A mention of retention...
O_v
Seeing as we have such a large group of well-read and oft-reading folks
here, I thought it would be interesting to talk about how much we retain
from all the books you read.
Do you find that after you read a book you can quote passages? Or do you
more readily remember concepts and ideas rather than paragraphs?
How long does the material stay with you? Forever? Do you find that you can
recount and repeat phrases/ideas read last week? Last year? Last decade?
I retain concepts and ideas more than anything and often need to refresh my
memory shortly thereafter. I read mainly non-fiction, philosophy, and
histories of which their complexity contributes, I suppose, to the
difficulty I have retaining specific knowledge. (Unless, of course, I mean
to memorize, which I most often don't.)
So many of you quote phrases in your messages and .SIGs. Off-the-cuff,
perhaps? Or a quick flip through a book you know the phrase originated?
O_v - Mike
O_v
otaku...@hotmailSPAMMMMMMM.com wrote on 9/7/00 8:36 AM:
> Seeing as we have such a large group of well-read and oft-reading folks
> here, I thought it would be interesting to talk about how much we retain
> from all the books you read.
Of course, this should have been:
... I thought it would be interesting to talk about how much we retain from
all the books we read.
Although, it would be interesting if _you_ read a book and _we_ retained
something of it.
O_v Mike
-Mammel,L.H.
Steven C. Scheer <scsc...@evansville.net> wrote:
>
>This is an interesting question. Someone once said that all writing is
>re-writing. Roland Barthes once said that "those who fail to re-read are
>obliged to read the same story everywhere." Hmm, I just double-checked the
>quote in S/Z. It seems that I recalled it correctly, even though in class I
>once "misquoted" it as: those who never read the same book twice, are
>destined to read the same book over and over again. An interesting paradox
>(but true).
Or if you'd like to put it more simply, never imagine yourself
not to be otherwise than what you were or might have been
was not otherwise than what you had been would have
appeared to them to be otherwise.
... I have a whole raft of quotes I remember more or less
successfully. I flubbed "I would prefer not to" however,
on this forum.
I've reread some of my juvenile reading on occasion - most
recently Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy. I found that I
remebered the opening chapter very well, in many important
particulars, although I'd forgotten the actual plot line.
After that I drew a blank, and I began to wonder if I'd
ever actually finished it. Then at the very end I came to
a line I remembered, that "it was ridiculous for a ship with
enough energy in its guts to make a small star to be
knocked out by a silly paralysis beam."
Lew Mammel, Jr.