How to (actually) REMEMBER What You Read - 7 Tips

Summary

In this insightful video, Parker Had, a philosopher and theologian, shares seven effective strategies to enhance memory retention from reading. He emphasizes the importance of marginalia, or annotations within books, to help conceptualize and remember information. Parker also introduces the concept of a personal compendium, a comprehensive collection of information from the books one reads. He encourages viewers to maintain a personal dictionary to expand vocabulary and a reading log to keep track of books and reading dates. Additionally, Parker suggests writing book reviews for personal reflection and using commonplace books to collect and analyze quotes. Lastly, he recommends practicing active recall by discussing the content with others, which solidifies the information in memory. These tools are designed to not only remember what has been read but also to internalize and apply the knowledge gained.

Takeaways

• 📚 Marginalia: Writing notes in the margins of books can help conceptualize and remember information.
• 📒 Personal Compendium: Creating a separate notebook for notes can serve as an encyclopedia or index for the information you're learning.
• 📖 Personal Dictionary: Collecting new or impactful words in a personal dictionary can expand your vocabulary and help recall the context in which you found them.
• 🗒 Reading Log: Keeping a log of the books you read and when you read them can help you remember your reading history.
• 📝 Book Reviews: Writing your own reviews of the books you've read can reinforce your understanding and provide a personal summary of the content.
• 📒 Commonplace Books: Collecting quotes and sayings in a commonplace book can help you remember key ideas and concepts from your readings.
• 🤓 Active Recall: Discussing what you've read with others through active recall can solidify your understanding and memory of the material.
• 🔍 Symbol Usage: Using symbols to mark key points, main ideas, or sections to revisit can be an effective way to navigate and remember your readings.
• 📈 Skill Acquisition: When reading to acquire new skills, heavily annotate the text to facilitate frequent returns to the material for practice and understanding.
• 🎓 Academic Application: For academic or professional reading, taking detailed marginal notes and summarizing arguments can be crucial for in-depth comprehension and later reference.
• 📈 Growth Mindset: Engaging in continuous learning and applying these tools can contribute to personal and professional development.

Q & A

What is the first tool mentioned by Parker to help remember what you've read?

The first tool mentioned is marginalia, which refers to writing marginal notes or annotations directly in the books you're reading.

According to Parker, how does taking marginal notes benefit the reader?

Taking marginal notes helps the reader conceptualize the information they are learning in the moment and aids in remembering the information and concepts upon revisiting the material.

What is the significance of using symbols when marking up a text according to Parker's experience?

Using symbols like an eyeball or a square root can help to quickly identify key points, main ideas, or sections that require further review or memorization.

What does Parker suggest for readers who do not want to make annotations directly in their books?

For those who prefer not to annotate directly in their books, Parker suggests creating a personal compendium, which is a separate notebook where you can collect and organize information from your readings.

How does Parker use a personal dictionary to enhance his reading experience?

Parker collects new or interesting words he encounters while reading into a personal dictionary. He looks up the etymology, provides definitions, and often includes the context or citation where he found the word, which helps him remember and incorporate the word into his vocabulary.

What is the purpose of maintaining a reading log according to Parker?

A reading log helps you remember the titles of the books you've read and when you read them. It can also serve as a record of your reading progress over time, providing a sense of accomplishment and a reference for future reading plans.

Why does Parker recommend writing book reviews in a dedicated notebook?

Writing book reviews in a dedicated notebook allows Parker to have a summary of his thoughts on each book in his own handwriting. This process helps him remember the content and themes of the books and provides a personal analysis or reflection.

What are commonplace books and how do they assist in remembering what you've read?

Commonplace books are collections of quotes and wise statements that a reader finds insightful or memorable. They can be general, containing a variety of quotes, or specific to a particular genre, book series, or concept. These books help solidify the reader's memory of the material and provide a source of inspiration or reference.

How does active recall contribute to the process of remembering what you've read?

Active recall involves discussing the material you've read with others without referring to your notes. This process forces you to think about and articulate what you've learned, which helps solidify the information in your memory.

What is the role of a commonplace book in Parker's approach to learning and remembering philosophical ideas?

A commonplace book serves as a repository for Parker to collect and reflect on philosophical arguments and key quotes. It allows him to engage with the material deeply, providing a space for his own analysis and commentary, which aids in long-term retention of the ideas.

