The title is definitely click-baity although the author is a bit more charitable towards books in content. I feel he is too harsh on books by judging them again

The title is definitely click-baity although the author is a bit more charitable towards books in content. I feel he is too harsh on books by judging them against unrealistic expectations. We can't remember everything we read from a book, much less explain it like a domain expert, but that is not the point of book reading. To me, books (at least the pop-sci books) are never about transfer of exact mental models, they function like a chisel to shape one's intuitions and understanding according to one's own disposition. Even though the aggregate effect on public tend to converge (for e.g, acceptance of evolution), it is hardly a case that everyone will have exact mental representation of a theory. Only place where the knowledge transfer can be (and should be) exact, is research and knowledge work domains (such as tech documentation). In such environments there is an incentive for the reader to engage with the material and the mental model of majority of the readers tends to be sufficiently homogeneous due to prior training. So the said shortcomings don't take place there. Earlier, I too carried that feeling that I didn't remember much after reading and wondered whether there was any benefit from spending time on books. This turned out to be a cold-start problem because as more I read, cognitive structures started to form and I was more receptive to fresh ideas. New ideas, by means of comparing and juxtaposing against each existing ones, had a better chance of settling down in a proper cognitive framework and consequently a better chance of recall. For example reading Harari, Dawkins and Haidt roughly around the same period, strengthened my understanding of each's ideas as if they were all part of one giant discussion, although they were books on different topics and sometimes they contradicted each other. Also it is important to engage in dialogue with a book, be it by participating in book clubs, online reviews or even simple note taking. Recently I switched to reading books on my mobile, I can't describe how much it has transformed my whole reading experience. My ebooks are littered with notes, questions and pointers which I know I will never let anyone see. Just an act of trying to compare or contradict an author in your personal note, can make you internalize the concepts and restructure your existing understanding. It is like solving a problem on blackboard. Now I prefer to buy books from Google Playstore even if I can get the same book for free from a local library. And I plan to post reviews on the books I read, by pouring through my notes and re-reading the important points from the books. In my experience, the second read is often more rewarding than the first.