Become Smarter! Read and Retain Like a Pro

Intro

Do you struggle to identify the right books to invest your time in? Do you read many books and not remember what you read? Do you forget when you need it the most in your daily life for a job?

I am like Dory from Finding Nemo. If you are anything like me, this blog discusses some of the techniques that I have learned in the last few years of reading books where I managed to read 1 per week AND still retain the information learned. Some of these techniques are rooted in research on neuroscience (analogies / linking to known information, recall, spaced repetition, etc.) and others (question formulation technique, etc.).

How do you know if a book is worth your time?

One year I got into the habit of reading books just for the sake of reading and counting it towards the Goodreads challenge. Sometimes, I read books even though I didn’t find them interesting.

To retain information from a book, one must understand the purpose behind reading it. To do this, you can spend a small amount of time to validate if the book meets your needs.

I got a couple of tricks to check this. One of them is to watch the videos about the book given by the author on YouTube. Usually, these are 25 minutes to an hour long and summarize what the book will discuss. This helps to understand that information is what I am looking for. There are, of course, other options like Blinkist and similar apps or articles by people summarizing the book on Medium as well.

Once I watch the video, or if one cannot find one, I use the SQ3R (SQRRR) technique. It is a popular technique for reading books and retaining knowledge.

S of the acronym means skim through the book for about 5 minutes — highlights, photos, or visual representation of any such important material that stands out to you.

Q of the acronym is to question. Spend some time to note down questions that the author is trying to answer for you in the book. You can also write down all the questions you want to understand from the book. It gives me clarity on purpose behind reading the book and thus motivation to finish it.

First R in the acronym is to read the book.

What do you have to do to retain the information while reading the book?

After reading a few books, I boasted to a colleague who asked me to summarize the learnings from one of the books. I felt miserable about not remembering anything I read.

Readers follow various techniques while reading the book, usually to retain the knowledge — one is to highlight, others make notes in the margin, etc. A method that I use is to use the

note-taking approach. Take a paper folded in half. On the left side, you write things that you are learning from the book or from a blog or article or whatever it might be. On the right side, write down the impression that you form — your questions that you have, your impressions, or something that links it to an existing knowledge base in your brain. Suppose the right side remains sparsely populated or empty in contrast to the left side in my notes. In that case, it reminds me that I am not forming neural connections with existing knowledge in my brain and that I am most likely not going to remember whatever I am learning.

What should I do after reading the book and why?

Once you finish reading the book, the second R is to Recite what was learned. It helps you to repeat the information learned and remember it better. I use techniques like concept maps or visual summaries to recite. Concept maps are mind maps of concepts learned. Visual summaries are summaries of learning along with graphical representations. This step usually takes a substantial amount of time. It feels like it is slowing you down but is an essential step to consolidate the knowledge required to recall that in the future as needed.

Once I finish a book summary, either as concept maps or visual summaries, the final step is to repeat it. I use the Feynman technique to take it as an opportunity to coach someone else. While coaching seems to be uni-directional of sharing knowledge, it is, in fact, beneficial for the coach as well to identify gaps in their understanding by either self-reflection of where they are struggling to explain or answering questions. Based on the identified gaps, you can go back and read your notes or section of a book.

Conclusion

To summarize the blog,

Understand the purpose behind reading the book unless it is a casual read. Use techniques like SQ3R or watching a podcast or youtube video by the author
While reading the book, make notes — in either the margins or using Jim Kwik’s techniques.
Recite the book — you can summarize the books as a list of takeaways, visual summaries, or concept maps.
Review it with a friend or family member to consolidate the learning further.

This framework has evolved over a period of time and I am sure it will continue to do so. I owe a lot of this knowledge to my mentor, Satish Madhira. Hope the same helps you on your journey as well.

In the next set of blogs, I will discuss some more techniques:

How can you create a book reading habit without making it too hard on yourself?
What did I do to get to 1 book per week from 1 book per year?
How do you focus while you read?
How do you integrate what you read into your work or life?