How does Parker use the platform Brilliant to enhance his understanding of artificial intelligence and related philosophical concepts?

Parker uses Brilliant to access interactive lessons in math, data science, programming, and artificial intelligence. The platform's hands-on problem-solving approach helps him build a foundational understanding and engage with the subject matter in a way that complements his philosophical inquiries.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Mastering Marginalia for Better Reading Retention

Parker, a philosopher and theologian, introduces the concept of marginalia, which are notes written in the margins of books to help conceptualize and remember what is being read. He explains that the extent of marginal notes depends on the genre and purpose of reading. For instance, he might not take many notes for a science fiction novel read for enjoyment but would mark aphorisms for his commonplace book. For non-fiction books aimed at learning and sharing knowledge, like Cal Newport's 'Slow Productivity,' he takes more extensive notes. Parker also discusses the use of symbols to mark important points and concepts, such as an eyeball for revisiting and a square root for key points. He emphasizes the importance of marking up texts for better recall during subsequent readings.

05:00

📒 Personal Compendium: A Systematic Approach to Note-Taking

The second tool Parker discusses is a personal compendium, which is a collection of information, systematically presented. This tool is beneficial for those who do not prefer making marginal notes directly in books. Parker uses a compendium to store information, such as character names and associations in fantasy or science fiction, or political dynamics in case studies. He also mentions using a separate notebook for books that are too beautiful or collectible to mark up directly. The compendium serves as an encyclopedia or index, allowing Parker to store and retrieve information efficiently.

10:01

📖 Personal Dictionary: Expanding Vocabulary through Reading

Parker's third tool is a personal dictionary, a notebook where he collects new or favorite words encountered while reading. He includes the etymology, definitions, and often the context or citation where he found the word. This not only helps to expand his vocabulary but also aids in remembering the book in which he found the word. Parker provides an example with the word 'proleptic' and explains how understanding its Greek origin helps in recollection.

15:03

📋 Reading Log: Tracking Your Literary Journey

The fourth tool is a reading log, which helps Parker remember the titles of books he has read and when he read them. He sets a daily page number goal, which could be determined using a top-down approach by calculating the total number of pages across selected books or a bottom-up approach by estimating the number of pages he can read daily. The log also allows him to record the completion of books over months or years, providing a sense of accomplishment and a record for reflection.

20:05

💭 Book Reviews: Reflecting on Your Reading Experience

Tool number five is maintaining a book of book reviews, where Parker writes his own summaries of the books he has read. This practice helps him remember the content as he has to process and articulate his thoughts in his own words. He differentiates between straight summaries and mixed pieces that include his analysis. Parker finds this tool particularly exciting because it does not require rigorous academic standards and serves as a personal collection of his thoughts and reactions to the books.

🗒️ Commonplace Books: Collecting Wisdom and Insights

Parker's sixth tool is the commonplace book, a collection of quotes and wise statements that he wants to remember. He has both general commonplace books for miscellaneous quotes and specific ones dedicated to quotes from a particular genre or book series. He also differentiates between a treasury commonplace book, which is merely a collection of quotes, and a manuscript commonplace book, which includes his analysis or thoughts on the quotes. Parker discusses his extensive use of commonplace books and encourages others to explore this method for retaining what they read.

🤓 Active Recall: Discussing Books to Solidify Memory

The final tool Parker mentions is practicing active recall, which involves discussing the books he has read with others. This could be with a friend, family member, or spouse, or by joining a book club or online community. Active recall helps solidify the information in his mind as he has to explain the book's content in his own words without referring to his notes. Parker believes this is one of the most effective ways to remember what he has read and turns the information into a part of his knowledge.

Keywords

💡Marginalia

Marginalia refers to the practice of writing notes in the margins of a book. In the context of the video, it is a method used by the speaker to help conceptualize and remember information while reading. The speaker emphasizes the importance of making direct annotations in books, depending on the genre and purpose of reading, to enhance memory and understanding of the text.

💡Personal Compendium

A personal compendium is a collection of information, usually systematically presented and comprehensive in scope. In the video, the speaker uses it as a tool for organizing and remembering information from the books he reads. It serves as a personal encyclopedia or index where he stores information, such as character names and associations in fiction or key arguments in non-fiction.

