> Often things go well at first. I’ll feel I can sketch the basic claims, paint the surface; but when someone asks a basic probing question, the edifice instant

> Often things go well at first. I’ll feel I can sketch the basic claims, paint the surface; but when someone asks a basic probing question, the edifice instantly collapse That to me doesn't sound like someone complaining about not remembering what they read, but someone complaining that they can't backup the arguments that they now consider their own. Books aren't meant to transfer the author's knowledge to the reader they're meant to offer an abstraction of the author's knowledge to the reader. The writer of this post has no trouble remembering the abstraction, but without more effort the abstraction cannot be backed up. In order to really make knowledge your own you have to do serious work. You can't just read one book.