Anyone who loves reading would hate having poor retention. No matter how carefully you read it or how much you love the book, sometimes our memory just fails us.
This happens more often to people who frequently read books, or to students who read them just to get it over with. However, what will be the point of reading books if you can’t remember the most important parts?
If there is a book you are thinking of investing your time and energy in, but are worried that both would be wasted because half the time you don’t even remember what you have read, we have some strategies for you.
These can actively enhance your memory and your capacity to keep the information stored in your mind, so that you never forget a book’s key lesson again.
Put All Your Focus On Reading
We have such busy lives; it has become quite difficult to focus on one thing. It is not just because of the buzzing notifications or the ten thousand saves in your Netflix watchlist.
This is also because we have so little time that it is difficult not to multitask. But if you really want to remember what you are reading, you will have to solely focus on the task.
This means you will also have to try not to let your mind drift off to your thoughts, desires, worries, and tasks you haven’t completed.
Due to us constantly reading absentmindedly, we end up either reading the same line over and over again, or reading the words but without the words registering in our minds.
Do whatever it takes to put your focus on reading. Do not keep your laptop open or scroll through your phone while you are trying to read.
If you have decided to spend your time reading, put your phone on Do Not Disturb and keep it away from you, far enough so that you can’t see it. Don’t leave your TV, laptop, or tablet close to you. Turn off all distractions, and focus solely on the tasks.
If you suffer from any attention deficit disorder, you can consider putting on classical music or Lo-fi sounds while reading, as it helps improve immersion.
Practice Active Reading
Whether you are reading a coursebook, a novel, or a self-help book, if you want to retain the information in the book you are reading, you must learn how to read actively. This is particularly crucial if you are a student and you need to learn the content of a book.
The key is to actively engage with the book. One of the most classic ways to do so is highlighting, which many people do, especially when studying. However, especially when you are learning, taking notes can be a great way to engage with the book.
You can keep track of the important, interesting, or challenging parts of the book, and writing them down also solidifies the information in memory. Any reader who takes notes can come back to the key information and review it as a refresher.
For students in particular, they can take it a step further by putting the information into a good tool to create spaced repetition flashcards. This kind of gamefies retention, and reminds you when to use the flashcards to keep the information fresh in your mind.
When reading chapter by chapter, you can consider writing a summary after reading one chapter, or even consider book journalling where you use a special notebook to keep track of the book, record necessary information, and even write reviews of each chapter.
When you actively engage with the book while reading, you become more likely to remember the key lessons.
Read a Physical Book
As convenient as Kindle or Audible reads are, they definitely do not help you remember what you read. Ebooks and audiobooks simply are not as memorable as an actual book, and science backs this concept.
Our spatial memory is a crucial aspect for retaining information. When we are holding a book, turning the pages, smelling that slightly musty paper smell, all that tactile feedback gives us a feeling of actually doing something, a concrete sense of progress.
The book isn’t just something to read; within it appear actual locations that readers tend to remember, like on which page or section they read something that stood out. This sense of position contributes to memory.
The physical layout of the book works like a visual roadmap, which fires the neurons that create pathways within our mind, which retain the information.
This works far better than digital books, especially audiobooks, because a person never really just listens to them; they tend to do a thousand things while catching up on their read. So, a physical book is your best bet at retaining key aspects of content.
Workout Your Memory Muscles
Our brain also has muscles, and just like your body’s muscles, they also get weak when you don’t use them. Working on brain-related activities helps you exercise those muscles, improving your capacity for things like problem solving, self-control, and memory retrieval.
The latter is our capacity to retrieve information from our mind when needed. To exercise this, you can try thinking about what you had for breakfast, then for lunch, and then for dinner, right before you go to bed.
Some people try to recall their day and journal it before they sleep to improve their memory retrieval. People also try to recall books they have read, lectures they have attended, podcasts they listened to, or movies they have watched before sleeping to see how well they can remember them.
There are many different ways to practice this, so pick one way that works well for you and try it. You can also do this with a book, like trying to recall what happened in a sequence after finishing a chapter.
Try Teaching Someone
This is one of the best ways to ensure you remember what you have read. When you are reading a book, whether it is fiction or nonfiction, you can give a private lecture on it after each chapter.
A person can only teach something when they understand the concepts or the plotline in the book well and can recall it properly from memory. Doing this after reading a chapter will help solidify what you have learned, making sure that it stays in your memory.
Pick your partner, sibling, friend, or any interested family member, and take them on the book’s journey with you. Not only will you be retaining what you learned, but you will be able to help someone else gain the same knowledge, while being absolutely certain that you grasped the knowledge well.
This can also be a great way to practice your speaking and tutoring skills.
Final Thoughts
If you use these strategies effectively while reading, you will never forget a book’s key concepts again. Being focused while reading and engaging actively with the text are the most fundamental parts of effective reading.
And, when you truly want to solidify the information you are consuming through the book, opt for a physical book, practice your active memory retrieval, and try teaching someone what you have read. This way, you will remember the key lessons and be able to recall them whenever you need.