💡Personal Dictionary

The personal dictionary is a notebook where the speaker collects new or favorite words encountered while reading. It includes the etymology, definitions, and examples or contexts from the books where the words were found. This tool helps the speaker expand his vocabulary and remember the books he has read through the words he has encountered.

💡Reading Log

A reading log is a record of the books read, including the titles and the dates when they were read. It serves as a simple way to track one's reading progress over time. In the video, the speaker mentions using a reading log to maintain a record of his reading journey, which can be motivating and provide a sense of accomplishment.

💡Book of Book Reviews

This is a dedicated notebook for writing personal reviews of the books read. The speaker finds this tool particularly exciting as it allows him to collect his thoughts on the book in a non-rigorous, personal manner. It includes summaries of the books and the speaker's reactions, which aids in memory retention and provides a personal critique of the material read.

💡Commonplace Book

A commonplace book is a collection of quotes and ideas that the speaker finds noteworthy. It can be general, containing a wide variety of quotes, or specific, focusing on a particular genre, book series, or concept. The speaker distinguishes between a treasury commonplace book, which is merely a collection of quotes, and a manuscript commonplace book, which includes the speaker's analysis or thoughts on the quotes. This tool is integral to remembering and internalizing the wisdom and insights gained from reading.

💡Active Recall

Active recall is the process of consciously trying to remember information without looking at the source material. In the video, the speaker discusses practicing active recall by discussing the books he has read with others, such as his wife during walks. This method helps solidify the ideas in his mind and makes the information a part of his knowledge base.

💡Philosophical Ideas

Philosophical ideas are concepts and theories that deal with fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, and language. The speaker mentions discussing big philosophical ideas on his other YouTube channels, indicating that philosophical concepts are central to his study and communication of information.

💡Skill Acquisition

Skill acquisition refers to the process of learning and developing new abilities or competencies. The speaker talks about reading certain books to acquire new skills, such as learning about sets and mathematics for analytic philosophy. He marks up these books extensively to facilitate the learning process and to return to the material for review.

💡Notebooks

Notebooks are used by the speaker as a primary tool for organizing thoughts, ideas, and information. He is 'obsessed' with notebooks and uses them for various purposes, such as marginal notes, personal compendiums, personal dictionaries, reading logs, book reviews, and commonplace books. The use of notebooks is a recurring theme throughout the video, emphasizing their utility in the process of reading and remembering.

💡Brilliant Platform

The Brilliant platform is an online learning system that offers interactive lessons in math, data science, programming, and artificial intelligence. The speaker mentions it as a sponsor of the video and discusses how it uses a first principles approach to learning, which involves hands-on problem-solving to build understanding from the ground up. This aligns with the video's theme of effective learning and memory retention.

Highlights

Marginalia is a technique of writing notes in the margins of a book to help remember and conceptualize the information.

The amount of marginal notes taken depends on the genre of the book and the purpose of reading it.

A personal compendium is a collection of information from the books you read, stored in a separate notebook.

A personal dictionary is a notebook where you collect new words you encounter while reading, along with their meanings and context.

A reading log helps you keep track of the titles and dates of the books you read.

Writing book reviews in a dedicated notebook helps you remember your thoughts and feelings about the books you read.

Commonplace books are collections of quotes and wise sayings that you want to remember from the books you read.

Active recall involves discussing the books you read with others, which helps solidify the information in your mind.

The presenter has earned three master's degrees and hosts two podcasts on philosophical ideas.

The presenter uses various symbols to mark key points and sections to review in his marginal notes.

Dog-earing pages can be a useful technique for marking important sections in a book.

Brilliant.org is a learning platform with interactive lessons in math, data science, programming and AI.

The presenter is starting a new YouTube channel called Truth Suffers focused on science fiction.

Using a separate notebook to summarize a book's plot or key arguments can help reinforce your understanding and memory of the material.

The presenter has a personal compendium for the simulation hypothesis, where he collects and organizes information on the topic.

A commonplace book can be a manuscript version where you include your own analysis and thoughts on the quotes.

Joining a book club or online community can provide opportunities for active recall and discussion of the books you read.

