Memory

I'll admit it: I'm 35 years old and not happy about it.  I have noticed that body and mind have definitely changed over time, but my memory seems to be the latest casualty of this runaway train called aging.

I was okay with having to make lists and notes to remind myself of things, but lately my memory issues have crossed into my reading.  I can read a book I love, but months later I forget details.  I'm not just talking minor details...but sometimes whole scenes that I was enthralled by at the time of reading.

I read a fair number of books (about 10-15 a month, on average) and am wondering if that's affecting my memory. Can too many stories and characters start to meld into one another, so that the fine details of each one are lost?

Then again, maybe it's just my age.  If this keeps up, I don't even want to imagine what I'll be like in 10 or 15 years.

Comments

[jmfausti]

I think I've had that problem forever. I think it's because there's only so much room to remember all those details. I read a lot. I can't possibly remember all of it. That's why I blog about books.

[iliana]

I'm terrible at remembering books. Sad but true. I'm just going to attribute that to a lot of reading and certainly not aging because 37 is still too young for memory loss isn't it?!

[Henway]

I've always had an unusual kind of memory, but working for awhile in Adult Education taught me a few things that may be comforting. While children are filling up emptier mental spaces, adults attach new information to things they already know and value. This makes adults vastly superior at drawing relationships and applying experience, but means that unrelated new info can slip away. So, you might remember the latest effort by a beloved author better than the newbie from nowhere author you've just read.

We have to make lists for groceries and to-dos because the stuff is necessary, but it's not intrinsically interesting or compelling. Adult memories need bigger hooks. Adults also need 7-21 repetitions for new info to stick, and most people are remarkably unforgiving of themselves despite this fact. This is data discovered by the military, experts at effectively educating tons of adults. There's nothing a bit wrong with you, and the compensatory faculties of critical analysis and judgement keep improving throughout the senior years.

However, if it's important, even just for personal pride, to remember these books, you need to connect them conceptually to other stuff you know, like mentally ranking them among your favorites or comparing them to similar novels in your mental library. Also, you can intentionally recall them a day or two after THE END for the glue of repetition. Of course, making a list of what you've read and your favorite aspects is not only a good reference, but provides an incident of repetition and kinesthetic (physically active) reinforcement. The more you play with new concepts in relation to your existing literary brainbase, the stickier they get.

Adults don't remember everything thrown at them, because they're focused on the heaps of vital and silly stuff they've already acquired. New acquisitions have to be meaningful and reinforced.

oooo, Who put the nickel in me?!

[ebony]

I just brought a book to read on my morning commute, sat down on the bus and realized I've read it before! I'm siding with iliana, I'm headed towards 36 and that's much too young.