Do you read and forget?

 

Are you discouraged by a tendency to forget what you have read? Perhaps books that you’ve read line your shelves but you can’t seem to recall many details about them? Be not discouraged. CJ Mahaney has encouraging words, particularly referencing a quote from Piper:

Is reading worth the time investment when so much is forgotten? John Piper says yes. ??In a message long ago (July 12, 1981) he said this:

What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this: It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%.

Read, but not to remember everything. Read because that 1% that you remember has to potential to change your life.

(HT: Challies)

Adam