Marigold.
7 science-backed
tips for reading faster and retaining more
Caitlin Schiller, Blinkist
Books: some of
the world’s best discoveries are contained within them,
and new ideas spark to life as we plumb their pages.
But as modern readers, it’s hard to find time to spend in
their company.
Adding to that is the fact that, even when we do find the
time,
it’s not always a given that we’ll retain what we’ve
read.
But what if we could? Would you feel more confident at
work? Would you start a new project? Would you be able to go through your day
more smoothly, feeling more assured?
Would you go on Jeopardy and win?
At Blinkist, we discovered the formula for deep, meaningful
reading four years and 1,500 books ago. Today, we’re going to share it with
you. So grab a piece of paper and a pencil, tune in,
in get ready to rediscover how to read with our 7
science-backed steps.
1. Find a personal
angle
In "Brain-Based Learning," Eric Jensen notes
that for our brains to truly learn something,
that something needs to have meaning.
The thing about meaning is that it’s best conferred by
giving the topic personal relevance.
What do you think you’d remember better? Someone tells
you a forest in China is on fire,
or that the field near your childhood home burst into
flame? Jensen’s research concluded that you’re more likely to remember the
flaming field in your hometown.
This is so because relevance evokes emotions, and new knowledge
sticks best
when it’s attached to something familiar — bonus if it’s
on fire.
Use the science:
Get motivated!
Find out why the content is personal and relevant to you
with the help of these 3 questions:
What do you want to learn from this piece of content?
How might it change you life for the better?
What kind of people should read it in general, and why
are you one of them?
2. Get a bird’s
eye view
"How to Read a Book" by Mortimer Adler &
Charles Van Doren was one of the very first manuals
on the subject. In it, they tout a preliminary skim
called inspectional reading.
This entails sampling pages throughout the book, but
listening for the "pulsebeat"—or the central theme. The pulsebeat is
the core of the book's vitality, and it's also your key to retaining more.
Learning theory pioneer Leslie Hart found that, contrary
to what many educators believe,
presenting information in fragments doesn’t actually make
learning more manageable.
Getting the basic outline of a concept, however, can.
While it’s true that the brain simultaneously perceives
parts and wholes,
without any idea of what the whole should look like, the
brain can’t assemble it
from the disembodied parts that make up a concept.
Once it has a lay of the land from 1,000 feet, the brain
can correctly place
and interrelate all of the hills and meandering rivers of
new insight and knowledge.
Use the science
Spend 20 minutes skimming the book or reading online
summaries with the goal of finding out
1) what the book is about and
2) the main takeaway. You’ll read more efficiently and
retain knowledge better with this broad view.
3. Drum up curiosity
When presented with new concepts, it’s our own curiosity
that awakens an attitude of awe
—which is great, because that awe primes our brains
to learn.
“There’s this basic circuit in the brain that energizes
people to go out and get things that are intrinsically rewarding,” Ranganath
explains. This circuit lights up when we get money, or candy.
It also lights up when we’re curious.
When the circuit is activated, our brains release a
chemical called dopamine, which gives us a high. “The dopamine also seems to
play a role in enhancing the connections between cells that are involved in
learning.”
UC Davis Psychologist Charan Raganath conducted a study
that asked volunteers
100 trivia questions on topics from Beatles discography
to the origins of the word “dinosaur.”
With the help of an MRI machine, Raganath and his
researchers found that when participants
felt especially curious, the brain regions regulating
pleasure and reward sparkled to life.
When this circuit is activated, our brains release the
hormone dopamine, which gives us a high,
and also helps enhance connections between cells involved
in learning.
Raganath’s curious participants also showed increased
activity in the hippocampus,
which is involved in creating memories. It follows that
when they were questioned later,
these extra curious participants proved more likely to
remember what they’d learned.
So what is the essence of curiosity? That gap
between what you want to know
and what you already know — what "Made to Stick"
authors Chip and Dan Heath
refer to as the curiosity gap. Nature abhors a
vacuum, and so do we humans,
so when we’re driven by a desire to close that breach.
That drive’s something you can use when you read.
Use the science:
Before you begin to read, craft a few good curiosity gap
questions.
Check out the back of the book or a few reviews online
for help:
this content is made to get you interested in the book,
so it’ll lead you in the right direction.
4. Create your own
structure
Researchers who studied the use of personal organization
techniques like mind mapping
have found that these tools really help with learning and
retention.
They work not only because they stimulate the visual part
of the brain, but also because in creating such a mind map, learners organize
information based on how they have attributed relevance. Relevance, as we
discovered in part one, is one of the key ingredients to retention.
Of course, books already come with structures,
but they belong to the author or the editor.
Your brain, however, will have a much easier time
remembering a new concept
from your reading if you devise your own structure to
give it personal meaning.
Use the science:
Flip through the book you’re about to read and see what
kind of structure there might be.
Identify the key points, separate them into elemental
chunks and write them down,
making sure to leave plenty of space between each for
your own notes.
5. Record key
insights
Grab your pencil! It’s time to take some (original)
notes.
In their book "Make It Stick: The Science of
Successful Learning," Psychologists Henry L. Roediger
and Mark A. McDaniel reveal that we've been wrong about
what actually constitutes the smartest techniques for learning,
like highlighting.
Neither highlighting nor writing down word-for-word notes
straight out of the book is effective because you aren’t creating and
enforcing original neural pathways.
The good news is that your brain will take the
smaller chunks of information that you write down
in your own words and connect it to knowledge you already
have
— particularly if you contextualize that information by
placing it in your structure.
Use the science:
In your own words, make brief notes about your main
takeaways from the reading
and find the best place for these insights in the
structure you’ve crafted. You’ll end up with a summary of the book in your own
words, made in a way your brain best understands.
6. Review your
notes
Neurons are linked by synapses to create a unique pathway
describing what you’ve learned.
In much the same way that wandering pedestrians wear down
informal footpaths through a park, the more often you recall a certain piece of
information,
the stronger and deeper you’re impressing its unique
“footpath” in your memory.
Conversely, if the information is never recalled and
reviewed, the pathway fades and disappears.
If you want to keep something you’ve learned, you’ve got
to dredge it up and look at it. Often.
In Brain Based Learning, Jensen recommends reviewing
material within ten minutes of learning it, then again 48 hours later, and
again in seven days.
The shakier your memory, the more you’ll benefit from
repeated activation of the pathway.
Use the science:
Thanks to step six, you’re already armed with your own
personally relevant summary.
Read it for 10 minutes after you finish the book, then
again three days later,
and keep resurrecting it for up to a month.
As you review the summary, try to remember other details
related to the messages you’ve recorded. With each repetition, you’ll be
blazing that trail ever more certainly into the geography of your brain
.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/7-science-backed-tips-for-reading-faster-and-retaining-more-2016-3?r=US&IR=T/#-6
You can TCR software and engineering manuals for spontaneously recall – or pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve
read.
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.
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