For most of my adult life, I have believed fervently in the idea that reading should be a gradual process. I thought that you should take your time with a book and systematically absorb all the insights. Why shouldn’t you? After all, reading is not a competition but a pursuit of knowledge. Why rush it? This does make sense at the surface, as I have grown older; however, I have realized that not all reading should be treated the same.

How many times have you read a book or an article only to forget everything after a few days? If you are anything like me, I am sure you don’t have a photographic memory. This has been a constant struggle in my life. I have always liked reading books, but I seldomly remember the essential details once I have finished a book. I encounter this problem the most with information-dense non-fiction books. Ironically, non-fiction books are the ones that you want to remember. Unlike a novel, in which even if you forget the tiny details but remember the main plot, you can still remember the “gist”. However, if you read a history book, you would want to absorb all the vital information to bring it up in a conversation or on a test.