Help with Concentration and Information Retention

Practice

git gud

>>9628806
Rule number one is to read stuff that interests you, especially if you're just getting into reading. Leave your phone out of reach and put your computer in sleep mode. Set reasonable reading goals, maybe only 20 or so pages in a sitting to start. If you feel like you aren't understanding what you're reading, take a break and come back later. Likewise, if you're really on a role keep going. Read every day. If you keep at it, your comprehension and retention will improve naturally.

>>9628806

Don't bother. It's too late to get back into reading now that you're in your mid 20s. By that time your brain has fully matured and is no longer capable of the neuro plasticity required to learn how to concentrate. It's the same reason why no one that old can learn a musical instrument, or a new language, or anything really.

>>9628821
>>9628840
I assumed as much, but I can't knock you as you were correct.

>>9628847
>Rule number one is to read stuff that interests you
I've started on a book and subject that fascinates me and I've read around a hundred pages so far in maybe an hour and a half, though it's hard to say because I completely lost track of time. My mind wandered every ten minutes or so and I had to really fight to bring it back to focus, but when I was focused it was wonderful.

I just get the feeling that I'm going to forget a lot of the finer details of the book and come away with what is essentially a blurb knowledge of the book. Though I guess it's no crime to re-read a book again at some point in the future.

Is writing good for reading? By that I mean, does it bring much benefit for a read to write about what they read?

>>9628879
>Don't bother
I'm not going to live til I'm eighty having given up on bettering myself in my twenties, what a miserable existence that would be.

>>9628888
I'm similar. If it's any consolation, apparently Deleuze admitted to almost always forgetting a book immediately after he finished it. I'm sure it's more common than you'd think.

Kubrick took this pic as a young kid, I love that man.

>>9628888
>is writing good for reading
Taking notes and writing like journal entries about books I'm reading helps me remember stuff, yeah.

>>9628903
>I'm sure it's more common than you'd think.
You're likely right, I seem to make a habit of being overly critical of even my smallest weaknesses. Maybe this is just another instance of that. Over the past hour and a half or so I've just fallen in love with reading again though and now I want to make sure I squeeze every drop of juice from the fruit.

>>9628923
I learn something new every day. It was just the most appealing reading related image I could find on Google after a few moments of skimming over all their other shite.

>>9628934
Fantastic, I'll give this a try then.

>>9628935
Yeah reverse searching didn't even mention Kubrick's name and just showed articles related to books, so it's clear this picture has become popular in that domain, but its 100% a photograph taken by Stanley Kubrick when he was around 20 or so. It's truly a gorgeous image.

Nice thread btw, I too wish to improve my concentration and retention.

>>9628806
I find myself concentrating better after I've eaten spicy foods.

>>9628923
Kubrick was 27 when that photo was taken.

>>9629029
wut. Really?

>>9629034
No, my research shows me that the photo's dated to 1950, which would make Kubrick around 22 years old. It was taken back when he was still a photographer for LOOK.

I found solace in Montaigne's "On Liars" when I worried over the same problem. Count it a blessing to be able to open your books again and find them welcoming you with fresh smiles. It's a common condition anyways. What's the sense in minding so much?

Perhaps poems and stories, like paintings and music, truly exist only when we are actively engaged with them. Afterwards they lose their substance, grow wispy and vague, or find themselves diminished to little more than a few cold facts. The actual art, all that makes a great work funny, sorrowful, and real, fades away like a dream at morning. Hopefully, deep within, in the soul or subconscious, more of the novel lingers on.

That being said, writing helps a lot. The intellectual is, quite simply, a human being who has a pencil in his or her hand when reading a book.

>>9629065
The photo was taken in 1956. Kubrick was born in 1928. He did an unrelated 'photo essay' of her in 1950, perhaps that's what's confusing you.
Regardless of whether he was 20, 22, 27 or 28 none of those ages qualify as 'a young kid' so I'm not really sure what you're trying to demonstrate.

File: quote-i-cannot-remember-the-books-i-ve-read-any-more-than-the-meals-i-have-eaten-even-so-they-ralph-waldo-emerson-35-41-50.jpg (45KB, 850x400px) Image search: [Google]

45KB, 850x400px

>>9628879
First of all, this is utter nonsense. Pay no attention to this mongoloid.

>>9628806
Okay OP, let me lay it out for you as I have found myself plagued with a similar affliction. Don't worry about retention, just read and understand what you are reading, think about what you are reading as you go. You will probably have to force these thoughts at first, but it may get easier over time.

I am reading a massive tome about the history of Greece, packed with so many details that I couldn't possible remember all the names, places, and ideas that are presented. Every now and then I may come across a few lines of text which have some exceptional merit, and I will jot it down in my journal which is essentially a commonplace book, along with a citation. You're free to expand this to chapter summaries or even extensive notes, but keep in mind that this will interrupt the flow of your reading, which you may or may not find acceptable. I personally prefer as little interruptions as possible, so I try to only write down the most important bits.

I'm about 200 pages in now, and despite reading long chapters on the history of the Minoans or Mycenaeans, I couldn't speak with any authority or clarity, let alone elegance on the subject. Nevertheless, this is completely normal, because the people who can speak with authority are people who have read, not just a single chapter, but book after paper after book on the same subject, continuously reinforcing the same ideas until it's ingrained in their minds.

>>9629174
>The intellectual is, quite simply, a human being who has a pencil in his or her hand when reading a book.
Exactly, well said.

>>9629034
>>9629065
22 and 27 are both young kid ages, young kids.

>>9629174
>a human being who has a pencil in his or her hand when reading a book.

shit, i just realized i'm a pleb. even for serious philosophy works i just read for the experience, and reflect on things as they come.

>>9629290
>Every now and then I may come across a few lines of text which have some exceptional merit, and I will jot it down in my journal which is essentially a commonplace book, along with a citation
>You're free to expand this to chapter summaries or even extensive notes, but keep in mind that this will interrupt the flow of your reading, which you may or may not find acceptable
I finished reading the first chapter of my book which constitutes about a hundred pages and, unsure of the best approach, I decided to do a short write-up on that chapter. Without re-skimming the chapter I did my best to condense that ~100 pages in to around a page's worth of writing from memory, retaining what I believe to be the most important parts of the chapter.

I don't think I could really accept regular interruptions to write stuff down mid chapter, I have a hard enough time maintaining concentration as it is without purposefully breaking it. I don't know how effective the method I chose is going to be but now that I've decided on it I'm going to stick with it for at least the rest of this book.

>>9629314
What's even the point of moving the goalposts for this?