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Why We Forget Most of the Books We Read
- yarapavan 9y agoIn “Binge-Reading Disorder,” an article for The Morning News, Nikkitha Bakshani analyzes the meaning of this statistic. “Reading is a nuanced word,” she writes, “but the most common kind of reading is likely reading as consumption: where we read, especially on the internet, merely to acquire information. Information that stands no chance of becoming knowledge unless it ‘sticks.’” Or, as Horvath puts it: “It’s the momentary giggle and then you want another giggle. It’s not about actually learning anything. It’s about getting a momentary experience to feel as though you’ve learned something.”
- WheelsAtLarge 9y agoOur brains are built to forget so anything that's considered unimportant is likely to be forgotten. A perfect example is why we can enjoy the same TV shows many many times, not just once. With video or film, we are saturated with information, there's no way we can capture everything we see and hear and even what's capture is quickly forgotten since it's mostly unimportant. With books, most of us read books at a very comfortable place and pace. Also, we read at relatively fast pace vs our ability to analyze so we understand but don't send the knowledge to our long-term memory. At best we can give a fast summary of what was read, something like a 300 pg book into a few paragraphs- even if we re-read a book. So, in essence, we read for entertainment, not education or recall. The only way to fight forgetfulness is to slow down and analyze, summarise and recall. Start thinking in terms of book reports. Another possibility is to read many books on the same subject but even then you have to fight the urge to ignore something because you think you know it. Reading for education and recall is not a given you have to work at it.