
Reading Is Forgetting - prostoalex
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/jun/26/reading-is-forgetting/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NYR+STEM+frenzy+Boko+Haram+Midsummer+Nights+Dream&utm_content=NYR+STEM+frenzy+Boko+Haram+Midsummer+Nights+Dream+CID_869a7e4df211b9f2091810c10f23c98f&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Reading%20Is%20Forgetting
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Kenji
Ever since my first year at uni, my reading has been transformed. The lectures
forced me to read highly mathematical and algorithmic books, some of which
took multiple hours per page if you want to comprehend everything. Now, my
reading has slowed down drastically (10-100 times slower) but when I'm done
with reading something, I understand it well enough to explain all the key
concepts to someone else. Another thing is that I somehow memorize where
things are, that is, when I remember some passage, I know where to look in the
book almost down to the page (this doesn't work for PDFs which is one of the
reasons why I avoid them). But I've lost the ability to read for pleasure, I
used to be able to finish a novel in an evening.

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somerandomone
I'm curious because once you have the ability to understand several-hour-per-
page materials reading novels should be a breeze?

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vanderZwan
I suspect it's similar to my experience with many video-lectures: on one hand,
they are almost always filled with enough new information to keep my
attention. However, the pace at which this information is fed to me can be
just a bit too slow, meaning that my brain has to do too little work to
process it. This combination of keeping attention while not activating my own
thinking has an ability to put me sleep in a very drastic fashion. As in,
trying to pay attention to the lecture and literally falling asleep in the
blink of an eye.

The only way to counter this is to download the lectures and play them back at
an increased pace - 1.2x to 1.5x, depending on the difficulty of the subject.

Perhaps the novels have the same issue for Kenji: too little stimulation to
keep the mind going, even if it keeps your attention.

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pkkim
I've never read any book more than seven or eight times, but here's another
view from a "centireader" (should that be "hectoreader"?):
[http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/09/centireading-
fo...](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/09/centireading-force-
reading-book-100-times-great-idea)

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TodPunk
My sister will read a novel in about 4 hours, and I'll take 14 hours for the
same. Afterward, I'll remember just about everything, and she will remember
major plot points but few details. I don't know if the hours and retention
rates are related, but I will say that reading and retention rates are not
universal between people and should be separate as concepts from remembering
and memory in general.

The artistic understanding aspects of the article are far more interesting to
me, though I have little to add there.

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lfowles
I like to blaze through fiction. But I'm reading for the effects and emotions
it stirs up inside of me, not the actual content. (I will note this is an
issue for long running series if I ever have to take time off inbetween
books.)

If I try the same with nonfiction/technical books, the retention is abysmal.

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j_s
I wonder how this concept ties in with my preference to be vaguely aware of as
much as possible, filling in the blanks (via Google, etc.) only when needed?

