(Even if You Only Listen to Audiobooks)
“The more tightly any new piece of information can be embedded into the web of information we already know, the more likely it is to be remembered. People who have more associations to hang their memories on are more likely to remember new things, which in turn means they will know more, and be able to learn more. The more we remember, the better we are at processing the world. And the better we are at processing the world, the more we can remember about it.”
Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein
Who was elected President of the United States in 1824?
Unsurprisingly, Jeopardy legend Ken Jennings answered this question correctly (it was John Quincy Adams by the way).
However, you might be surprised to know how Ken remembered this historical fact.
Sean Kernan writes: “[Ken] knew this because he’d anchored this fact to a TV show called “Quincy”. The show was about a character who investigated crimes for 24-hour stints.”
Kernan continues: “This is Ken’s magic sauce. He always links information, sometimes in a series of 3, 4, or 5 degrees of separation. Eventually, this forms a web of interconnected knowledge that never leaves. It might seem above your head but it isn’t. Adding extra links to the chain will allow seemingly unrelated information to eventually connect and reinforce broader knowledge. Additionally, making something harder to memorize (extra links and steps), has the paradoxical effect of making it stick more. Find a show, a memory, a character, a friend, an inanimate object, and link it to information. It doesn’t matter how weird or how long the chain is.”
Like me, you were probably taught rote memorization in school. This is where, in the example above, you would make a list of the 46 presidencies in U.S. history, along with the man who served as President during each presidency, and read through the list a bunch of times until you can’t help but remember all the Presidents…
That is, until the test is over and you don’t need the information anymore, at which point you promptly forget it. I bet Ken Jennings is grateful he didn’t utilize rote memorization to prepare for Jeopardy.
There are more effective ways to remember what you read (even if you only listen to audiobooks).
Let’s learn about a few of them.
Stellar Memory is All About Creating Connections
“You don’t have a memory. You do a memory.”
Jim Kwik
Centuries ago, you didn’t have the option to digitally store notes or access information. In fact, it’s likely you didn’t even have paper to capture your ideas.
As Joshua Foer stated: “The ancient and medieval way of reading was totally different from how we read today. One didn’t just memorize texts; one ruminated on them— chewed them up and regurgitated them like cud—and in the process, became intimate with them in a way that made them one’s own.”
Memory was everything. And if your ancestors were able to train their memories, there’s no reason you can’t do the same thing.
Construct a Mind Palace
“Get out. I need to go to my mind palace.”
Sherlock Holmes, as played by Benedict Cumberbatch
2,500 years ago in Greece, legend has it that a man named Simonides narrowly escaped death.
Simonides was an orator. One day, after giving a reading in a public building, Simonides exited the building shortly before it collapsed. Every person who had remained in the building was killed.
Amazingly, when given the task of identifying each of the victims (who, you must assume were mangled beyond recognition), Simonides remembered each individual based upon where they had been seated during his reading.
This memory method, now know as the Loci Method or Mind Palace, has survived over the centuries because of its simplicity and effectiveness.
Memory coaches and brain experts, such as Jim Kwik, teach how you can utilize a Mind Palace to memorize and give a speech without notes.
To construct a Mind Palace:
- Visualize a familiar location (i.e., your current or childhood home)
- Identify a number of landmarks within the location (i.e., a painting, a piano, a piece of furniture, etc.)
- Assign a key point or fact to that landmark
- And then create an image that will make the key point or fact memorable. This brief podcast episode explains this method in even more detail.
Have you ever been asked by someone what you learned in a book, and been unable to produce a single insight? Perhaps you should utilize a Mind Palace and commit something you’ve learned to memory.
Build a Zettelkasten
“The true magic of a Zettelkasten, when compared to ordinary note-taking systems, comes from the heavy emphasis on connection. The main benefit from connections is their effect on you and your brain: When you relate pieces of knowledge to others, you create relationships between pieces of knowledge. Knowledge relationships significantly improve recall, and forming them also trains your mind to see patterns. As you connect, you will learn, understand, and thus expand yourself in two ways: (a) Your knowledge will increase and (b) you will be a better observer. By being a better observer, you will be able to draw more insights from observation. More universal patterns arise and become more apparent to you. A fundamental aspect of working like this is that it allows you to access the general patterns of reality.”
Sascha, Introduction to the Zettelkasten Method
However, now you’re probably saying to yourself: ‘Yeah, but with the internet and smart devices, there’s really no reason to memorize.’
I get that. And I mostly agree with you. There are still some things I feel it is important to commit to memory, and I am utilizing a Mind Palace to achieve that goal.
But for other things, especially for what I’m reading, I am utilizing a Zettelkasten.
Zettelkasten is German for “note box.” Here is a fantastic explanation for what a Zettelkasten is:
“A Zettelkasten is a personal tool for thinking and writing. It has hypertextual features to make a web of thought possible. The difference to other systems is that you create a web of thoughts instead of notes of arbitrary size and form, and emphasize connection, not a collection.”
Sascha, Introduction to the Zettelkasten Method
Think of a Zettelkasten like this: rather than capturing unconnected notes from each book you read or listen to, instead create notes which you then connect to other notes.
I utilized my Zettelkasten to craft this article following the steps below:
- I listened to Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
- I captured the five most impactful quotes from the book and typed them up in my Zettelkasten (more on this later)
- I identified the most important quote of the five quotes and created connections to other texts for this one quote (more on this later)
Like you, I struggled to remember what I learned in the books I read and the audiobooks I listened to. But I don’t struggle with that anymore, and you don’t have to either.
5 Simple Steps for Remembering Audiobooks
“But even if facts don’t by themselves lead to understanding, you can’t have understanding without facts. And crucially, the more you know, the easier it is to know more. Memory is like a spiderweb that catches new information. The more it catches, the bigger it grows. And the bigger it grows, the more it catches.”
Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein
If you are like me, you don’t have as much time as you would like to sit down and actually read a book. To compensate, you might rely on audiobooks.
You can’t overestimate the value of listening to an audiobook. I am the person I am today because of what I’ve learned in books. However, with audiobooks, I’m typically multi-tasking (i.e., on the treadmill, in the car, in the kitchen, etc.) while listening.
To boost comprehension and retention, I follow five simple steps to remember what I’ve learned in an audiobook:
- While listening to the audiobook, when I hear something impactful, I bookmark it. I have used primarily Libby and Audible, and this is possible utilizing both applications, but I’m sure it’s an option in other applications as well.
- Once I have completed the audiobook, I go back through each bookmark and make a brief note of the quote or concept.
- I then select the five most impactful quotes or concepts. At times this is difficult to only select five, but I’ve found the process of identifying the very most important concepts to be invigorating. Once selected, I listen to each of the five quotes slowly and type them verbatim into a note in Obsidian. I won’t explain Obsidian in detail here, but this article explains this tool in more detail.
- Next, of the five quotes I have just captured, I select the most important quote and I create five connections to it. There is one connection for text-to-self, three connections for text-to-text, and one connection for text-to-world. This article explains the power of making connections.
- Lastly, I find opportunities to share what I’ve learned with others.
This last step is very important, because sharing what you are learning with others is a critical step in cementing this knowledge in your long-term memory. These quotes and connections logically become the structure for impactful blog articles. I share these thoughts on social media and in my monthly book club meeting. These quotes can take conversations with family and friends to the next level. In fact, I’ve found that the more I make connections, the more I remember, and the more I’m able to contribute in a meaningful way to others’ lives.
You forget the vast majority of your life experience. However, hopefully with some of the strategies I have shared in this article, you will find yourself remembering more and more of what you’re learning and experiencing. Give one of these strategies a try!
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