How Bill Gates remembers what he reads

Bill Gates is a voracious reader. In conversation with him, it's striking how frequently he cites things he's read. So he doesn't just read a lot of books, but he remembers what he reads as well.

We recently asked Gates how he does it, and he has a very specific approach, as you can see in the video above.

To start, Gates recommends getting a comprehensive overview of a topic, so that you can then understand where various details you might read fit in.

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[jyotiprakash]

wow you're selling bill's interview which he gave for free for everyone

[rickymohanty]

This man seems to be intelligent I think he should start a company

[abhaysharma]

As far as I can tell Mr. Gates was implying that the best way to become a life long curious learner is to first understand the reality in its entirety by learning the big history. Big History is a concept of telling the entire origin story as best of our scientific knowledge and understanding, This has especially helped me, as a teenager I was very anxious about my existence nothing made sense to me, But when I learned about the universe, the origin of life this gave me a great sense of purpose to contribute to the collective knowledge of humanity so that those who would come after us can be better than we are.

[calvinraab]

It's like having a mental bookshelf you can store the knowledge in. When you read enough books you have context for everything and can put it in your library. Love the idea of a mental library.

[eliseerickson]

Bill Gates: Gives everything away
Quartz: You gotta buy this 30 minute video of Bill Gates

[holycloudable]

I like his Chess analogy, it makes senses and ties his whole explanation neatly.

[mike]

Schools are too focused on passing exams, getting high grades and then students forget everything they learn. Real "learning" starts when you're in the real world, picking up books and discovering your interests.

[MrYeodaddy]

So true what he said about incremental learning. Most of the great mathematicians we learn about in school were philosophers (Pythagoras, Euclid, Decartes). They used math as a model to answer larger philosophical questions. When you understand this, mathematics begins to take on a much deeper and richer purpose.

[OmiAzad]

Dude, put it on YouTube and you will make more money. ;)

[SAM-ftjd]

It tends to be easier studying something when one can relate it to something else. Although schools try teaching the fundamentals of topics they often leave out;
1. The significance of the subject matter( Its use in real life and the interesting ways it can be used)
2. An intuitive way of understanding the topics.
Glad to see Bill studies in the way he does... pretty sure there would be a few more Bills if our educational systems taught us to learn this way.

[gdb-uh]

If you want to learn fast, stop watching YouTube videos, build up the habit of reading books 30 mins to an hour a day, and you will be able to learn fast over time.

[John-lfxf]

What he is describing is the principle that people are terrible at remmembering lists, but are incredible at remmembering pathways of items. relating a bunch of objects and remmembering essentially is def easier than remmembering lists in which the items within it are independant of each other, or are categorized to be so anyway.

[richardparker]

Pro tip: You can sign up for a trial of Quartz using the link in the video. And you cancel right after signing up for the trial. Currently watching the full video, and will be canceling in a few minutes :)

[PrickPaintsPot]

Bill Gates Has Taught Me A Very Important Lesson:


Read more

[krzemian]

LONE TRAVELER, CHECK THOSE:
- Elon Musk: knowledge trees
- Learning How To Learn (Coursera): chunks
- Also: memory palaces (a memorization technique)

[adamtheblondie]

that is pretty similar to what I thought of myself... First develop fundamental understanding and a broad rough structure that you will keep adding onto as you keep learning new things.

[bradsillasen]

I'm not even close to the Gates' intellectual level but still this rings very true in my experience. Great advice and well said. Thanks :)

[juliogolin]

The repetitive music (background) disturbs the focus in the interview... Consider eliminating it or at least reducing its volume :-)

[TheLineageEVO]

How to remember what you read? Write down the most meaningful parts of books and you will be able to skim the whole book by reviewing your notes. You could easily get 10 pages of notes out of a 350-page book. When you review, the rest of the book surges back into your mind.

[HoseZentaur]

Comprehension is the best way of understanding