How to actively read a book to better memorize it?

The avid Life potion reader  that you are will have taken 2 important things, among others.

Without going to such an extreme, it is clear that reading is a simple way to learn, to broaden one’s skills and to discover new horizons. It’s not for nothing that I made daily reading a habit to cultivate.

To make the link with the previous idea, read a good book to forget the essentials and not exploit it, it is not very useful. Might as well go comb the neck of a giraffe…

In general, and compared to reading a book, I have developed my own approach:

Why not be satisfied with a simple reading?

Before going further and detailing my method, let’s first see why it is better to have an active reading.

To improve the memorization of information, regular proofreading is therefore necessary.

My reading method initially broke down as follows:

Double reading entire chapters is quite painful . A chapter can be read in several sessions. Reading it a second time can be just as long. Or else, we reread it too quickly for it to be effective. On arrival, the process is rather painful and does not bring enough in terms of memorization.

  Note taking is great. But being satisfied with it does not bring much in terms of reformulation , and therefore memorization, and materials to be used afterwards.

This is how I now read and use a book:

Summing it up like this, it may not be easy to understand what I mean by “quickly re-read the previous reading”. So let’s see in more detail how I read in chapters…

The author has structured his book into chapters for good reasons. I therefore make it my standard reading meter. My reading and learning process is based on him.

Before the classic reading, I skim over each chapter . I read in particular the titles and the beginnings of paragraphs, I dwell on the highlighted texts ( bold or italic ), I photograph the graphs and other images, …

Depending on the size of the chapter, and my available time, this reading can be done in several times. The principle is to always reread the last passage read before reading a new passage .

the second is actually my note-taking sheet: it advances as my first reading progresses and marks the end of the area read.

And the sheet created is both an excellent support for the fourth reactivation and an excellent support for working and implementing the content of the book.

After reading each chapter, I have a summary sheet containing the main message , important information and usable operating modes .

After reading the book, I have a set of index cards summarizing the entire book

Thanks o these sheets, many operations are faster, more practical and more efficient: proofreading, reminders, implementation of lessons learned, etc.

The use of mind maps is new to me. It is therefore possible that my method evolves as my practice progresses. In particular, it is possible that the creation of the map is integrated into the reading process, during the creation of the file. But I’m afraid it will weigh down a process that is fluid today.

However, the essential advantage of the mind map is that it perfectly synthesizes the content of a book and that it makes it easier for me to recall content. Except for the operating modes, I have less and less need to turn to my files as I read and reread them with the support of the card.

Conclusion

Actively reading is important. But for this to be effective, reading must be active and memorization must be aided .

It is for this purpose that I have, very slowly, worked out my method of reading. In use, it has proven itself.