What's the point of reading if we don't even retain 99% of the books we read? No, seriously, test yourself on a book you read a year ago; chances are you either don't remember at all or get a lot of what you THINK you remember wrong.
Do we read purely for entertainment purposes?
Are we no better than /tv/ and /v/?
What's the point in asking questions if you don't retain even 99% of the answers?
>implying I wont test myself once every 30 days for the next 6 months to retain all the replies in this thread except for yours
deary me
What's the purpose of eating if we shit it out the next day?
You're right op. Everything is pointless. That's why I live in a wooden crate (just big enough to lay down in) in a basement, and lie motionless in it for 23 hours. I only drink tap water and eat saltines. Get on my level you fucking plebs.
It's almost like you can reread books and put little squiggles down on dead trees.
I can't retain most or almost of the books I read. I can, on the other hand, retain major points about them, segments that really stuck with me, and more importantly, what I felt while reading them.
If you think the appeal of a book can only be reached by remembering literally everything in it, you have it wrong.
Do that with books then.
It's 'dearie', by the way.
Reading is entertainment.
I don't know why people get this false idea that it'll make you smart.
This, OP has stumbled into a bizarre idea
Why are you assuming that everyone is as bad at reading as you are? I can quote whole passages from books I read a year ago quite easily. And I certainly remember the entire book.
It might surprise you, but humans are actually very good at remembering things when you take internet and media out of your life. The constant stream of information from those things just completely fucks your memory up. Limit the useless information your mind takes in every day and you'll find that you can remember literature much better.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo — 'I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.'
Veeky Forums in a nutshell
Let this notion continue to torment you, stupid frogposter.
...
oh fucking snap.
thank you for this.
*in a wooden crate
I agree. I remember when I saw Hamlet last year and the actors had to stop when the teleprompter malfunctioned. Very sad.
I don't believe you
Addendum: Take time to digest the book. There's nothing wrong with reading a 300pg book in a month.
I retain at least 40% of the books I read, stop being a quickfag and take your time
I agree with you guys, but I feel distraught when I can't retain what I read when it's a non-fiction book, especially if it's a history book. I've been reading a lot about the American Revolution recently and while I feel I have a good idea of the thoughts and feelings of people, as well as an idea about major battles and such, I can't remember important dates or lesser details.
>I have a terrible memory
>Therefore you have a terrible memory
Saged and reported.
That's a great quote.
many of the things you learn just seem obvious to you later
>not reading on a consistent schedule in a productive environment
>not taking good care of your physical health through diet and exercise to stay mentally sharp
>not skimming books, including table of contents, references, prefaces, etc., prior to reading them in order to evaluate their value and get invested
>not taking good annotations, tagging important pages, and recalling arguments/scenes in your own words
>not reacting to and thinking about what you've read after you've finished reading
>not enthusiastically discussing the book with your fellow Veeky Forumserati after reading it
>not periodically revisiting classics to remember old insights and discover new insights
>not having your intellectual abilities expand as the result of tackling challenging ideas
No wonder you newfags aren't able to remember the details of the books you've read. You're all fucking lazy retarded poseurs. If you want the ability to the cite the greats on command like Noam Chomsky or Harold Bloom, then you need to put in some effort for crying out loud. Even the most mediocre of people can fill their heads with culture if they put their mind to it.
Veeky Forums BTFO
>evaluate their value
what did he mean by this?
>he doesn't skim books to see if it's a good idea to read them
pleb, my time is valuable
Thank you
At least it'll make me believe that I'm getting smart and I won't get anxious and depressed. Just like all people think they live and fight for purpose when in the end they'll die anyway.
I think we should be content as long as we understand what we read while we are reading.
>What's the point in reading
Nice
Then write them down in a notebook
I retain almost everything I read, because I read slowly and take time to meditate on what I read, instead of speedreading books to pad my bookshelf and to be able to say I've "read the canon".
No you can't.
10/10 user, my sides
>No, seriously, test yourself on a book you read a year ago; chances are you either don't remember at all or get a lot of what you THINK you remember wrong.
I think you have memory problems
Check image, and these people were tested immediately after reading just 750/1,500 words.
How much do you think you truly retain a few months after reading 30,000+ words without testing yourself?
>expository text
Seems like a legit way to test how well people remember things they legitimately enjoy.
If you're honestly forgetting 99% of books you enjoyed, you might have brain problems. I'm pretty sure I could give you a plot summary of most things I've ever read, and there are key details of books I read as a kid that seem to be permanently lodged in my brain.