Transcripts

hey welcome to park notes I'm Parker had

a case I'm a philosopher and theologian

and this is a channel where I help you

study and think more deeply in this

video I'm going to share with you seven

tips that I've learned throughout my

studies on how to actually remember what

you've read over the past 11 semesters

I've earned three master's degrees I

host two podcasts and have a couple

other YouTube channels where I discuss

big philosophical ideas so when I read a

book it's really important for me to

remember the information to

conceptualize the ideas in order to like

make that my own and pass that along to

you guys so I'm going to be sharing with

you guys these seven tips that actually

help me remember what I've read some of

these I've kind of made up on my own

others I've picked up from other people

and other thinkers and they're all super

helpful for me you don't have to use all

seven of these and just a fair warning

they're going to be super duper notebook

heavy this is the park notes YouTube

channel I'm pretty much obsessed with

notebooks I love compartmentalizing my

ideas my thoughts my information in

different notebooks it's super helpful

for me so you can take one or two or all

seven of these ideas you don't have to

use any of them you you can start a

notebook hoarding collection like me or

you don't have to but if you are going

to pick up some new notebooks then check

the links in the description because a

lot of them have discounts if I can find

you guys a deal I'm going to do that so

I found you guys a couple deals check

out my affiliate links in the

description that's all I'll say about

that this video is sponsored by

brilliant but more on that later let's

Jump Right In okay so the first tool to

help you actually remember what you read

is marginalia now marginalia is just a

big fancy word for marginal notes or

annotations I'm talking about about

writing in your books taking actual

notes inside your books now I've done a

whole video on taking marginal notes you

can find that up here somewhere I think

if you guys want to see a more in-depth

treatment of marginalia and marginal

notes check that out but I'll just give

you a brief overview taking marginal

notes actually helps you conceptualize

the information that you're learning in

the moment now the amount of marginal

notes that I take is going to depend on

the genre of book and the purpose that

I'm reading if it's just for fun I may

not take any marginal notes if it's just

a science fiction novel yeah maybe I'm

just enjoying that but I love collecting

wise sayings in my pocket Proverbs

commonplace book so usually I'm going to

at least have a pen or highlighter in my

hand to Mark when I find aphorisms or

Proverbs especially in science fiction

so like the Empire of Silence by

Christopher Rocko is a great example

there's not a whole ton of notes that I

have but I do Mark out the Proverbs and

aphorisms that he uses cuz I want those

for myself I want to be able to share

those to my kids I want to be able to

share them with you guys I have whole

podcast on Proverbs so I am going to

Mark those cuz I don't want to miss out

now I am starting a new YouTube channel

on Science Fiction it's called Truth

suffers there might be a link in the

description for you guys but I'm going

to be covering things like Dune Messiah

which is one of my favorite books Frank

Herbert really changed my philosophy

around so there's going to be a lot more

marginal notes in this book that's

because I'm making one or two or three

videos on this so I really need to mark

this up this is my working copy of dun

Messiah so if I'm reading a non-fiction

book like Cal newport's slow

productivity then I'm going to be taking

a lot more marginal notes because I have

a specific purpose for reading this I

want to make a YouTube video on this I

want to make a blog post on this and I

want to share these ideas with you guys

and I want to learn these ideas for

myself so I can start practicing what

he's preaching I love Cal Newport

everything he writes is gold so I want

to make sure to mark up this book so I

can come back to it time and time again

in order to get the most out of this

book Cal's a great writer he's super

clear and concise and thankfully he

demarcates his definitions they're

really easy to find so I'll highlight

those but I'm also going to write some

marginal notes in the margins for future

Parker to come back and remember what I

was thinking when I was reading this

book I also will block off quotes if I

want to add those to my commonplace

books later but it's important for me to

mark up the text so I know where to find

those quotes when I come back later in

My Philosophy master's degree one of my

professors gave us a whole bunch of

symbols that he uses when he marks up a

text I don't use all those symbols

myself but I'll put them up on the

screen so you guys can see them they're

also in that video on marginal notes the

symbols that I mostly use are an eyeball

if it's something that I need to go back

and look at again or maybe even commit

to memory I also use a square root

symbol in order to indicate that this is

like a key point this is the author's

main point or key point or main thesis

of the chapter or book that's a really

important thing so if I see a square

root go back to that for sure I'll also

block off words that I really like or

that were new to me words that I had to

look up this helps me expand my

vocabulary and that's actually going to

be another tool later on so I'll come

back to that now you may choose

different symbols than I like you may

use highlighters or different color

highlighters I like yellow you might

choose to underline different things

than I would but my key Point here is

Mark up your text it will help you

remember in the moment and it will help

you remember this information and these

Concepts when you go back to read it a

second third fourth fifth time now I

don't expect to master a book the first

time I'm reading it so my first pass is

usually just me marking up the text for

my second time through the second time I

can start to master these Concepts and I

don't mean you have to read the book

from cover to cover a second time just

when you're skimming back through oh

yeah here's what he said oh I remember

that now oh now it makes sense that I've

read the third fourth fifth chapter I

also like to dog ear my pages I know a

lot of people are going to be mad about

that but these books are tools I beat

them up and make them mine this is my

tool you probably wouldn't want to read

it after me but maybe my kids will like

it and they'll see oh look at Dad's

marginal notes that's kind of cool this

isn't just for show this is something

that I'm going to use to learn new

Concepts and convey them to you guys but

I'm going to make the most marginal

notes in something like more precisely

the math you need to do philosophy this

is me trying to acquire a new skill I'm

trying to learn about sets and all

different types of mathematics that

analytic philosophers use I want to be a

good analytic philosopher I also want to

be a sage that's why I'm picking up all

those Proverbs but I want to do

philosophy well as an analytic

philosopher so I'm going to mark this

book up a ton in order to help myself

acquire new skills so those are three

different levels of marginal notes if

it's a book I'm reading more for

enjoyment I'm not going to mark it up

that much if I'm reading it in order to

convey new ideas to you guys I'm G to

mark it up much more and if I'm reading

it for skill acquisition I'm trying to

acquire a new skill that thing's going

to get all chewed up all marked up

because I'm going to have to return to

that book often but speaking of

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let's get to the second tool to help you

