I don’t think it’s possible to retain all of the information of all of the books you read.
Demosthenes_9687 on
In my experience, you don’t. Can’t say I’ve read thousands but I’ve read A LOT of books and I’d be lucky to tell you the details of more than half of them 😂 I can remember the general idea of what it was about but certain aspects of it get lost with time/replaced by the newest books I’ve read. Unless the specific book was too good to forget. I mostly read fiction though so not sure about scientific, self help, etc.
SannySen on
I haven’t read 10,000, but I’ve read maybe a thousand non-fiction books across a wide range of subjects. What I generally retain is the understanding of the modes of thought / high level points made in the books. I’ll forget the facts and particular arguments, but I’ll remember there were facts or arguments, and I’ll sometimes remember approximately where in the book I can find them (e.g., towards the end of the chapter on XYZ). I sometimes get really excited about a particular book and go around telling everyone I know all about it. That helps with recollection of the book. For the more tedious ones, if I’m not talking to anyone about it, then my memory of it is more likely to degrade faster.
sufferinsuttree on
Notes and/or reviews. I might not retain all the info but I retain my notes and can easily refer to those if I want to recall something.
redog92 on
I read a lot of non fiction and don’t remember explicit details, but I usually have 3-4 key takeaways from each book. They also provide a lot of context for current events, which helps develop a more well rounded worldview.
5 Comments
I don’t think it’s possible to retain all of the information of all of the books you read.
In my experience, you don’t. Can’t say I’ve read thousands but I’ve read A LOT of books and I’d be lucky to tell you the details of more than half of them 😂 I can remember the general idea of what it was about but certain aspects of it get lost with time/replaced by the newest books I’ve read. Unless the specific book was too good to forget. I mostly read fiction though so not sure about scientific, self help, etc.
I haven’t read 10,000, but I’ve read maybe a thousand non-fiction books across a wide range of subjects. What I generally retain is the understanding of the modes of thought / high level points made in the books. I’ll forget the facts and particular arguments, but I’ll remember there were facts or arguments, and I’ll sometimes remember approximately where in the book I can find them (e.g., towards the end of the chapter on XYZ). I sometimes get really excited about a particular book and go around telling everyone I know all about it. That helps with recollection of the book. For the more tedious ones, if I’m not talking to anyone about it, then my memory of it is more likely to degrade faster.
Notes and/or reviews. I might not retain all the info but I retain my notes and can easily refer to those if I want to recall something.
I read a lot of non fiction and don’t remember explicit details, but I usually have 3-4 key takeaways from each book. They also provide a lot of context for current events, which helps develop a more well rounded worldview.