Ask HN: Do you also feel you retain nothing after reading a technical book?

Re:Ask HN: Do you also feel you retain nothing after reading... by xdfgh1112 on Sunday January 23, 2022 @11:43AM (#30047601)

I take notes when I read a book then review those notes and shrink them down further. Same for videos and articles online. Otherwise I'll just forget it within a few hours.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you also feel you retain nothing after reading... by Hithredin on Sunday January 23, 2022 @08:11PM (#30052464)

Same.

Take notes. Make sure you read them again a week later and reorganize them into smaller meaningful notes.

Those "Cards" can be re-read very quickly. And the simple notion of the few words a month later will replay and refresh the full context in your brain.

Works well if you don't have the time nor occasion to apply it

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Re:Ask HN: Do you also feel you retain nothing after reading... by dondraper36 on Sunday January 23, 2022 @11:44AM (#30047621)

Do you use something as simple as Google Docs for that purpose?

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Re:Ask HN: Do you also feel you retain nothing after reading... by actually_a_dog on Sunday January 23, 2022 @11:57AM (#30047757)

I recommend handwriting notes. See my other comment here[0] for the reasoning.

——-

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30047675

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Re:Ask HN: Do you also feel you retain nothing after reading... by xdfgh1112 on Thursday January 27, 2022 @06:15AM (#30099045)

I handwrote notes for my uni exams and agree it worked well. I like text files for searchability and portability though.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you also feel you retain nothing after reading... by xdfgh1112 on Thursday January 27, 2022 @06:13AM (#30099028)

A folder of text files on my Dropbox. Google Docs would be fine too. Tried other stuff but keep coming back to plain text files!

Anki is great for foreign languages, chemical names, country flag to name mappings etc.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you also feel you retain nothing after reading... by methusala8 on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:39PM (#30067658)

The free version of Remnote or Anki would also work.

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