Why You Don't Remember What You Read

Summary

Struggling to remember what you've read? You're not alone, and this video dives into the common reasons why comprehension falters and offers practical solutions to improve your reading memory. Key obstacles include distractions, passive reading, lack of interest, and cognitive factors like sleep deprivation. To tackle these, ParkNotes suggests making reading a daily undistracted ritual, noting in the margins, and engaging in book clubs. The video also introduces alternative mediums like audiobooks, and promotes Magic Mind shots for improved focus. Write and discuss what you read to deepen retention and enjoy the process!

Highlights

• Avoid distractions by finding a quiet reading spot. 🚫📚
• Establish a reading routine to improve consistency. 📅📖
• Take notes in the margins to better retain information. 🖊️📖
• Multiple readings help solidify understanding of a book. 🔄📚
• Discuss books in clubs for deeper insights and views. 📚👥
• Experiment with audiobooks for a change of medium. 🎧
• Writing book reviews enhances memory and comprehension. ✍️

Key Takeaways

• Create a distraction-free environment to enhance focus. 🚫🎧
• Make reading a part of your daily ritual for consistency. 📚🔄
• Annotate books or keep notes to reinforce memory. 📝📖
• Join a book club or start one to discuss and retain more. 👥💬
• Try listening to audiobooks to engage different senses. 🎧👂
• Writing about your readings solidifies understanding. ✍️🤔

Overview

Are you struggling to remember what you read? Worry not; the video by ParkNotes offers insights into why remembering can be difficult and how you can change that. It delves into the various distractions we face, from noisy environments to racing thoughts. Overcome these by creating a calm space and time dedicated solely to reading, making it a peaceful daily ritual.

The video suggests taking coherent marginal notes and revisiting favorite books. Creating a commonplace book allows you to jot down thoughts and quotes, turning reading into an interactive experience. This method is invaluable for books you wish to remember or understand deeply. Join or start a book club to discuss and explore different viewpoints, making the reading experience richer.

Furthermore, ParkNotes introduces other immersion methods like audiobooks, enabling engagement through different senses. Complement your reading with Magic Mind shots to boost focus and mental clarity. Finally, cement your learnings by writing about what you've read. Whether through blogs or personal reflections, sharing your insights makes the reading journey memorable and worthwhile.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction and Struggles with Reading Comprehension The chapter discusses the challenges people face with reading comprehension and proposes potential reasons for these struggles. It suggests that distractions, whether external or internal, are a major factor hindering comprehension.
• 01:30 - 03:30: Identifying Distractions The chapter discusses various types of distractions that can hinder reading and concentration. External distractions might include a noisy or busy environment that prevents focus. Internal distractions, such as intrusive thoughts and a preoccupied mind, can also impede the ability to concentrate on reading and retaining information. The chapter emphasizes the importance of managing these distractions to improve reading effectiveness.
• 03:30 - 05:00: Active Reading and Understanding Unfamiliar Content Chapter Title: Active Reading and Understanding Unfamiliar Content This chapter discusses the importance of active reading for better comprehension and information retention. It highlights two primary issues: passive reading and unfamiliarity with the content. Passive reading occurs when one merely traces the words without truly engaging with the material, leading to poor information encoding and recall. Additionally, struggling with comprehension can arise from encountering unfamiliar topics, genres, or concepts that feel strange or foreign. The chapter emphasizes the need to actively engage with the reading material, particularly when dealing with challenging or unfamiliar content, to enhance understanding and retention.
• 05:00 - 07:30: Lack of Interest and Cognitive Factors The chapter explores how a lack of interest and cognitive obstacles can hinder one's ability to learn and retain information. The speaker explains that unfamiliar topics require additional time to comprehend, and if the material is confusing, it becomes difficult to encode in memory. Furthermore, a lack of interest significantly impacts motivation, making it challenging to engage with the material, especially if it is assigned rather than chosen willingly.
