Hi Ryan. Great writing! I enjoyed the reading very much.
I would like to add a few notes:
1. Do we read to remember, or do we read to change something in our lives? Remembering is nice, but doing better is nicer.
2. It’s very easy to spend too much time on average or “one idea” books—doing what you suggest for every book is wasting time.
3. The opposite is also true—we don’t invest enough time or wrestle with great books and move on too quickly.
4. Remembering requires distributed repetition, not just deep reading. It’s hard to recall something if you just read and wrote a summary.
5. You mention application, but only in one sentence. This one deserves much more attention, because even if name dropping ideas can be nice, and knowing can feel good, it’s only when we turn it into skill that our life improves.
6. Summarising is good, but using the ideas when writing about something completely different, or how it plays out in your life, is far more powerful.
7. Reading 2-3 books on the same topic improves retention significantly, but it’s not repetition that creates the magic. It’s the differences in perspective that anchors the idea in your mind.
There’s a lot we can do to extract more value from reading. 🙂
If I were to pick only one idea, I would for sure say: apply a few ideas from every book in your life, either as thought experiments, or ideally in reality, and see. your life improve.
Thanks Daniel! All very good points and I would agree with all of them. I am actually working on a newsletter that goes a little more into our goals for reading and share some of these same ideas you have mentioned here. I appreciate the thoughtful response and definitely agree with all you said here.
It's interesting to see someone else with the same habits. Good for you. What I wanted to share is something I use. Due to the material I read, Jung, many philosophers, theology, Esoteric, and Hermetic texts I always have my dictionary on my phone. I can't tell you how many times I've read academic, hard reading, and see a word thinking I know the definition. Jung has terms of his own, and writers like David Bentley Hart get right to the point. Since the reading I am doing isn't easy, and spans over thousands of years I find that even simple words that I think I know end up having many different meanings.
One of my favorite examples is the word psyche. I think many of us are sure we know what it means, but it not only has different meanings, it is used in different subject matter where it has a specific meaning. It may be tedious, but when I am reading difficult books I learn a lot about words that I thought I knew. The Latin root, what the word actually means, and even the Greek definition have allowed me to open doors to reading that most wouldn't touch- and I don't blame them.
For any anyone who is reading on a difficult level, if you even think you read a word that you understand, look it up. It takes away any assumption or bias and opens up many new learning opportunities.
I loved these tips! Thank you😊. Some I already do and others I know I will add to my process. Question? What benefit is there, if any; to reading like books at the same time? Example: the study of Proverbs. Or is it better to read books at the same time that have no connection? Example: the study of Proverbs and the biography of (fill in the blank). Thank you.
Awesome Jane! I honestly think it is a matter of personal preference. I think if you dive deeply into two types of books, you will see lots of connections. But some people like to mix it up and read multiple genres at one time.
I like many ideas here, we are also subjected to vast sums of online content, and keeping a cohesive memory system, that integrates online and physical book content is critical, especially social media and AI makes our focus and executive function degrade, I like the system Elisabeth Fillips describes here using notion, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnFHwl2Dbr0&t=2s
Thank you! I need to be taking a more intentional approach to information retention. I suffer from the same issues you described at the beginning of this piece.
Great tips here, Ryan! I keep playing around with new strategies and techniques. I no longer strive to keep every book I read - too many moves taught me that lesson, only the truly special remain - so I keep some stickie notes handy while reading. At first, I tried writing on the stickies, but this took me out of the book too much. Now I just place a stickie strategically on the paragraph I want to note so it also acts as a bookmark. When I am finished the book, I go through and place all the notes I wanted to write in my commonplace book (just a fancy notebook). I thought I might forget what I wanted to annotate, but that hasn't happened yet! This method allows me to stay in the story and also keep records. The actual writing of the note is a huge memory booster (former teacher here!), and I can revisit the text in my commonplace book whenever. I love my Kindle for the ability to look up words as I'm reading, and often find myself missing this feature terribly when reading an actual book. Placing a stickie for future reference helps with this too, as long as context is not compromised. Loved your tip about summarizing, that's next on my strategy list to begin! Headed over to read your other posts because I'm one of those people your wife told you about❣️
These are straightforward and doable. I’ve always underlined and written in margins but have never made notes afterward. I’m definitely going to try it in my new ‘lab’ book. 😊
One hack that I use to remember is to understand the broader context. Particularly one that relates to human nature.
Here are a few examples:
1) ". . . the don helping those in misfortune whose misfortune he had partly created. Not perhaps out of cunning or planning but because of his variety of interests or perhaps because of the nature of the universe, the interlinking of good and evil, natural of itself."
