need to get advice on it!
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:35 AM on December 31, 2006

The little yellow legal pads have always worked for me, the ones that are something like four inches by five. You can buy huge packages of them at Sam's Club. They approximate the size of many books, so you can sort of tuck them in the book until you're ready to make a note.
posted by jayder at 8:18 PM on December 31, 2006