Books Quote by Joshua Foer
““I don’t think I’m an exceptionally bad reader. I suspect that many people, maybe even most, are like me. We read and read and read, and we forget and forget and forget. So why do we bother? Michel de Montaigne expressed the dilemma of extensive reading in the sixteenth century: “I leaf through books, I do not study them,” he wrote. “What I retain of them is something I no longer recognize as anyone else’s. It is only the material from which my judgment has profited, and the thoughts and ideas with which it has become imbued; the author, the place, the words, and other circumstances, I immediately forget.” He goes on to explain how “to compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory,” he adopted the habit of writing in the back of every book a short critical judgment, so as to have at least some general idea of what the tome was about and what he thought of it. ””
About This Quote
Reading often yields fleeting retention; the act of annotating helps preserve the essence of a work for future reference.
In simple terms: Annotations combat memory decay.
Key Takeaway
Write brief notes to capture a book's core value.
Themes
memory
reading habits
knowledge retention
personal scholarship
historical perspective
Mood
reflective
introspective
Type
personal anecdote
historical reference
When to use this quote
- studying a dense textbook
- revisiting a novel after months
- preparing a literature review
- curating a personal library
Key Concepts
forgetting
annotation
cognitive load
learning strategy
Practical Applications
- Create marginal notes for quick recall
- Develop a personal index of key ideas
Questions to Reflect On
- How does note‑taking change your engagement with a text?
- What criteria determine which insights deserve a permanent note?
![“Perhaps more significant than his experience in Europe, though, was [John] Adams's experience in his own country, and his extensive reading on the history of the English constitution. In 1779, he had an opportunity to try out his ideas by framing the Massachusetts constitution.” quote by Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e64/gordon-s-wood-13199_constitution_perhaps-more-significant-than-his-experi_2349371.jpg)
