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I'm a little disappointed with the approach this article takes to it's main thesis, which is that the "majority" don't remember what they read. He writes "anecd
by mentat 16y ago
I'm a little disappointed with the approach this article takes to it's main thesis, which is that the "majority" don't remember what they read. He writes "anecdotal evidence suggests" twice in the only part that justifies his own experience. Is this really the case? (Not that I'm going to get better than anecdotal evidence here.) There's a false dichotomy there too where either you retain everything or nothing.
For me I still remember the plot lines of books I read 20 years ago and why they were formative to my character. Is that really that unusual? Given these were mostly fiction and science fiction books, but the conceptual spaces they opened up for me are so key to who I am now it would be bizarre if I just "forgot" them. Just to cite one instance, the Dune series of books got me thinking about the intersection of politics, economics, the expansion of consciousness, ecology, the point of human existence, and other subjects. Surely other people here have had those same experiences and remember them?
- jordyhoyt 16y agoI have definitely had similar experiences and can remember fiction and non-fiction I read from when I was in jr high school like I'd just read it yesterday (24 now). I can recall the plots and what I took away from each. This article and most of this thread is just bizarre to me.
- Terretta 16y agoYou're not alone. I'm baffled by the premise of a book's memory gone after a month. Even junk fiction, like the 30+ mostly generic Alistair MacLean thrillers I read in high school 25 years ago, are easily recallable. I'm also skeptical at so many comments here agreeing with the article. Perhaps it's a selection bias. I talk books with lots of people and no one has mentioned this phenomenon.
- archangel_one 16y agoI agree, I would never forget a book after only a month. I know that I have an above-average memory but can't imagine that most people would forget them in such a short time. If people did, the literature section of the average pub quiz would be a heck of a lot harder than they are now :)