From Mario Puzo's "The Godfather." The second sentence provides the broader context for the first. Resonates with Law 11 from Robert Greene's "The 48 Laws of Power" viz. Learn to Keep People Dependent on You.
2) "One of the factors in the make-up of Claude Lebel that had led to his successes . . . was his capacity to inspire people with the confidence to talk to him. He lacked the imposing bulk . . . the traditional image of the authority of the law. Nor did he have the smartness with words that the new breed of young detectives used to bully and browbeat a witness into tears. He was aware that most crime in any society is either carried out against, or witnessed by, the little people, the shopkeeper, the sales assistant, the postman or the bank clerk. These people he could make talk to him, and he knew it."
From Fredrick Forsyth's "The Day of the Jackal." Offers a priceless lesson on how to get people to trust you - especially when you have authority that scares off most.
3) "Moisture holding capacity of cooler air is less than that of warmer air."
From a TMH Civil Services Guide. It answered a question I had since my school days - why can rising air cause rainfall? Most school texts mentioned only that air at greater heights is cooler - without explaining the relation between temperature and moisture retention capacity.
Alors, ça c’est intéressant! Merci pour cet article passionnant! Je vais en faire une analyse pour mon Substack littéraire car franchement, je suis agréablement surpris de cette lecture. Merci!
I’ve found that remembering what I read for leisure is very different from remembering what I read for synthesis/writing.
How do you recall epiphanies/ideas that link different texts, mediums, together? Curious what it would look like if something from, say, a podcast sparks a thought from a book and tying the two together.
I agree it is different for different types of reading learning. Honestly, I don't take a lot of notes on other types of non reading learning. I do keep some notes in a separate notebook or on my phone on some of those types of learning but reading is my main learning type. I would be interested to hear if you have any tips on this though
I'm going to try these! Thank you really well written and insightful
Glad you found it helpful!
Write reviews! Write a summary paragraph of each chapter then summarize those in a review!
Your Kindle will not only highlight, but also let's you write unlimited marginal notes! You don't need a separate phone app...
Great tips! Thanks Matthew!
Hi Ryan. Great writing! I enjoyed the reading very much.
I would like to add a few notes:
1. Do we read to remember, or do we read to change something in our lives? Remembering is nice, but doing better is nicer.
2. It’s very easy to spend too much time on average or “one idea” books—doing what you suggest for every book is wasting time.
3. The opposite is also true—we don’t invest enough time or wrestle with great books and move on too quickly.
4. Remembering requires distributed repetition, not just deep reading. It’s hard to recall something if you just read and wrote a summary.
5. You mention application, but only in one sentence. This one deserves much more attention, because even if name dropping ideas can be nice, and knowing can feel good, it’s only when we turn it into skill that our life improves.
6. Summarising is good, but using the ideas when writing about something completely different, or how it plays out in your life, is far more powerful.
7. Reading 2-3 books on the same topic improves retention significantly, but it’s not repetition that creates the magic. It’s the differences in perspective that anchors the idea in your mind.
There’s a lot we can do to extract more value from reading. 🙂
If I were to pick only one idea, I would for sure say: apply a few ideas from every book in your life, either as thought experiments, or ideally in reality, and see. your life improve.
Thanks Daniel! All very good points and I would agree with all of them. I am actually working on a newsletter that goes a little more into our goals for reading and share some of these same ideas you have mentioned here. I appreciate the thoughtful response and definitely agree with all you said here.
It's interesting to see someone else with the same habits. Good for you. What I wanted to share is something I use. Due to the material I read, Jung, many philosophers, theology, Esoteric, and Hermetic texts I always have my dictionary on my phone. I can't tell you how many times I've read academic, hard reading, and see a word thinking I know the definition. Jung has terms of his own, and writers like David Bentley Hart get right to the point. Since the reading I am doing isn't easy, and spans over thousands of years I find that even simple words that I think I know end up having many different meanings.
One of my favorite examples is the word psyche. I think many of us are sure we know what it means, but it not only has different meanings, it is used in different subject matter where it has a specific meaning. It may be tedious, but when I am reading difficult books I learn a lot about words that I thought I knew. The Latin root, what the word actually means, and even the Greek definition have allowed me to open doors to reading that most wouldn't touch- and I don't blame them.
For any anyone who is reading on a difficult level, if you even think you read a word that you understand, look it up. It takes away any assumption or bias and opens up many new learning opportunities.
That is a great idea! I probably should spend more time looking up words that I don't know or could have more than one meaning. Thanks for the tip
Sure thing, I wish I had started the habit when I picked up, The Red Book, by Jung…lol.