actually remember what you read the

second tool is a personal compendium so

for the folks who don't like annotations

who don't like making marginal notes

marginalia this is for you if you do

like making marginal notes this is also

for you it's personal compendium a

compendium is just a collection of

information usually it's systematically

presented and it's usually comprehensive

in scope so think of a guide book of

North American Turtles that's going to

be systematically presented probably by

like Turtle name or maybe by sub regions

in North America and it's going to be

comprehensive in scope it's going to

include all the turtles that live in

North America so that's an example of a

compendium you're going to make your own

compendium for the books that you're

reading so if you don't like making

marginal notes make your notes in a

separate notebook this is going to be

your encyclopedia your index and it's

going to be where you store your

information so if you're reading a

science fiction book or a fantasy book

and you have a hard time remembering

names write the names in here and you

can even write their associations this

guy is king of this land and he's got

beef with this King and he's married

this queen whatever for the case if you

want to remember the plot and you have a

hard time with all the different

politics going on then write that in

here so I've been doing this for

philosophy Concepts like the simulation

hypothesis I have a compendium SL

manuscript commonplace book for the

simulation hypothesis don't laugh like a

lot of people are interested in this and

I want to get to the Deep philosophy

behind this I want to help people think

about the simulation hypothesis so as I

read books and articles and watch TV

shows and learn more and more about what

people think about the simulation

hypothesis I abstract the ideas and the

information out and I put it in my

virtual reality simulation hypothesis

compendium so I can actually remember

what I've been learning I also just

started a new notebook for science

fiction books there are some books that

I don't like marking up because they're

too beautiful they're too like rare

they're collectibles so here I have the

Lord of Light and I don't want to mark

this up I love this book I want to read

it here I'm going to be really nice to

it I'm not going to bend the corners or

add any marginalia but I'm going to take

all my notes in a separate notebook so

when I read a collectible book I'm not

destroying it but if it's a modern book

I'm going to chew that thing up and make

it my own you may also include chapter

summaries so if it's a novel maybe you

Summarize each chapter so you remember

the plot as you're going if it's a

non-fiction book maybe you summarize the

key arguments the key themes the key

information that were presented in the

last chapter whatever the case you make

it your own this is your personal

compendium I'm just giving you the idea

you make it your own and let me know in

the comments what else needs to be

included in your personal compendium to

help you remember what you you've been

reading now let's get to Tool number

three tool number three is really simple

it's just a personal dictionary this is

just a notebook where I collect words

these are words that are some of my

favorite words or words that I

rediscovered or words that I learned for

the first time while I'm reading a book

if I come across a really good word I

will block that out and then when I'm

done reading the book I go back through

and I add those new words into my own

personal dictionary I'll look up the

emology of the word so I can see where

it came from I'll leave a definition or

two and a lot of times I'll also include

the citation and the quotation here's

where I found it and here's the context

this way I can actually recall the word

from the book where I found it and helps

me remember that book so here I have the

word proleptic I found this word in the

starmont readers guide to Frank Herbert

by David M Miller this is a really good

book of essays on Frank Herbert's work

and he used this word proleptic which is

anticipating so especially the

describing of an event as taking place

before it could have done so

the treating of a future event as if it

had already happened or the anticipating

and answering of an argument before an

opponent has had a chance to advance it

a derived form is prolepsis and that

comes from the Greek PR lomano that's

going to help me remember proleptic and

make it part of my own vocabulary so

create your own personal dictionary use

the words that you find while reading

books the fourth tool for helping you

actually remember what you've been

reading is just a reading log this is

going to help you remember the titles of

the books that you've been reading and

it'll help you remember when you were

reading it so keeping a reading log is

pretty simple I just come up with a

