How to Remember More of What You Read

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Spending hours reading books doesn't make much sense if you can't remember any of what you've read. Today we'll dive deep into some of the techniques you can use to increase the amount of information your brain actually stores and recalls from your reading sessions.

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[vinayakharikumar]

How to remember more of what you read ?
For Academic Books
1. Pre - reading : Go through the contents, skim through chapters, read summary, important questions, previour year questions for tests etc...
2. Highlighting : Read the book FIRST. Highlight Later.
3. Take notes AFTER you read : key terms, examples, important points
4. Summarise : Briefly
5. Seek out connected topics : We learn better when more connections are made in our brain.
6. Build Interest : Interest is the mother of learning and remembering more.

[DiLLZGFX]

guys, my honest opinion is that you should not follow these tips. While they arn't wrong, they most certainly isn't the most effective way to remember what you read. Various studies have conducted that highlighting text and taking notes are one of the worst ways to remember new information. Summarising without looking at the book might be helpful, however it isnt the best way. If you think about it logically, what your really trying to do is recall the information, rather than remembering it. Remembering is kinda like trying to keep something in your head, where as recalling something is like drawing forth upon that knowledge. The latter is what you want to be focused on. What the studies have shown is that by focusing on active recall you are now practising the skills of recalling that information and to keep it in your head, you simply need to practice the skills of recalling over a spaced period of time.


So when reading:
1. Ask questions periodically:
- What did I just read?
- How does this relate to anything that I previously knew
- What are the key ideas
- Can i explain to someone else.


2. make a spider diagram or a summary sheet or the whole book or per chapter from memory
3. to keep it in your head you need to break the forgetting curve. to do this, try and go over what you learned, once a week, once a month, every 3 months etc.


not only is this way more effective, its also less time consuming, meaning you can read more books


most of this I learned through the studies found in 'Make It Stick',

[HumansOfVR]

*Right now I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before*

[mlpcharles]

Summary
5 General Reading Techniques
1. Pre-Reading. Read the table of contents, chapter sub-headings and bullet-lists within the reading, and any summaries at the back of the chapter. This primes you to read.
2. Highlighting. Highlight only on your second read-through, highlighting key propositions rather than everything.
3. Take notes after you read. As with highlighting, this approach assures you take notes on the most important information. Note key terms, main points, and/or effective examples.
4. Summarize after you read. Distill what you read into the most important points.
5. Seek and read secondary sources. Nurture your interest in the subject and make connections.

Reading Practical Books
1. Use what you learn

Additional TF pro-tip: Take a break from taking in information. Maybe exercise.

Top Dissenting Opinion in Comments Section (DiLLGFX)
1. Focus more on practicing active recall of the information
2. While reading, ask questions such as (1) what did I read? (2) Does this connect to other things I know? (3) What are the key ideas? (4) Can I explain this to someone else?
3. After reading, make a summary sheet or spider diagram from memory
4. Practice active recall with spaced repetition.

[MeeshT]

Another highlight tip I like to use is to only highlight key words. It's kind of like reviewing cards for me: if I have a lot of information, I may recognize the idea but not having everything forces me to recall more specifically to prove myself that I actually learnt something by trying to remember what is around them and associate ideas in my head.


This works wonders if I don't have time to make summaries or flash cards too since the information is condensed to the absolute key words.


Great video as always :D

[sonialee]

English is my second language and need to keep studying it. And your voice is very clear and easy to understand!. Contents of this video is good because I can get information about remembering what I read, and also help for listening English!.

[jasonlee]

2:15 -2:20 I thought of green while watching the video and when I opened my eyes I thought I was going crazy

[BeSmarterFaster]

As a fellow keyboard player, I especially liked your example of how you applied the music theory you read in the textbook to experiencing it for yourself. In my lectures I often discuss the importance of doing what you can to apply the new information you just got as quickly as possible.

[rdashian]

I have ADHD and I often miss important points of the text, but I learned to cope with that. After I read something, I always retell it quietly to myself and at the same time I check if I remember everything that I needed by peeking into the book. Hope it's helpful for someone 😘

[yonex]

Man, he always post perfect video at perfect timing. It's like he knows exactly what is going on with your life or something...

[jordang]

I never learned how to properly study in school or college. This video has helped me tremendously in devising my own study plan. Thank you!

[adrianocavalcanti]

Am I the only one who believes that Thomas could recommend us great books on a regular basis? 🤓

[fayevinyl]

Prereading
Highlighting
T8 notes after reading
Summarize
Seek out secondary points to help build increase.

[Chandasouk]

Barbara Oakley's Learning How to Learn is very helpful for this. Recalling and taking notes helps me out.

[mg-usug]

I'm only going to repeat what everyone else has already said for emphasis, because it's very helpful and important: trying to explain what you just read to someone else is super helpful. It activates a different part of the brain than the one needed for retention. It's helped me a ton.

[secondlastdance]

I missed this types of videos! This is brilliant, lately I have been thinking a lot about the problem of forgeting what I read, and came up that it's not about speed of reading and a number of books, but the quality of what is left in your mind after you read it. Thank's a lot for this video!

[mequellguidry]

Just what I needed! Reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" for school and needed to get myself to focus and remember it for assignments! Thank you!

[MAScreech]

I just want to let you know that since reading “a Mind for numbers” I have found that I am retaining information a lot better! Thank you for the recommendation!

[colbyfalk]

I definitely picked green when he told us to imagine a colour and started tripping out when the screen was green when I opened my eyes....

[MartinLichtblau]

When pre-reading, focus on most concise parts like: title, abstract/intro, summary/conclusion and quotes.