The Feynman Technique Can Help You Remember Everything You Read
How to use this simple principle for you.
Books give you access to the smartest brains on our planet. And learning from the greatest thinkers and doers is your fast track to health, wealth, and wisdom.
Yet, reading per se doesn’t elevate your life. You can read 52 books a year without changing at all.
Social climber Dale Carnegie used to say knowledge isn’t power until it’s applied. And to apply what you read, you must first remember what you learned.
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918–1988) was an expert for remembering what he learned. Bill Gates was so inspired by his pedagogy that he named Feynman, “the greatest teacher I never had.”
Why Most People Forget What They Read
Most people confuse consumption with learning. They think reading, watching, or hearing information will make the information stick with them.
Unless you’ve got a photographic memory, no idea could be further from the truth.
To protect ourselves from overstimulation, our brains filter and forget most of what we consume. If we remembered everything we absorb, we wouldn’t be able to operate in our world.
