Quote:
Originally Posted by rblover
I read at slightly faster than average speed, and retain most of it for quite awhile. In HS I took speed reading courses, and read much faster, and retained the gist of it, but missed a few small details. After the courses, I returned to my normal speed, which is just a bit faster than most of my friends. I get more details, and recall them longer, now. At age 58 I recall large parts of many things I read at age 7. At age 7 I was reading things like: Rise & Fall Of The Third Reich, War Of The Worlds, and The World Of Jeeves. Most of my friends, then, were reading Richie Rich comics. What I read impacted me more, so I retained more of it longer.
|
Interesting point. I think, in my case, what I retain from a book is the emotional impact. Sometimes that helps me retain some factual details associated with the feelings, when the emotional impact was especially strong. Humor also helps, but I suppose humor is also linked to emotions. When I read non-fiction, even if it's a subject I am very interested in, the emotional impact is much lower, so I have more difficulties remembering.
For most book, I will retain a vague memory of what I felt when reading it. And if that memory is good enough, I will sometimes re-read.