Jordan Peterson - How to Remember Everything You Read

Summary

The speaker offers insightful advice on effective note-taking for both lectures and books. Emphasizing active listening over jotting down notes during lectures, they suggest reflecting on the material and taking notes afterward to aid memory retention. For books, the speaker advocates for reading, thinking, and then writing down personal reflections, rather than highlighting or underlining. By connecting new information to existing knowledge and reformulating it in one's own words, the speaker argues that recall becomes a natural, effortless process. This approach is geared towards deeper understanding and long-term retention.

Takeaways

• 😀 Don't take notes during a lecture while it's happening; focus on listening and understanding first.
• 😀 After the lecture, take notes to practice remembering and internalize the information.
• 😀 The method of not taking notes during the lecture works best for certain disciplines, like the speaker's own lectures.
• 😀 Avoid highlighting or underlining in books, as these actions are not effective for deep understanding.
• 😀 Instead of highlighting, read a few paragraphs, close the book, and reflect on what you remember.
• 😀 Writing down your thoughts and reflections on what you’ve just read helps solidify the information in your memory.
• 😀 The speaker attributes their ability to recall complex ideas to their habit of deeply thinking through and relating the information.
• 😀 To understand and retain information, think about how new ideas relate to concepts you already know.
• 😀 Attach memory hooks to new information by evaluating its significance and thinking critically about it.
• 😀 Recall is a more effective form of memory practice than recognition. Actively recalling information helps strengthen your memory.
• 😀 For note-taking, separate the functions of reading, thinking, and writing. Rephrase information in your own words to ensure understanding and retention.

Q & A

What is the main advice regarding taking notes during a lecture?

The advice is not to take notes during the lecture itself. Instead, you should focus on listening to the lecture, and take notes afterward to help reinforce your memory.

Why should you not take notes during a lecture, according to the speaker?

Taking notes during the lecture can distract you from fully listening and engaging with the material. The speaker suggests that focusing on the lecture itself is more beneficial for understanding.

What strategy does the speaker recommend for note-taking after the lecture?

The speaker recommends listening to the lecture, then taking notes afterward, forcing you to practice remembering what you heard and consolidating that knowledge into your memory.

How does this note-taking strategy benefit memory retention?

By writing down what you remember after reflecting on the lecture, you are engaging in a process that helps strengthen the information in your memory. This practice is important for recall, which is the active process of remembering.

What advice does the speaker give regarding reading and taking notes from books?

The speaker advises against highlighting or underlining when reading books. Instead, you should read a section, then close the book and write down your thoughts and what you remember to better internalize the information.

Why does the speaker think highlighting and underlining in books is ineffective?

The speaker believes highlighting and underlining are merely 'pseudo work' that don't truly help with understanding or remembering the content. He suggests a more active method of reflecting and writing down what you remember.

What is the recommended approach for engaging with a book's content?

The recommended approach is to read a section or paragraph, then close the book and think about what you read. Afterward, write down your thoughts and the key points you remember, which helps solidify the information in your mind.

How does this method of reading and writing help memory retention?

By thinking about the content and writing it down in your own words, you're creating multiple memory hooks, which makes the material more meaningful and easier to recall.

How does the speaker's approach to reading and note-taking relate to their ability to lecture extemporaneously?

The speaker's ability to lecture extemporaneously comes from thinking critically about what they read and connecting new ideas to existing knowledge. This active engagement helps them recall complex information during lectures.

What distinction does the speaker make between recall and recognition in the context of learning?

The speaker distinguishes recall from recognition by explaining that recall involves the active, spontaneous act of remembering complex ideas. Recall is what you practice through engaging with material and consolidating it into your memory, while recognition is simply recognizing information you've seen before.