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 test.

Sadly, as human beings, memorizing small details isn’t our strong suit. We have not evolved to remember everything we read. But we can recall significant events from our life reasonably well or the main idea from a movie or a book.

The phenomenon that is responsible for our poor memory retention is called “The Forgetting Curve.” In short, researchers conclude that most information that you pick-up in life would be lost unless you actively attempt to retain it.

This research has completely changed how I read books and has helped me develop ways to retain information better. This article will go over what I call the “The three Levels of Memory Retention.”

The three Levels of Memory Retention

The driving force behind these levels is quite simple, i.e., note-taking. However, this is not just any note-taking. Instead, I will breakdown note-taking into three levels, with each successive level more effective than the previous one.

Do note that this whole approach requires effort on your part and is the opposite of casual reading. Most of the time, we read a book just for the sake of reading it. We don’t actively make an effort to understand what is written and absorb the information. This may work well for fiction books, but if you want to remember what you are reading, you will have to read more actively and write down notes.

Level 1: Highlighting

This is what most of us do when we want to make an active effort to remember what we read. This level is simple enough and requires nothing but a highlighter. Yes, those colorful markers that you use to highlight sentences and then never review them.

At an early age, we are told to highlight the text we want to “remember.” However, in my opinion, all this does is give us a false satisfaction of doing something that will help us remember critical information. In reality, though, highlighting is not an effective technique if you want to retain information better.

Don’t get me wrong. I think that highlighting sentences is better than not doing anything. It can help you find critical information quickly, but that is its primary use, i.e., finding. Moreover, if you read a particularly information-dense book, the pages start turning into a lousy attempt at art with all the various colors on the pages. It is not that helpful when 80 percent of a page are highlighted, right?

Level 2: Highlighting 2.0

This is where we start to use technology to help us get organized. You can think of this level as highlighting but with the bonus of an app called “Read Wise.” Remember, our objective is to engage our brain by coming across the information we want to remember at different intervals. You cannot remember what you have read in a book if you never revisit the information.

Read Wise does precisely that. It is a free service that syncs your highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, Pocket, iBooks, and more to your Read Wise account. Read Wise then sends you regular emails containing your highlights from various books and articles you have read.

I have been using this for years, and it is beneficial for those who use a kindle or other e-book devices. Due to the periodic engagement with the information you highlighted, your brain starts to retain that information far more effectively.

Level 3: Smart Note-taking

We finally arrive at active note-taking in this step, but I won’t ask you to use the good ol’ paper and pencil. Instead, we will use another app called “Notion” to make the whole process more quick and effective.

“Notion” is a free app that lets you keep a record of any book that you are reading. You can make templates for note-taking to preserve the information you have read. The whole system is incredibly customizable and easy to use.

The idea here is that as you finish a book, you will open Notion and type some quick notes. Your notes will be based on the following three categories:

• The Book In 3 Sentences
• How The Book Changed Me
• My Top 3 Quotes

The process of writing a summary of only three sentences may not seem like much, but it is beneficial as you are actively engaging your brain to turn the contents of the book into your language. Similarly, the other two categories are also meant to reflect on the book you just read to retain it better. The possibilities here are endless, and I will advise you to watch Ali Abdaal’s detailed breakdown of the app to understand it better.

If you use this system correctly, you will find that you can remember most of what you read with ease. Everything worthwhile takes time and commitment, so please stick with it.

The most significant advantage of committing the books you have read to a database, such as Notion, is that you will have quick access to everything in one place. You wouldn’t have to open the same book again to brush up on your knowledge of it.

The very act of actively making an effort to write down and retain information will improve your memory to a great extent. If you incorporate levels 2 and 3 in your life, you will see how well you remember information.