I Vaguely Remember Forgetting It

The Curse of Reading and Forgetting

This article discusses the fact that, in the words of a quote included in the article, it is "humanly certain that most of us remember very little of what we have read." To someone like me, who can forget a name within seconds and an event within minutes, it is of great comfort to read that forgetting the plots, characters, et cetera of books that I have read is not only common, but even normal.
Even while reading, I can drift away. Usually, this occurs when I'm reading a particularly slow portion of the text, perhaps the introspective banter of a character or set of characters, a moment lacking real action. But, in all honesty, I can fade away from the page during an active sequence almost as easily. There are many moments that can truly grasp my attention with claws and manhandle it away from distraction. But more often than not, I have to make an active effort to maintain focus and attention. 

The author of the article discusses how a colleague recommended a book to him that he had already read, a fact that was hidden beyond his memory until he had bought the book online, received it, and made it nearly fifty pages into the text. Likewise, the author mentions being asked about a book on his shelf at a party in his apartment, only to realize how embarrassing it would be to be asked any follow up questions about the book, since he had forgot almost everything about it. 

I'd like to think that this is not a damning bit of evidence against that specific book's effectiveness. Perhaps the fault of the book not to maintain a grasp on the reader's memory does lie in the details written by the author, but I'd like to give that writer the benefit of a doubt: perhaps they were just the unfortunate proof of the rule that I stated at the onset of this post. The reader simply forgot because he is a reader, and that's what readers do. They read, and then they forget.

I have those moments often, even with movies and songs that I've enjoyed at the time but completely forgot when asked about my opinions on them. My least favorite question about most of the entertainment I've ingested is "What was your favorite part?" More often than not, I will spend a good thirty seconds after being asked that question trying to come up with an answer, knowing that I won't be able to describe the part that was my favorite. Instead, I'll give them a part I remembered, and one that I remembered liking, no matter where it falls in the list of favorite parts. At least I'll have an answer. 

I do, however, have to say that I found solidarity in a comment by a reader on the article, who said that they could remember a book just by reading the synopsis on the back. That usually does it for me; if I can get characters and a general sense of the plot, I can start to gather more little bits about the work so that I can actually have a conversation about it. That's how my memory seems to work: very little at first, and then small floods that come like electrical shocks of recall.

So, at least I have that going for me.

-JJ