• 07:30 - 10:30: Reading as a Skill and Developing a Routine This chapter delves into the complexity of developing a reading routine and the challenges that can arise from internal and external factors. It explores a personal anecdote about the counterproductive effect of being forced to read, highlighting the role of inner contrarian attitudes. Additionally, it touches on cognitive and emotional obstacles like sleep deprivation, untreated ADHD, and unresolved emotions, all of which can hinder focus, reading, and memory.
• 10:30 - 13:00: Importance of Reading Rituals Reading is a skill similar to riding a bike; once learned, it's not forgotten but requires practice to maintain proficiency. Lack of practice can lead to slower reading speeds and reduced comprehension.
• 13:00 - 15:30: Managing Caffeine for Better Focus The chapter discusses the parallels between using skills such as concentration and physical tasks like riding a bike. It emphasizes that just like with physical skills, mental focus can diminish if not regularly practiced. To counteract this, the chapter aims to provide practical tips for managing caffeine intake to help enhance focus and mental acuity.
• 15:30 - 18:00: Magic Mind Sponsorship The chapter discusses the importance of making time for undistracted reading to improve reading skills and retention. The narrator emphasizes the challenge of starting to read again if it's not part of a regular routine. The video is sponsored by Magic Mind, although further details on the sponsorship are not provided in the excerpt.
• 18:00 - 20:00: Taking Marginal Notes The chapter emphasizes the importance of integrating reading into a daily routine by finding suitable times, such as morning or night, during commutes, or lunch breaks, to make reading a habit. The narrator shares their personal routine of reading in the morning, aligning it with intermittent fasting practices. The goal is to encourage consistency in reading to develop it into a regular habit.
• 20:00 - 23:30: Re-reading Books This chapter discusses the benefits of re-reading books in the morning for enhanced mental clarity. By not having breakfast before reading, the mind remains undistracted and more focused, aiding in better retention of what is read. A consistent morning routine that includes making coffee signals the start of this productive reading time, turning it into a daily ritual.
• 23:30 - 26:30: Keeping Book Notes and Compendiums The chapter emphasizes the importance of setting specific times for reading to avoid procrastination. By scheduling reading sessions, one can eliminate both internal and external distractions. The author shares a personal strategy of reading in the morning, using sensory cues like the smell of coffee to signal reading time, and always keeping a pocket notebook handy to jot down errant thoughts that may arise during reading. This practice not only helps in focusing on reading but also ensures that any creative or distracting thoughts are preserved without breaking the flow of reading.
• 26:30 - 29:30: Joining a Book Club The chapter titled 'Joining a Book Club' discusses using a pocket notebook to jot down tasks or ideas that may otherwise be lost. The speaker emphasizes the importance of incorporating reading into daily routines to prioritize and remember what is read.
• 29:30 - 32:00: Using Audiobooks The chapter emphasizes the importance of dedicating specific time for reading audiobooks by integrating it into one's schedule as a routine or ritual. It suggests setting aside a set amount of time, such as 30, 45, 60, or even 90 minutes, to ensure consistent reading habits, particularly when under tight schedules or deadlines. The use of a timer is recommended to adhere strictly to the reading period, which can enhance engagement with the material. This disciplined approach aids in maintaining interest in the audiobook content.
• 32:00 - 36:30: Writing About Your Reading The chapter titled 'Writing About Your Reading' discusses the process of engaging with reading materials, especially when they are part of a to-be-read list or a work requirement like a video or blog post. The speaker emphasizes the effectiveness of time management by setting a dedicated 30-minute session to help foster 'ustress' (positive stress), which aids in boosting interest and focus. By adhering to a routine and setting a timer, this method enhances the retention of the material read, leading to better understanding and recall.
• 36:30 - 43:00: Summary and Final Tips This chapter discusses the author's personal relationship with coffee as part of their morning routine. The author shares their struggle to find the optimal amount of coffee consumption that allows them to stay caffeinated without becoming jittery and unfocused. They mention that consuming too little coffee leaves them unsatisfied, while drinking too much leads to restlessness and difficulty concentrating. The chapter highlights the importance of moderation and finding a balance in the author's daily caffeine intake.

