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Re:You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it by thorum on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @11:28PM (#40153078)
One form this takes is that, even when you forget the details, you retain the general shape of the subject matter. You might not remember all the details about XYZ, but now at least you know XYZ exists: your internal map of the world is expanded and corrected, even if parts are a bit fuzzy.
Re:You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it by ahazred8ta on Thursday April 25, 2024 @12:02AM (#40153284)
There's a trick when reading nonfiction: read the table of contents, then flip ahead and read the entire index. You now have a good understanding of what topics the book covers, and where in the book they are. You can crank through a stack of 10 or 20 books and get a good sense of which ones are really worth reading. 'Half of all knowledge is simply knowing where to find the knowledge.'
Re:You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it by bashd4 on Thursday April 25, 2024 @12:46AM (#40153530)
Thank you for commenting this. I can imagine this being supremely useful, especially if you decide to go ahead and read a book and it tells you much more than you would've guessed :) (either the titles/index are bad, or the content is good)
Re:You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it by vasco on Thursday April 25, 2024 @02:39AM (#40154213)
Also read the last page of every chapter, and you can avoid 90% of the fluff if it's non-fiction.

Authors start with a short draft that is only juice and then add spam to make it into a book. That initial juice is the summaries of chapters that you find on the last page or two. The initial part of the chapter is just fluff and examples to drill the point down because they think you need 10 examples for each concept in order to justify paying as much for a blog post as you would for a book.

Re:You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it by 082349872349872 on Thursday April 25, 2024 @02:40AM (#40154222)
Some authors even put fanservice in the index.
Re:You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it by rramadass on Thursday April 25, 2024 @12:54AM (#40153574)
Well put! This is exactly why i tell people to always get a book on any subject that catches their fancy and browse them at the very least. Many parts will be fuzzy if you are not using/working with them but that is no excuse for not knowing about them. Once the mind is exposed to various concepts/ideas it automagically stitches them into a coherent whole without you being conscious of it.

A good way to think about it is the description of Mycroft Holmes by Sherlock Holmes;

"The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and he is the central exchange, the clearinghouse, which makes out the balance. All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience. We will suppose that a minister needs information as to a point which involves the Navy, India, Canada and the bimetallic question; he could get his separate advices from various departments upon each, but only Mycroft can focus them all, and say offhand how each factor would affect the other. They began by using him as a short-cut, a convenience; now he has made himself an essential. In that great brain of his everything is pigeon-holed and can be handed out in an instant."

Re:You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it by squeegmeister on Thursday April 25, 2024 @10:20AM (#40157929)
Yes, and because you now know it exists, and you later look it up again if you need the specific details. Which you otherwise wouldn’t know to do