daily page number goal here's what I

want to achieve each day and I try to

reach that goal there's a lot of

different ways that you can come up with

that goal there are top down approaches

where you say I want to read this many

books you add up the pages and all those

books and you divide them by 365 there

you go you get your daily page number

goal you can estimate instead if you

don't know the exact page numbers for

all the books you want to read or you

can take a bottom up approach and say

hey I could probably read 10 or 15 pages

a day maybe 20 25 and you make that your

goal you can also use time goals hey I

want to read an hour every day I want to

read 2 hours every day I want to read 15

minutes or you can make chapter goals I

want to read one or two chapters every

single day of whatever book I'm in and I

know if I continue to make progress like

that I'll end up reading a lot more

books than I have been so reading logs

are a really simple way to keep track of

what you've been reading whether it's

Journal articles or papers or books or

ebooks or comic books you can write

those down in your reading log and give

yourself a date and you'll remember what

you read and when also when you're done

with a month or a year or whatever

metric you want to use you can write

down all the books that you read during

that time period then you can keep a

running list of all the books you've

been reading so imagine doing that for

like 10 years you can have a huge list

of all these books that you've read

that's really cool that's really

encouraging you've read a lot look you

have the stats right here so a reading

log can help you remember what you've

been reading and whenn okay so tool

number five is going to be a book of

book reviews you're going to keep a

notebook just for your own reviews of

the books that you've been reading this

will help you remember what you've read

because you have a summary your own

summary in your own handwriting in a

notebook dedicated to just that this is

a great idea I came up with this I love

it I came up with it because I had been

writing a bunch of pries for My

Philosophy master's degree a pry is just

a philosophical summary of someone's

argument you write a paper and you have

to give a summary of it what is the

author saying a straight pry is just

that it's a summary but there's also

mixed pces which will have like

two-thirds just summary and then

onethird will be your own philosophical

analysis hey what what are some problems

with this give some push back in My

Philosophy master's degree I wrote a lot

of mixed preces but I kept them all in

this notebook I also use this for

writing My Philosophy papers but I

thought now that I'm graduated I want to

continue writing prees so I'm going to

keep a notebook just dedicated to those

philosophical summaries and I'll do it

from my theology papers as well I want

to continue learning for the rest of my

life so I have a notebook dedic D at to

that then I thought hey I'm going to

read a lot more than just philosophy

books for the rest of my life let's

start a notebook dedicated to just book

reviews so this idea gets me most

excited it doesn't take that much work

and you're not publishing this somewhere

so it doesn't have to be the most

rigorous thing you've ever wrote in your

whole life you're just collecting your

own thoughts on the book what did it

make you feel what did it make you think

did you like it did you not like it what

parts did you like what parts did you

not like what are some key themes that

you want to remember next time maybe put

a check for read again or an a for hey I

wish I didn't even finish it this time I

think this is is probably the coolest

tool on the whole list it's a book of

book reviews for all the philosophy

nerds out there consider keeping your

own book of pces as well just summaries

of philosophical arguments they really

help you remember the arguments in the

moment while you're writing them and

it's such a valuable tool that you can

use later when you want to Bone up on

those arguments so a book of preces and

a book of book reviews so next up tool

number six is keeping a commonplace book

or keeping multiple commonplace books I

am obsessed with these I love these so

common place books are just collections

of quotes you're collecting ideas you're

collecting wise statements wise sayings

you're collecting things that you want

to remember so naturally I had to

include this on the list this is

literally made to help you remember what

you've read I've done a lot of videos on

commonplace books so if you're

interested in learning more details and

learning my own categories for

commonplace books check out the playlist

it might be up here but real quick let

me break it down you can have a general

and a specific commonplace book a

general one will be I just I have this

commonplace book and I put quotes from

whatever I'm reading in here these are