I loved these tips! Thank you😊. Some I already do and others I know I will add to my process. Question? What benefit is there, if any; to reading like books at the same time? Example: the study of Proverbs. Or is it better to read books at the same time that have no connection? Example: the study of Proverbs and the biography of (fill in the blank). Thank you.
Awesome Jane! I honestly think it is a matter of personal preference. I think if you dive deeply into two types of books, you will see lots of connections. But some people like to mix it up and read multiple genres at one time.
Thank you😊
I like many ideas here, we are also subjected to vast sums of online content, and keeping a cohesive memory system, that integrates online and physical book content is critical, especially social media and AI makes our focus and executive function degrade, I like the system Elisabeth Fillips describes here using notion, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnFHwl2Dbr0&t=2s
Awesome! I'll have to check it out
Thank you! I need to be taking a more intentional approach to information retention. I suffer from the same issues you described at the beginning of this piece.
You're welcome Adam. Hope you find this helpful
Great tips here, Ryan! I keep playing around with new strategies and techniques. I no longer strive to keep every book I read - too many moves taught me that lesson, only the truly special remain - so I keep some stickie notes handy while reading. At first, I tried writing on the stickies, but this took me out of the book too much. Now I just place a stickie strategically on the paragraph I want to note so it also acts as a bookmark. When I am finished the book, I go through and place all the notes I wanted to write in my commonplace book (just a fancy notebook). I thought I might forget what I wanted to annotate, but that hasn't happened yet! This method allows me to stay in the story and also keep records. The actual writing of the note is a huge memory booster (former teacher here!), and I can revisit the text in my commonplace book whenever. I love my Kindle for the ability to look up words as I'm reading, and often find myself missing this feature terribly when reading an actual book. Placing a stickie for future reference helps with this too, as long as context is not compromised. Loved your tip about summarizing, that's next on my strategy list to begin! Headed over to read your other posts because I'm one of those people your wife told you about❣️
I love the sticky note tip! I'll have to give it a try. I am glad you found these helpful and thanks the encouragement!
These are straightforward and doable. I’ve always underlined and written in margins but have never made notes afterward. I’m definitely going to try it in my new ‘lab’ book. 😊
Awesome Steven!
I am definitely going to get myself a notebook to write section/chapter notes - great idea!
One hack that I use to remember is to understand the broader context. Particularly one that relates to human nature.
Here are a few examples:
1) ". . . the don helping those in misfortune whose misfortune he had partly created. Not perhaps out of cunning or planning but because of his variety of interests or perhaps because of the nature of the universe, the interlinking of good and evil, natural of itself."
From Mario Puzo's "The Godfather." The second sentence provides the broader context for the first. Resonates with Law 11 from Robert Greene's "The 48 Laws of Power" viz. Learn to Keep People Dependent on You.
2) "One of the factors in the make-up of Claude Lebel that had led to his successes . . . was his capacity to inspire people with the confidence to talk to him. He lacked the imposing bulk . . . the traditional image of the authority of the law. Nor did he have the smartness with words that the new breed of young detectives used to bully and browbeat a witness into tears. He was aware that most crime in any society is either carried out against, or witnessed by, the little people, the shopkeeper, the sales assistant, the postman or the bank clerk. These people he could make talk to him, and he knew it."
From Fredrick Forsyth's "The Day of the Jackal." Offers a priceless lesson on how to get people to trust you - especially when you have authority that scares off most.
3) "Moisture holding capacity of cooler air is less than that of warmer air."
From a TMH Civil Services Guide. It answered a question I had since my school days - why can rising air cause rainfall? Most school texts mentioned only that air at greater heights is cooler - without explaining the relation between temperature and moisture retention capacity.
That's a great idea! Thanks for sharing
Thank you for your sharing.
You are welcome!
Such useful tips. Thanks for writing this!!
Thanks for reading! Hope it's helpful
As a reading teacher, I have to say that your method for retaining new information is spot on. Well done.
Great! So glad to hear it.
Alors, ça c’est intéressant! Merci pour cet article passionnant! Je vais en faire une analyse pour mon Substack littéraire car franchement, je suis agréablement surpris de cette lecture. Merci!
I’ve found that remembering what I read for leisure is very different from remembering what I read for synthesis/writing.
How do you recall epiphanies/ideas that link different texts, mediums, together? Curious what it would look like if something from, say, a podcast sparks a thought from a book and tying the two together.
I agree it is different for different types of reading learning. Honestly, I don't take a lot of notes on other types of non reading learning. I do keep some notes in a separate notebook or on my phone on some of those types of learning but reading is my main learning type. I would be interested to hear if you have any tips on this though