Why You Don't Remember What You Read Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Why are you having a hard time remembering what you've read? Maybe you're just a bookworm and you're always looking for extra tips to help you read even better. But most likely, if you're watching this video, you're struggling remembering what you read. So, why is that? Well, you're going to have your own reasons why reading comprehension is hard for you right now. But, I've come up with a list of reasons that I think may be hindering your comprehension. First up is distractions. Whether that's an external distraction or an internal distraction. External distractions are
• 00:30 - 01:00 going to be like environment. Maybe you're just reading in a bad spot. You're reading somewhere where there are lots of distractions, lots of things calling for your attention, lots of noises, things that are going to pull you out of that concentration, out of the focus needed to read and recall. Alternatively, maybe you have a lot of internal distractions. Maybe you have a lot going on in your mind and every time you sit down to read, you think of all the tasks that you have to do. So distractions are number one. That's probably why you're having a hard time
• 01:00 - 01:30 recollecting what you've read. The second possibility is that maybe you're not actively reading. Maybe you're passively reading. Maybe you've gotten good at tracing the words on the page with your eyes. You're just going through the motions. And maybe you're not actually engaging your mind and encoding that information for retrieval later. Maybe you're struggling with poor comprehension because you are unfamiliar with the topics that you're reading or the genre or the concepts. These are weird words. These are weird terms. These are weird concepts, things I'm
• 01:30 - 02:00 unfamiliar with. And so I'm having to take a lot of time to think about them and I'm not able to read as much as I'd like or the actual topic material itself is not making sense to me and so I'm not encoding it in my mind well at all. Next up is just a lack of interest. I know for me, if I'm not interested in something, it's almost impossible for me to do that thing. If there's a book I really want to read, the best way for me to lose interest in it is if a professor assigns that book for me. I don't know,
• 02:00 - 02:30 for whatever reason, if someone forces me to read something, I don't want to read that anymore. And as soon as they say you don't have to read it, now I can read it again. It's weird. I have to do things to work around my internal contrarian, but he lives in there and he messes with my motivation all the time. And then maybe there are some more cognitive factors like sleep deprivation or maybe you have ADHD and you are not treating it very well. Maybe you're struggling with difficult emotions right now. Maybe you haven't addressed those and they're living underneath the surface and they are messing with your ability to focus and read and remember
• 02:30 - 03:00 what you've read. And then lastly, maybe you're just out of practice. Reading is a skill. I think reading is like riding a bike. Once you figure it out, you've got it for life. I don't think you're going to forget how words work or different words that you've already learned. But like riding a bike, if you're not practicing it, if you're not actively pushing yourself, you're going to lose your ability to perform at a higher level. So, if you haven't read in a long time, you're going to read much slower and you're not going to be as
• 03:00 - 03:30 good at abstracting out the meanings and putting it in your own words and conceptualizing it and metabolizing it in your mind. like riding a bike. If your legs are weak and atrophied, if you haven't ridden in like 10 years, it's going to feel weird when you jump back on that bike. I think you'll still remember how to do it, but you won't be as good at it as you were when you were riding every day. Making big pushes and climbing up those hills are going to be much harder if you're out of practice. So, in this video, I'm just going to give you very practical tips for helping
• 03:30 - 04:00 yourself read better and actually remember what you've read. This video is sponsored by Magic Mind, but more on that later. Let's jump in with my first tip, which is make time for undistracted reading. If you have no scheduled time to actually sit down and read, it's going to be much harder for you to find time to read and then you're not going to be in the practice of reading. Well, if you never read, it's going to be so hard when you try to start reading again. So, once you start reading again,
• 04:00 - 04:30 just make it a routine. Make it a daily routine. Do you like reading better in the morning or do you like reading better at night? Can you read on the train to work? Can you read during your lunch break? Find a time and put it into your schedule, at least at the beginning here where you're jumping back into reading so that you can make it a habit. So, I have a lot of different jobs and they all require me to actually read. So, I have to make reading a part of my daily routine. I like doing it in the morning. I have chosen not to eat until noon. So, I do a little bit of intermittent fasting, but it's mostly
• 04:30 - 05:00 for mental clarity. I found that if I'm not eating in the morning, then reading from 8 to 11 or 11:30 is perfect. My mental clarity is there. I'm not thinking about other things, I'm not digesting any food. I'm not getting slogged down or anything like that. I'm just reading and remembering what I read. So, I've made my morning reading routine into a ritual. I do it in the same spot. I have the same ritual of grinding coffee beans and doing a pourover in the morning. And that just signals to me every day, hey, it's time
• 05:00 - 05:30 to read. Let's dial in here. Let's focus up. This is your time to read. If you don't do it now, you're not going to get your reading done. And so, the signal also helps me get rid of distractions. I know that if I'm doing it in the morning, I'm not going to be distracted by other kinds of work or people around. Even the smell of the coffee in the morning has signaled that it's time to get to work. So, I'm limiting those external distractions. And then I still do have internal distractions. I still have lots of ideas bouncing around in my head, but I will keep a notebook with me. Usually a pocket notebook, usually a
• 05:30 - 06:00 catch-all pocket notebook. So if any tasks come up and they're calling for my attention or any ideas that are threatening to get lost, they pop in in a flash and they say, "If you don't write me down right now, I'm gone forever." That's fine. I'll just take a moment and I'll write them down in a pocket notebook and then I put that off to the side and I get back to reading. So actually give yourself a chance to remember what you read by making it part of your daily routine. Signal to yourself, hey, this is important to me.
• 06:00 - 06:30 So much so that I'm going to put it on my calendar. So much so that I'm going to turn it into a ritual or a routine. And actually all lot yourself a period of time to get reading. Whether that's a half an hour, whether that's 60 minutes or 90 minutes, maybe even set an alarm. I do this often when I'm facing lots of deadlines. I say, I know that I can at least read for an hour or I can at least read for 45 or 30 minutes. So I'm setting a timer and I have to do it right then. That also helps me get interested in the things I'm reading. Hey, I know that I I want to read this.
• 06:30 - 07:00 It's on my list. It's on my TBR or I have to study it for some video I'm making or some blog post I'm writing, but I only have 30 minutes today. So, that amps up my ustress, that positive stress that I need in order to get stuff done. And it helps me get interested in what I'm reading. I only have this much time. I've set a timer. It's part of my routine. Let's jump in and actually focus. And I found when I do that, I actually remember what I've read much better than if I don't. Now, like I
• 07:00 - 07:30 said, coffee is a big part of my morning routine, a part of my ritual. But sometimes I overdo it and I get over caffeinated and I get all jittery and that is not good. I still haven't found out the perfect amount of coffee. If I have two cups, it's not quite enough, but three, four, five is probably too much. I start getting jittery and antsy. my mind starts going into overdrive and I'm not able to focus on what I'm reading. So, I want to be caffeinated, but I don't want to be so caffeinated
• 07:30 - 08:00 that I'm fidgety and jittery. Thankfully, I found the sponsor of this video, Magic Mind. So, Magic Mind has become a big part of my daily reading and studying routine. So, I drink a Magic Mind mental performance shot in the morning with my morning studies, and it helps me stay alert without reaching for a second, third, fifth cup of coffee. It gives me a clean energy boost without the coffee jitters. Magic Mind contains a magical combination of 12 active ingredients which are
• 08:00 - 08:30 scientifically designed to improve motivation, mental clarity, mood, and energy while decreasing stress. And all that combines to help improve my mental performance. So like I said, these mental performance shots have become a big part of my ritual in the morning. I've also found that Magic Mind helps me in the afternoon when I need an energy boost, when I need focus and mental clarity, and when it's way too late to drink any more coffee. The caffeine in Magic Mind doesn't release all at once like a regular coffee or energy drink, but instead it has a slow release, which
• 08:30 - 09:00 is 1 to 3 hours, and that's due to the nano encapsulation technology they use to wrap their ingredients. So, this allows me to have a steady stream of energy all throughout the day instead of a huge spike boost and then the inevitable crash. Magic Mind shots are chalk full of things like organic lion's mane mushrooms. It's got turmeric in it which has shown to be effective at reducing symptoms of major depressive disorder. It's got vitamin C and organic cortisep mushrooms, vitamin B complex, vitamin D3, organic ashwagandha, organic
• 09:00 - 09:30 agave, atheonine, and more. So, while I still incorporate coffee into my morning routine, I drink much less of it because of these magic mind shots. This stuff actually works and it's become such a beneficial tool for helping me read and study better. So, if you guys want to try Magic Mind Shots, and I think you should, then use my link in the description or in the pinned comment or to scan the QR code on the screen for 50% off a Magic Mind subscription. Now, if you don't like it, you can cancel that subscription at any time. But if you're anything like me, then you're definitely going to love Magic
• 09:30 - 10:00 Mind. So, big thanks to Magic Mind for sponsoring this video. Now, let's get on to the second tip to help you remember what you read. The second tip is super easy. It's just taking marginal notes. I really like taking marginelia, marginal notes, notes in the margins, annotations. I like to put notes all over the place to help me remember what I've read to give me little symbols so that I can come back and find what I've read more easily. I like to box out key
• 10:00 - 10:30 words. I like to write my own shortorthhand. I love symbols. It's just so helpful. Highlighter, of course. I like to make the book my own. This is my copy of CS Lewis's Miracles. It's actually like my third or fourth copy, but I've read this one the most and starting to fall apart, but I have lots of notes in here to help me remember. I don't know why I used to think this, but I used to think if I didn't remember everything from the book on the first read through, then I was somehow dumb. Now, maybe I am somehow dumb, but I'm
• 10:30 - 11:00 dumb because I thought you could just remember a book from the first reading. That's not the case. If you want to remember what you've read, you should read the book more than once. Now, not every book is worth reading more than once. But find books that are and then read them more than once. And if you read a book that's bad, then who cares if you don't remember it all that much. That's okay. You want to remember the good books that you've read. You don't want to waste your time on bad books. And so, don't worry about it. But if you want to remember a really good book, then you should take notes in that book.
• 11:00 - 11:30 At the very least, you should underline or highlight or put a little Q for quote next to a really good quote that you found. That way, you can come back and abstract those quotes and put them in a commonplace book and read back on them later. Doing that whole process of even marking out quotations will help you remember those quotations better, but then you can enjoy your book more. You can come back the second time and go, "Wow, I really thought that was a good quote." Or, "Wow, I forgot about that quote. That's so beautiful." because I
• 11:30 - 12:00 forgot about it. That might be telling me I need to start a commonplace book. I should write that quote down in a notebook full of quotations. And the act of writing it down will also help you remember it. But then furthermore, reflecting back through that notebook is going to help you remember even more. So, I guess those are two more tips. take marginal notes or if you're listening in an audiobook, I mean, usually we listen to audiobooks because we're doing other stuff, but uh if you're visually impaired or if you just don't have the time to sit down and read, then bring a pocket notebook with
• 12:00 - 12:30 you or something like that. Something to make book notes in. Make your notes. Either make them directly in a book, make them in a separate notebook, or both. I actually do both. That's going to be uh another tip for us. I don't want to get ahead of myself too much, but take marginal notes and then read books more than once. I think because we have this idea that we need to get through as many books as possible in a single year. We say, "Well, I already read that book this year, so I'll see you next year. I'll see you in four
• 12:30 - 13:00 years." Going that many years between reading a book, you're not going to remember it. It's like almost starting brand new. So, read the book multiple times. You can pick it right back up and read it again. Now, maybe you want to give yourself some time, a little bit of a pallet cleanse or something like that, but don't worry about how many books you got through that year. Just count it twice. I read Miracles once and then two months later I read it again. So, if I'm really interested in that book pile or something like that, I'll just count it twice. No problem. You read that book
• 13:00 - 13:30 two times. That's great. So, next up, keep a compendium of booknotes or keep a manuscript commonplace book. That's what I have here. These are my booknotes on CS Lewis's Miracles. Now, again, not every book is going to warrant a whole notebook dedicated to that book. But every good book that you're going to read is at least worth three or four pages of notes. Even if it's just a summary for each quarter of the book or each half of the book or something like that. What did you just get done reading? Can you put it in your own
• 13:30 - 14:00 words? Can you summarize it? Can you give a little precy of the arguments? Can you give a little abstract of what you've read? If you do that, it's going to help you remember what you've read because you're putting those ideas or the story into your own words. So, this is a mix between a compendium and a manuscript commonplace book. A compendium is just a collection of information, whereas a commonplace book is going to be a collection of quotations. A manuscript commonplace book is where you are manuscripting out
• 14:00 - 14:30 your ideas on certain quotations. So for instance, this notebook is all about CS Lewis's miracles and I'm keeping chapter notes. And that's because right now I am doing a readalong on my Substack, Parker's Ponderings, and we're reading through C. Lewis's Miracles. And so I need to take notes on the book in order for me to write the companion essays that I'm writing to help people understand the book. So, this is a compendium because I'm doing my own summaries of the book, but it's also a commonplace book because I'm adding
• 14:30 - 15:00 important quotations from the book right here into the notebook. And then I'm giving my own thoughts on it, my own notes on it. I'm abstracting out the arguments that CS Lewis is giving. I'm making them more formal. So, I'm formalizing his arguments and I'm giving my own thoughts on those arguments. So, I'm manuscripting out my companion essays right here in the notebook, which is helping me remember, and I'm also synthesizing and abstracting out the main concepts and just putting that information down in this notebook. So, it's it's a compendium. It's also a
• 15:00 - 15:30 manuscript commonplace book. If you're confused about those terms, I have a bunch of videos on both of those. I just came out with one on compendia or compendiums, and I've done a bunch on the different kinds of commonplace books. So, check those out. I'll leave at least two videos in the description for you. But keep a notebook of notes on the books you read. You don't have to have a whole dedicated one for one particular book, but maybe you do it by genre. Maybe you do it by topic. So maybe it's a a science fiction one or a fantasy one or historical fiction or
• 15:30 - 16:00 maybe you have one for philosophy or theology or the philosophy of mind or particular doctrines in theology. Keep a notebook for those kinds of books that you want to be reading and remembering. Also find my Parker's Pondering Substack link in the description. And come check out my companion essays for CS Lewis's Miracles. It is his most philosophical and theologically rich books. So, it's a little bit hard to understand what he's getting at, but I'm trying to help with
• 16:00 - 16:30 my companion essays. So, that brings me to my next tip, which is join a book club. So, you can join my book club by going to my Substack and joining this readalong. There are other people on Substack doing that. Go find a digital book club or even better go join a book club at your local library or find one through like a Facebook group. And if you're having trouble finding a book club on the type of books you want to read and remember, then start one yourself. Don't be creepy. Don't be a weirdo. But go out and start your own book club and find your people. There
• 16:30 - 17:00 are a lot of different ways that you can do this. You can do them on Discord. You can do them on Facebook groups. You can do them on Reddit probably, but you may get your face bitten off there. Find a way to make your own book club or join an existing one online or in person. Talking about the books that you've read with other people is one of the best ways to actually remember what you've read. Maybe they have a different interpretation. Maybe they have focused on a different part of the chapter than you have focused on. Maybe you agree with them. Maybe they're drawing out new
• 17:00 - 17:30 points that you haven't thought about. Maybe you are the one who's opening up everyone else's eyes to some fascinating point that they would have missed if you weren't there. So, if you're having trouble remembering what you read, then join a book club. Don't forget about family. If you have a family that you like, that you get along with, then try to coersse them. Try to coax them into starting a family book club. Next up is a really simple and intuitive tip. Listen to the audio book of the book. So, if you're someone who's only read books and you're finding yourself having
• 17:30 - 18:00 a hard time comprehending, or remembering, recollecting what you've read, then try the audiobook version of the book. Try listening. It's a different skill set. So, you're going to need to practice active listening. You don't want to just hear the book. It's just like if your eyes are going over the words, but you're not actually reading. You don't want to just hear the words. You want to be listening actively in order to comprehend what the book is saying if you're listening to an audiobook. But changing up which senses
• 18:00 - 18:30 you're using to consume that kind of content that can help you switch things up and remember more of what you are consuming. So if you really really want to remember what you've read, I think you should probably read the book and take marginal notes and then you should listen to the audio book and then you should go back and read the book again. I don't always engage in this practice, but when I have, it's been really helpful for me. And I do it mostly with fiction books because it's really hard for me to listen to non-fiction, but a lot of novels are done really well in