my favorite quotes I want to read them

later so I put them in here you can also

have a specific commonplace book this is

a notebook dedicated to quotes from one

specific genre or one specific book

series so maybe it's like a dune

commonplace book I actually have a dune

commonplace book this is my orange

Catholic Bible that's what I call it

Dune fans will know why I call it that

but this is just four quotes from Dune I

love that book I might stretch it out to

include others if I don't collect enough

but I think I'm probably going to

collect enough quotes in here to fill

the whole thing up so that's a specific

commonplace book it could be like I said

a whole series it could be a concept or

an idea I also have commonplace books on

artificial intelligence so when I'm

reading up on artificial intelligence or

the philosophy of artificial

intelligence I put key quotes from those

readings into that specific book now I

also make a distinction between a

treasury commonplace book and a

manuscript commonplace book A treasury

commonplace book is just a collection of

the quotes you find good quotes and you

put them in your notebook a manuscript

commonplace book will include the quote

and your analysis of the quote or your

thoughts or your commentary your

exegesis of those quotes you're

manuscript out papers or blog posts or

Facebook posts or Instagram you're

manuscript out your ideas on these

quotes so you're going to include those

in your commonplace book I've been doing

this for a long time this is how I first

got into commonplace books was through

manuscript commonplace books so you can

mix and match those two categories you

can have a general treasury a specific

treasury a general manuscript and a

specific manuscript commonplace book so

that's my analysis of commonplace books

if you want to learn more about that

check out this video up here and make

sure to check out that playlist cuz I

talk a lot about them and then lastly

tool number seven is just practicing

active recall usually you're going to do

this with a friend or a family member or

a spouse this is just talking about the

books that you've been reading hey I

just read this book can I tell you about

it I do this with my wife on walks all

the time sometimes it's just an

information download the the poor woman

just has to kind of endure what I've

been reading let me just tell you about

it please I have to get it out if I can

make it interesting for her I really try

to but sometimes she's just not

interested in like the metaphysics of

personal identity but this process of

active recall will actually help you

remember the stuff that you've been

reading you're thinking about what you

just read you're putting it in your own

words you're describing it for someone

else in a way that hopefully they can

understand and hopefully that's

interesting to them this is like making

that information part of who you are

it's making it yours you're actively

recalling it you're not looking at your

notes you're saying what did I just read

oh yeah and you're making the

connections in your mind and that's

solidifying those ideas so practice

active recall maybe you join a book club

or you go on a subreddit or I don't

Instagram or or some kind of social

media and you find a group of people who

are also reading book I have a Discord

Channel you can check that out I'm not

Super Active but I'm working on getting

more active there join someone's Discord

server and start talking about what

you've been reading try to actively

recall it instead of just looking at

your notes or just looking at the book

itself this is one of the best tools to

actually remember what you've been

reading all right so that's it there are

seven tools to help you actually

remember what you've been reading I want

to hear from you guys which tool do you

think is best leave me a comment and if

you think I need to add another tool to

the list please drop a comment I'm

always trying to learn and I know lots

of other people read the comments and

benefit as well if you guys made it this

far into the video then you are awesome

leave me a book stack Emoji so I know

who the real ones are and if you guys

really like the work that I do here then

consider becoming a YouTube member or a

patreon patron I have at least one

exclusive video up there already it's a

read through of my pocket Proverbs

commonplace book I collect a bunch of Y

sayings and I just read them to you

that's part one but I'm going to

continue this as a series as I continue

to add wise sayings I will sporadically

do another read through just to inundate

you with more and more wise sayings so

go and check that out you can become a

YouTube member here or find the patreon

link in the description and if you like

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studying and philosophical meanderings

but that's going to have to do it for

now I'll catch you guys next time