EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
Happy New Year! How many books did you read in 2020? Don't worry, I'm not here to judge you or compete with you, as you're probably used to when someone asks you this question. In fact, I'm here to do the exact opposite. Let me tell you that exactly how many books you read in the past year doesn't matter, or at least not as much as we often give it credit for. In recent days, you've probably come across dozens of posts on Facebook from various friends and acquaintances of yours bragging about how many books they've read. The numbers are always impressive – always at least 50, 70, 80, in some cases even reaching 100. Amazing, right? These are "well-read" people! Is it really?
From my observations, it seems that in bragging about how many books you have read, there is a spontaneous minimum of 50. It's like, if you haven't read an average of 1 book per week, you're not good enough. You can't count yourself as "well-read" and you have no right to brag. But why do we assume that reading a lot of books in itself is some kind of significant achievement? In itself, this is actually nothing special. In 2020, almost everyone can read, except for a very small part of the marginalized population who, for one reason or another, did not go through primary education (in fact, you don't even need to finish primary school to be able to read). Why then is it considered a special pride and achievement to read a lot of books? Do we consider it an achievement that someone has completed 4th grade?
Not everything that flies is eaten.
The implicit assumption here is that reading a lot of books makes you well-read. Which, in simple terms, makes you more knowledgeable, in the sense that you've learned more things. That's what "well-read" means. But there's a big problem with that assumption. First, not everything that flies is worth eating. Not everything that can be read is worth reading. These days, pointless books probably outnumber pointless movies. Given that they're also longer, reading pointless books is an even bigger waste of time.
Even in the realm of non-fiction and science fiction, there is a lot of pointless and/or wrong reading material, let alone fiction. For every Turkish series on TV, there is a novel or a whole series of novels that have the same artistic value. This does not mean that you should not read them. It just means that it is not an achievement to have read them. Imagine Bulgarian housewives bragging that they watched 534 episodes of Turkish series this year! Ridiculous, right? Think about whether you are doing something similar.
The brain doesn't work like a hard drive.
Secondly, and more importantly, the human brain does not work like a computer hard drive. The information it takes in is not always retained for later use. Anyone who has ever had to read one or more books for an exam knows exactly what I mean. In fact, most of the information you read “passes by and goes away”. We remember the most 24 hours after we have read something. It is no coincidence that at school and university we all study the most intensively the day before the exam. Not only because we are too lazy to do it earlier, but because that is actually how we remember most of what we have read on the day of the exam.
Even if we read non-fiction that teaches us something new and important, that in itself does not make us well-read. How much of what we read we remember long-term is what makes us well-read. The key factor is information retention. How much of what you read “stays in your head,” as my mother likes to say. I would like those of you who have read a lot of books in the past year to think about it – what percentage of each of those books do you remember? Really? Especially when we are talking about non-fiction. Do you even reach 30%? 20%? 10%?
Reading a lot doesn't make you literate (in itself)
It is practically impossible (unless you have some incredibly rare photographic memory) to read a book a week and remember 50% of each of the 50 or so books you have read in the last year. Even remembering 30% is extremely difficult. Most of you probably remember 10%, maximum 20% of the information contained in the books you have read. Especially those who boast that they have read 70-80. And this information is not always the essential one, i.e. it is not always the one we would like to remember. Alas, the brain does not always remember what we find most important. Again, remember how you study for exams – when we read, even scientific literature, we have to make a special effort to remember the most important information.
This reading of many books without remembering almost nothing substantial from them is like eating fast food. It's certainly tasty, but is it useful? Does it make you literate? What is literateness? The number of books you've read? Like a high score in some computer game? What's the point of this high score if it doesn't mean long-term retention of information? If you don't want reading books to be the intellectual equivalent of munching on chips, I have a recommendation for you.
The art of reading slowly
Read slowly. Not as an end in itself, however, as reading a lot quickly becomes an end in itself. Read slowly so that you can absorb more information. In reality, to become truly literate you must treat reading as learning. Sounds unpleasant? Alas, building real knowledge requires sacrifices. Most importantly, sacrificed time and effort.
The next time you come across a book that contains a lot of information that you find important and want to remember, read it like you would a textbook. Mark the important paragraphs and pages. When you read a chapter the next day, go back to it and review it before moving on to the next. Take notes, even if it's nonfiction that you really want to learn something from. After you finish the book, review your notes and the highlighted pages and paragraphs.
Practice learning, not just reading
This way you will surely remember most of the useful information in the book in the long term. Of course, even with such efforts, sooner or later you will start to forget. That is why important books should be reviewed periodically. It is highly recommended that you review your notes and highlighted parts in books whose information you want to remember in the long term several times a year. If you have been efficient in taking notes, this review will not take more than a day.
If you follow these tips, reading books will be a slower process for you, but it will certainly be much more useful. Stop treating reading as an end in itself, just to mark some points at the end of the year, as if you are in a competition with someone. You are not. When you read, you are in a competition only with your own ignorance – the competition is against it, not against your friends on Facebook. Think about it. Who wins when you read a lot without remembering (almost) anything important? You or your ignorance?
