Remembering what you read...

[dennis08]

How do you remember everything you read? Some people can do this. Is there any natural way. Are there pills that will help you with this? Would it be alright to take my grandparents natural memory pills?

[Sam988]

Remembering everything one reads??


I dont know anyone who can do this, and if someone tells you they can remember everything they read they're probably ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ting you, unless they've got some phenomenal memory like Will Hunting or the autistic savant from the Rainman movie.. and there aren't many living on planet earth.

[Dive Bomb]

A good tip I recieved from "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is to read the material with the mindset that you are going to explain it to somebody in the next 48 hours. It's a very easy tip to field test and it has given me positivte results.

[dennis08]

Thanks for the tip. I wish there was just some way even if I had to go on a strict pill poping schedule to remember everything I read LOL
It would help me tremendously in school.

[Shamou]

dennis08! If you are truly interested in something... you will remember it... if you are not... you won't...

If you meet a pretty girl... you'll remember her name forever... if you meet her grandmother... you'll forget her name one second after she's told you what it was...

It's all a matter of the importance that you attach to a subject... as in, if I owe you one hundred bucks... you will never forget until I've paid you... but, if you owe me that hundred... your memory can suddenly become a little faulty...
.

[Ilya]

Hi, Dennis08,
This is an interesting question you ask. "Everything" is an awfully big word.
I believe that there is not practical limit to the amount of information that we can remember. Everything that we feel, see, hear, smell or taste throughout the life does not exceed the amount of information that can be stored in a brain. Some argue that we record everything, but just have difficulty with recalling.

Having said that, memory itself might not be your primary concern for studying. The objective of a good education is not to remember some pieces of information, but to understand the principles behind this information. Understanding allows you to re-create the information when you need it. It might be more efficient then to simply remember huge arrays of data.

Books and text in general highlight the difference. Text is not the best way to store many kinds of information. In general, text is redundant. For example, the information in my previous sentence can be shortened to "txt rdundnt" and remain useful for our brains.
You know, book is the source information. It is written in a way that helps you to absorb and understand the information. But once you've absorbed it, it changes inside your mind. The way you know information can be completely different from the way you've read it.
I almost never recall information as text. Most of the time it is a short movie, that I describe, if I need to communicate it to someone.

I've known a man whose method of speed reading was to "photo-memorize" the pages of the books and then recall the information when he needed it. He could cite whole pages of text by heart including the punctuation. It was impressive, but he said that it didn't really help him with studying, because he had to flip pages in his own mind and scan the pages to find the necessary information. So during exam he would be really slow and awkward.

So to excel on exams you need to improve your understanding, not memory.
The tools that can help with understanding are: taking your notes, using mindmaps, practicing the exercises and examples.

Interval remembering, mnemonics, or pills , or any other memory techniques may help if you need to recall pure factual information for an exam. But still, you will not be remembering everything you read.

Of course, your granddad's pill is not exactly for memory, it is, most likely to improve blood circulation in the brain. So, you definitely don't need it.

[johnths]

I am one who, for sure, cannot remember everything. But there are a few things I do to help me remember.

One, I use sticky notes alot nowadays - as I read a book, I ink my reflections or pointer to remember on a sticky note and have it placed on the page or beginning of a chapter that I have read. That way, recollections come easier.

Two, I relate to what 'Dive Bomb' said... because I am a trainer, I tend to read with a mind that I am to transfer the knowledge to someone else. So, I tend to remember key facts better. And as I begin to transfer the knowledge, I become better at it,and in fact, do bring out new theories as a result of internalising and experiencing it.

Third, documenting what you read or experience help you to remember better.

Have fun... remembering things in life...

JT
Training, Engaging the Adult Learners
- the site with life and service skills experiences to share and learn.
- the site with analogies to help us remember little stories and life lessons.

[Zukin]

I type up notes on most of the books I read and summarize information and include important quotes. That helps me remember things a lot better.

[Lola]

Being a bit ADD and having never taken meds for it, I've had to learn some coping skills. Yes, you're right Shamou, having a high level of interest in the subject practically guarantees excellent memory. However, that level of interest may not always be present for some required courses in school.

When I have to learn reading material (or even notes from lectures) I use a method similar to Zukin's - read the material, re-read highlighting the important stuff, then write or type up notes of what I've highlighted into an outline. The combination of making myself slow down and focus (I read very fast) when I go back and read it again, getting my hands involved (I'm a kinesthetic learner) with the highlighting and writing, and organizing it into an outline (which requires an understanding of the material as Ilya pointed out and is similar to what you would do to teach the material as johnths and Dive Bomb suggested) usually does the trick for me.

The key is to find out what works for you. Learn your learning style then adapt your study style to support that.