7 Ways to Remember What You Read
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Reading is one of the best ways to learn, develop and change. However, the immense benefits of reading are only as great as one’s ability to remember and process the information. Nothing is more frustrating than reading a great book and not being able to recall any of the major points a year or even a month later. It makes the whole process seem like a huge waste.
My family are all avid readers and they instilled that passion in me. I try to read at least 2 books a month, but often more. Over the past few years I’ve made a much greater effort to be more intentional about my reading, making sure to get the most out of the process. Here is some of the best advice I’ve come across when it comes to remembering what you read:
1) Read With the Goal of Teaching Someone Else – My friend Glenn has one of the most brilliant minds I know. He can read a book and process the information, quickly adapting new ideas into his life and teaching others along the way. The secret to Glenn’s ability started during his childhood. Every weekend his family would go to the local library to read. During dinner they would teach the other members of the family what they learned that day. This ritual formed a wonderful habit in Glenn of reading comprehensively in order to teach someone else. He had to constantly think, “How will I be able to explain the main ideas of this book to others.” In doing so he delved deep into the book and the information stuck with him.
2) Read the Last Chapter First – This one is more geared towards non-fiction as I can already hear people screaming, “But it’ll ruin the ending!” At the end of most books is a summary chapter that gives the main ideas and how they all tie together. By reading this first you are then able to catch these ideas and themes more easily as you go through the book. It also allows you to read like the author would read his own book, with a full understanding of where everything is going.
3) Take Notes – Lots of people utilize this technique in school, but let it go when they toss their caps at graduation. Taking notes allows a reader to right down key points, themes and memorable quotes. In doing so the information is then processed twice, once when read and once when written. This gives the reader a much greater chance of remembering. My friend Beau uses a pencil to mark and highlight in the book as he reads and then transfers this information into Google Docs. He has a great summary of his method here.
4) Read When You’re Awake – Most people read right before they go to bed. After a long day, they’re usually tired and hardly in the best state to process and retain information. By reading at other times throughout the day chances are their minds would work much better. If you are a night person maybe it is the best time for you to read. The important thing is to know your body and know what times of day are best for thinking and concentrating. Try to schedule your reading during these times and you will give yourself a much better chance of remembering what you read.
5) Discuss What You’re Reading – Some of the books we remember most vividly are those that we read in our high school English class. Why? It is the practice of nearly every teacher to have lively class discussions and debates over each section of a book. In discussing the book we were able to process the information as a group, bouncing ideas off each other and hearing different perspectives. All of these made us use the information in various ways cementing it in our minds and helping us remember. Most of us are no longer in high school, but the options are endless. Join a book club, or if you have a good group of friends, start one. Discuss the book online in book forums or in a social networking group like Facebook. The important thing is to talk about what you’re reading.
6) Read the Cliff Notes First – We’re not in high school anymore, so it’s not cheating. Especially for some of the classics, reading the cliff notes before starting the book can provide all kids of insight into characters, themes, symbolism and author background. By reading these things beforehand you are helping ensure that you won’t miss them as you read the book. Another benefit of reading summaries is the mental debate you will have each time you reach a controversial section as you ask yourself whether you agree with the conventional interpretations.
7) Find Your Reading Environment – Sometimes more important than how you are reading is where you are reading. Is the television on? Are the kids crawling all over you? Do you do your best reading on the airplane? Some things can’t be helped, but finding a good reading environment goes a long way. I had never thought much about where I read until reading a great post Ben Casnocha wrote on optimizing activity for location a couple months ago. He explained, “…when thinking about what you’re going to do, think about where you’re going to be, and how that place will affect your productivity at completing the activity.” Find your reading environment and enjoy remembering what you read.
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34 comments
Great tips. As an avid reader, I concur especially with #3,4, and 7.
I try to read when my attention is focused. I have a few places that I like to escape to so that I can relax and read. I also take notes quite a lot.
Actually, I have found that if you really want to learn something, or are studying for an exam, writing out the important points works wonders. I think because it involves so much more activity – transferring what you read to a motor skill (writing).
Thanks,
Mark
Mark,
I completely agree, trying to read when you aren’t focused is really unproductive. You find yourself reading the same page over and over and having no idea what you just read.
-Cameron
Cameron,
Good article! I read a lot and retaining it all can be a challenge. I find that by writing on topics that I read about it helps. I guess this goes along with the idea of reading with the ideas you listed about teaching or discussing it with someone else.
I gave this a Stumble!
Jeff
cam,
yet again, great ideas well-synthesized and distilled for us. i liked your thought on reading the last chapter first. i’ve never done it, but so often have wished that i had once i had gotten to the end of the book. it allows us to “read like the author does”…what a great insight. peace.
Great ideas, Cam. Here’s another. Create a concept web as you are reading. I like the visual and diagrammatical nature of a web. See my mindmapping blog entry for more: http://oneviewgt.blogspot.com/2007/12/joys-of-mindmapping.html
Catharine,
I never thought of that, but it’s a great idea! It’s just one more way of processing the information, but very good for all of us visual learners. I really want to try mindmapping, sounds incredibly interesting. Thanks so much for the comment!
-Cameron
Cam-
I found this entry to be really insightful and very applicable to my personal life. I generally don’t read a lot of books, but I do study a lot, a fact of life you are very well acquainted with. I found points 1,3, and 4 to be most beneficial for my personal studying. As I read, I frequently will talk about the lesson I just learned, as if I were in a public forum, trying to teach others, a la a college professor, for example. I also am a big fan of taking notes, and in fact I type out all my notes on word documents; this technique has served two purposes in that it forces me to rephrase the lessons I just learned in my own words, and I can use these documents in the future as study guides. As far as #4, I am a morning person and am probably 50% more likely to retain what I read in the morning as opposed to what I read at night.
