Why do we forget so much of what we read in books? Is there a secret to remembering?
In a recent video essay, I explain why what we already know has a much stronger influence on how much we’re able to remember than our intelligence does:
Reading More = Reading Better
A common confusion I see is the apparent contrast between reading lots of books and reading fewer books more deeply.
When my team and I released a video detailing my AHAB approach [1] to reading more books (the method that helped me get through 105 books during my Foundations [2] project), I got some comments pushing back on the idea of reading so much. Shouldn’t the focus be on quality, not quantity?
There is some truth to this. Reading a ton of lowbrow novels or uninformative books won’t give you the insights you’d get by reading Tolstoy or Aristotle.
But, in another sense, this creates a somewhat imaginary trade-off between the quantity of knowledge one possesses and its quality.
In reality, the best way to read harder books is to read more books, including books that are less sophisticated but give one a path into harder works.
What Sorts of Books Should You Read to Read Better?
If there is any true quality/quantity trade-off, it’s less about reading more or less sophisticated books, and more about reading more accurate ones.
As I discussed in this essay [3], the problem with compounding knowledge is that if you start with books that are misleading—books that fail to represent the best available evidence, or which present a viewpoint that few knowledgeable people hold—you can end up down a self-reinforcing cycle of misleading books. In the worst case, you may end up even less informed than someone who just parrots the soundbites they hear on television.
This is why I’m such a fan of textbooks and survey courses, both of which are designed to give an introduction to a topic, and are carefully written so as to try to represent the broad consensus of a field. Lately, one of my favorite series is the Very Short Introductions [4] from Oxford University Press. These books are good, short, and pack a surprising density of information without being overwhelming for non-experts. I particularly liked the ones on the science of sleep [5], geology [6] and the philosophy of Hegel [7].
The Paradox of Forgetting
Another common confusion I’ve seen comes from people who, recognizing how much they tend to forget from books they read, believe they must invest in creating some kind of elaborate note-taking system before they read any more books.
Note-taking systems can be wonderful. I’ve used many different ones over the years, from sprawling, interconnected Zettelkasten [8] systems to creating minimal, one-page documents for books I’ve read. For some people they work really well. But for others, the note-taking itself becomes an impediment to simply reading more books.
While somewhat less common, retrieval practice—transforming books and study materials into endless flashcards—can create the same problems. It is true that reading the same book, multiple times tends to be less effective than practicing retrieval. And it is also true that practice is essential for mastery.
But, reading itself involves retrieval! One of the key findings of the science of reading comprehension [9] is that reading depends on retrieving knowledge just as much as it depends on decoding text. Reading is an active process in which we are constantly merging what is in the text with what we already know.
Whether you invest in elaborate mnemonics, flashcards or note taking systems, remember that the key to remembering more is knowing more, and the key to knowing more is reading more. Knowledge compounds, and the best way to get the flywheel spinning is to read more books.
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My friend, David Kadavy, has a new book Finish What Matters [10].
I can remember early conversations David and I had when he started working on this book. He describes people as “Rafaels” or “Leonardos” depending on whether they’re committed finishers vs prolific starters of projects. I’m happy to see these ideas finally in print. Be sure to check it out if you’d like some insights into your own psychology and practical advice to see major projects to completion.