How many books have you read this summer? This is a common question I hear as I walk through huddles of families camped on the beach. Is there a race to read as many books as you can on the beach? I’ve never been able to keep up with the race and have always felt inferior for not prioritizing reading time.

This summer, I have ready three times as many books as I have in the past ten years. This is a result of environmental factors, career shifts, and a personal goal to gain time away from my phone. Beginning a new job where writing took a front seat encouraged me to increase my landscape of literature.

Without a long commute to work or upcoming travel plans, I currently find it challenging to set aside time to read. Unless the book is particularly compelling, I find it extremely challenging to retain the information without constantly being distracted by my own wandering thoughts. Although Johann Hari describes wandering thoughts as a productive state where your mind makes connections and produces solutions in Stolen Focus, I still find it challenging to absorb information when reading (Hari 96).

Quality Book Time

In Michael Harris’ article, “I have forgotten how to read,” he emphasizes the quality over quantity of reading. Reading something quickly and skimming the information is not as beneficial as reading a smaller amount of text and retaining it. (Harris 8). I am guilty of being a chronic skimmer and mind wanderer. As I read this article, I am actively teaching my brain to slow the pace.

In terms of retaining information, I agree with The Feynman Method of absorbing information and immediately describing it back in a simplified way that could be explained to a toddler (Harris 15). In my experience, teaching a concept after I have learned it has been the most successful method of retaining information. This is because, your brain has to process the information, understand it, then simplify and repeat it. These simple processes make the information impossible to forget. Even the act of repeating it aloud immediately after helps me process the information and retain it in my memory.

Antiquated Notecards

However, I do not find Harris’ approach to cataloging and rereading a book efficient. Although the act of writing notes helps retain the information, making notecards seems antiquated and actually finding the time to re-read them is not realistic. Re-reading a book immediately after finishing it doesn’t seem most efficient in absorbing the information. Personally, I need to time to process the information and reviewing my notes after I have had time to make connections would be a more efficient way to retain the information.

Conclusively, my effort to read more books this summer should not be quantified. I will not make the number of books a priority but the number of facts I can retain will be my biggest priority.

Citations:

Harris, M. (2018, February 9). I have forgotten how to read. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/i-have-forgotten-how-toread/article37921379/

Hari, Johann. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention–and How to Think Deeply Again. Crown, 2023.