Why you forget what you read (and how to retain more)
You finish a book and two weeks later you only remember the cover. Your memory is not the problem. The way reading is usually done is.
Rereading does not fix it
Rereading gives a feeling of familiarity and you mistake it for learning. The text feels known on the second pass, and familiarity lies. What fixes memory is retrieving the information without looking.
Close the book and tell the chapter
At the end of each chapter, close it and summarize in three sentences from memory. If you stall, open it and check, then close and repeat. This forces the brain to search, which is what builds memory.
Write one question per chapter
Turn the central idea into a question. "Why does the author say focus depends on the environment?" Days later, try to answer. A question without an answer beats a ready-made summary.
Spaced review in three touches
Review your marks one day later, one week later, one month later. Each touch takes ten minutes at most and beats one extra rushed read.
Read slowly where it matters
There is no single pace. Dense passages call for slow reading and passing passages call for speed. Reading everything at one speed retains little of what matters and wastes time on what does not.
Distraction mid-chapter erases the thread
Every interruption costs a few minutes to get back, and the stretch before it is poorly fixed. A reading interrupted ten times yields less than a continuous twenty-minute read. Guard the block. Lergate blocks the feed in that interval.
To build a reading routine on top of this, read the most effective way to read a book.