Tips for retaining what you read?

[mo2]

So, I read. I read all the time. But 2 weeks later you could ask me what a book that I read was about, and I would only be able to give you a very general idea. The details would all be gone from my memory by then. What might help me to retain more of what I read? Any tips or tricks that I could try?

[Beth in Central TX]

I keep a reading journal. It's a basic spiral bound notebook where I record the date, title, author, and a one sentence synopsis for each chapter (that's my goal anyway) for each book that I read. I also include any good quotes that I want to remember or reference later. Sometimes, I actually write in the margins of the book, which allows me to quickly flip through the book and re-read my notes to jog my memory.

[Quiver0f10]

I keep a reading journal. It's a basic spiral bound notebook where I record the date, title, author, and a one sentence synopsis for each chapter (that's my goal anyway) for each book that I read. I also include any good quotes that I want to remember or reference later. Sometimes, I actually write in the margins of the book, which allows me to quickly flip through the book and re-read my notes to jog my memory.

 

 

I just started doing this too and it really does help.

[kpupg]

Write up discussion questions for your students. That'll imprint it right in there :)

Karen

[Moira in MA]

I read with post-it flags available. I mark passages I think are significant. After I finish the book, I review the flags and select one or more to record w/my response in a commonplace book.

 

I also record, title-author-pub date of everything I read at the back of the same book.

 

This is not a lot of work but it makes me a much more active reader and it's really great to be able to find the stuff I want to share with dh and/or the girls.

 

hth

~Moira

[Jayne J]

I third or fourth note taking. If I don't write it I don't remember it. However, my dh can't remember as well unless he hears a thing, so getting your books on tape may also help. So can paraphrasing, even if you don't write it--try to think about how you would summmarize chapter or event. (Yes, talk to, and talk back to, your book! :D) Finally, maybe you could find a partner to read the book also, then discuss it. You may retain more, if you know you have a discussion coming up.

I am much the same way, in that I can read a ton of books and not remember anything but the vaguest of outlines. I realized at some point that I was not really engaging the work--I was just "zoning out" with a book and not thinking about what I was reading, not making it mine or working to understand/retain any of it. When I started treating a book as a conversation rather than a preoccupation, my retention went up.

BTW, I don't read everything that way. Some books are just preoccupations.:lol: