What’s the last book you read? What were the main points? You probably don’t remember as much as you would like.
It’s a reader’s paradox: we enjoy books, we spend several hours reading them, we feel like we’re learning from them, yet a few weeks later we can’t remember their basic details. This topic was covered in this week’s EconTalk. I thought I’d share the solution I came up with awhile back.
I was frustrated with not remembering things, especially after sinking hours into a book. So, I started annotating. I would underline, write comments, etc. This didn’t work that well because I rarely revisited the books. I had the option to flip through the book and read the notes I made in the margins, but it wasn’t convenient.
Then I saw this post from Ryan Holiday on keeping a commonplace book. A commonplace book is simply a collection of thoughts, quotes, knowledge, etc. Anything that is interesting and may be useful later goes in it.
Ryan Holiday uses a collection of index cards organized into boxes, which is quaint and seduces my luddite soul, but is incompatible with my toddler’s handwriting. I use Evernote, which is a phenomenal note-taking tool. With Evernote, I can read, edit, and search my notes from any device. It’s also free (for most purposes).
My technique is pretty simple. I think it successfully limits interruption to reading, which was my goal.
Annotation Method
- When you read, try to read with a pen.
- When you read something that interests you or is worth saving for later, bracket the quote with your pen and jot down a note, if you want.
- Fold the corner of the bottom of the page in towards the annotation.
- Continue reading.
- When you finish the book, catalog your annotations in your commonplace book.
It’s pretty quick; All you do is re-read the section that you originally found interesting, which you should be happy to do.
As I’ve already mentioned, I keep my commonplace book on Evernote. I make a note for the book, and fill the contents with the quotes/annotations and page numbers. This may seem tedious, but it’s not that bad. It serves two main functions:
- You re-read and write down the points that most impacted you. This further cements these points in your memory.
- You create a summary of the best parts of the book. Anywhere you are, you can now access your annotation. If you’re writing a paper and want to quote a passage, look in your commonplace book.
This method has really helped me get more value out of the books I read. We spend hours reading a book, only to forget much of it a few months later. By spending a few extra minutes up front, you distill the book into a personalized essence, which you can easily revisit later. I tend to include more details, like my thoughts on the book. Seeing these thoughts later triggers the recall of more nuanced details and the original joy of reading the book.
Advanced Method
Keep a book list in your commonplace book. In Evernote, I keep a table of the books I’ve read, when I read them, and I link the notes I took on them.