I combine a few of your ideas in the following way: I read, and highlight/underline key quotes. I then blog a review of the book, putting in some of the best quotes so I can remember where they came from. By doing this, I remember them as I go along since I plan on posting them and my analysis/opinion later on.
Sam,
Writing a review of the book is one of the best ways to rehash the key ideas and help cement them in your mind. I enjoy doing Amazon reviews from time to time and agree it is a big help. Thanks for the great thoughts!
Great post. I have a large collection of books and I find that I write key topics down or write a post in my blog about what I gained from the book to share with others.
Cam,
Fantastic post! As I read more, I continually look for new ways to retain information and leave a book inspired.
I especially like the last one because I think finding the “right” environment is different for everyone. I find it very hard to get a lot done on airplanes (especially in the middle seat)
I mainly read in bed, but I’m working to expand my comfort zone to other locations. A comfortable recliner is a good spot as well.
I have also found that reading the chapter listings is quite helpful. We often follow the typical way of reading a book from cover to cover because that’s the way we learned it, when in reality you must prompt your mind for what you are about to learn.
Brian,
I had not thought of reading the chapter listings, but it is a good idea. Another way of knowing where the book is going so you can spend brain bytes elsewhere. Thanks for the great comments!
-Cameron
hi Cam, I am glad to have Stumbled Upon Your article. I am sure my readers’ would enjoy your tips and will put a link on my blog. Thanks for the great ideas! Paula
@ Paula,
Thanks so much for visiting and for the kind words. I’m glad you found the article useful! I checked out your blog and it looks as though you are an incredible reader, thanks for the link. I’ll be interested to see if you readers have anything to add.
-Cameron
Hi Cam,
I liked your write up a lot. I am a voracious reader and like books with new ideas. For me application of these new ideas is extremely important. Some time ago i started to realise that i remembered very little of the ideas and thus most of the reading time went waste. I have now started creating summaries for each the books i read. i try to make a sure that each summary is not more than 2-3 typed pages.While this means it takes me far longer to complete a book, it also forces me to structure my new learnings in a meaningful way and also provides me with an immediate reference to any idea that i want to use without having to re-read the whole book. The best part is since i have to read the book at leat 2-3 times to make the summary, it shows new dimensions to the same ideas and thereby allows them to cement.
GREAT POST. VERY HELPFUL. THANKS FOR SHARING THE THOUGHTS. GOOD LUCK
Thumbs Up to you 
Perhaps it’s just me, but shouldn’t “right” in #3 actually be “write”.
Interesting.
ehh not bothered just read the feckin thing if u want to
Great list! I started doing #3 about a year ago and it’s made a big difference. I wish I’d been doing it my whole life.
[...] How to Remember What You Read. [...]
In number 6, you stated “reading the cliff notes before starting the book can provide all kids of insight into characters, themes, symbolism and author background.”
I believe you were meaning to use the word “kinds”
Eric,
Good catch…I did, in fact, mean “kinds”
Great post. I read so much that it sometimes feels in my mind as though I weave all the books together to compose a new one! I liked tip #3, along with Beau’s summary of note taking. I gave this a Stumble.
@ Janet,
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Taking notes is something I’ve used off and on for the past few years with a good amount of success. One of the best parts about taking notes aside from helping you remember what you read is having quick summaries to jump back to when you’re trying to remember highlights from the book.
Thanks for the Stumble!
-Cameron
hiya, thanks for linking to my books pic, would be great if you could also include an attribution as required by the creative commons licence,
cheers
pindec
@ pindec,
I thought I did that by having it say “Photo by pindec” when you place your cursor over the picture, I was told by others that was sufficient, but please let me know if it isn’t. Thanks
Good picture by the way!
good post
The way I remember and also improve my typing speed simultaneously is to find the TXT version of the story at Gutenberg.org. Then I use a typing program like Master Key, and type out the entire book. I also use Spark Notes or Cliff Notes online if I want to understand further. The tip with reading the book with the intention of teaching it to someone else is great. I hate it when I read something good, and then can’t tell a friend about why I like it or dislike it accurately.
Whatever you gave above was helpful but I have a genuine problem. The problem is that when i see a movie today I could remember parts of the movie even after 2 or 3 years. I’m doing my Masters and I’m having a hard time remembering the page I read yesterday..! I sometimes take down important points even though I know I won’t remember it. Some people tell me that you don’t concentrate properly. I really can’t understand what to do? Please help me.
@ Ankit,
It sounds like you’ve answered the question yourself – you are a visual learner. Since you learn through images I would recommend finding a way to transform the things you read into visual representations.
Whether it’s actually drawing images of important points/characters yourself as you read or using mindmapping programs to map our complex ideas, it seems like if you can “see” what you’re reading you’ll have a much better chance of retaining it.
[...] 7 Ways to Remember What You Read @ Schaefer’s Blog [...]
[...] 24, 2009 by Rebecca This post was found at Schaefer’s Blog: Lessons in Skilled Living and was written by Cameron [...]
i likr these tips.i hope , i will get benefit of it.
thank you…
hy,
All the things suggested above article is very useful for us. Regularly habiting of these things we do our carrier very well.
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