• 18:30 - 19:00 audiobook and they make it easy to follow along with the story. But if I'm going to make a YouTube video on a particular science fiction book, I'm going to read that book. I'm going to listen to the audiobook, and then I'm going to read it again. And if I've already bought the audiobook, I might as well listen to that again on a commute or something like that. So, I'm going to do it multiple times because I want that stuff deep in my mind, but I'm also going to be making a YouTube video on it where potentially thousands of people can see it. So, I don't want to look stupid. So, that may be overkill, but that's why I am messing with those
• 19:00 - 19:30 mediums back and forth so much. So, here's my last tip, and I think it's probably the best one for actually remembering what you've read. If you want to remember what you've read, you should write about what you've read. That goes a little bit further than just taking the quotes or just abstracting out the information. Give a book review. Write down your own thoughts. Hey, here's what the book said. Here's the main message of this story. Here's the main goal of the author. Here's the main argument. And here's what I think about
• 19:30 - 20:00 it. Was it well written? Did it engage you? What kind of ideas did it stir up in you? What kind of emotions did it make you feel? Could you find the author's main thesis or main moral point and was it convincing to you? So, if you are keeping a compendium or a commonplace book of booknotes, then just add your book reviews to that notebook. But maybe you're feeling bold and you want to go out into the wild world of social media and share your takes there. Be careful. Someone may bite your face off, but I found a lot of really cool
• 20:00 - 20:30 people online who engage in the same kind of books that I do, who help me understand them and who I can have a good conversation with. So, if you want to remember more of what you've read, you should write about that. Maybe you should start your own Substack where you just give book reviews on all the different books you've read. Even if you're not getting billions of followers there, that's not the point anyways. The whole point is to write about what you've just read in order to help yourself remember more of what you've read. All right, so those are my tips for helping you remember a little bit
• 20:30 - 21:00 more of what you've read. Let me run back through them to help you remember before I let you go here. Make reading a part of your daily routine. Build uninterrupted time for reading into your daily routine and make it a ritual to signal to yourself that this is my time to actually get into what I want to read. Take marginal notes. Whether that's actively in the book or if you're doing audiobooks, then give yourself maybe a blank notebook or a blank page to be taking marginal notes while you
• 21:00 - 21:30 are actively listening. Read a book multiple times and don't get down on yourself if you can't remember everything from just one read through. Stop expecting yourself to master and fully comprehend a book from only one read through. Get yourself a notebook to use as a compendium, commonplace book, and a place for your book reviews. Start writing about the book there in your notebook. Join an active book club or create one with your family or with your church or online or maybe in the
• 21:30 - 22:00 community. As long as you're being safe and things don't get weird. If you only read books with your eyes, then try audiobooks. If you're only listening to books with your ears, then try reading them with your eyes. and play with both of those mediums in order to help yourself get that stuff deep into your mind. And then lastly, write about the book. Whether you're just writing in a notebook about the book or whether you're actually taking that out into the world, making a book review blog or continually writing book reviews on your
• 22:00 - 22:30 Facebook or Twitter or wherever, write about the book. If you do that, you will create ustress for yourself. Hey, I'm going to be writing about this book and other people are going to be reading my thoughts about this book, my summary of this book, so I need to pay attention while I'm reading if I'm going to do that, if I'm going to commit to that. Now, if that makes reading stressful for you and it makes you hate reading, then don't do that. But give it a try because it may be the ustress you need to help you become more interested in the things you're reading, which in turn will help
• 22:30 - 23:00 you remember it much better. All right, so those are my tips. Leave me a comment. Which one do you think is best? And then if I missed any tips for remembering what you read, please leave those in the comments. That would be super helpful. If you guys made it this far, then leave me a thinking emoji in the comments. That's going to do it for this video. I'll catch you guys next