Book reports actually work

[mattbell]

Yes, I believe grade school teachers knew what they were doing when they asked us to do book reports on books we read for class.  It wasn't just to prove we had read the book.

Looking back, most of the books I remember best from my childhood were the ones that we wrote reports on and talked about in class.  There are many other books that I remember liking or disliking but have no memory of the plot --- only the emotional imprint remains.  A few others made enough of an impression on me that I still remember much of the story despite having not written or discussed it with others. 

However, for the most part, the information from the unreported books is lost.  It seems in retrospect like it may have been a waste of time to read them -- hours of effort spent inserting information that simply faded away -- unless they positively impacted my personality or enhanced my map of human nature in ways I don't realize.

Most adults I know don't bother to write down, collect, or share their thoughts on books they read.  I think this is a pity.  I've recently started making an index card of notes on every book I read.  The process of making these notes improves my retention of the book's information, and referencing the note card later helps keep the material fresh.

Comments

[aquestrian.livejournal.com]

I do, I do! Not on every book I read, but on many of them. Sometimes I LJ it, sometimes I just talk about it with friends, sometimes I've written about it in my pen & paper journal. There are a bunch listed through my 101 in 1001 list.

Better still, my LJ friend toruokada does book reviews nearly solely on his LJ, and he's a superlative reviewer.

[zellandyne.livejournal.com]

A long time ago, I started writing down which books I was reading and the date I finished them in the back pages of my journal (paper, not LJ).

A month or so ago I started entering all of that into a spreadsheet, also noting genre and format and making an occasional note. Turned out I remembered the vast majority of the books I read. Those I didn't, I looked up on Amazon only to discover that they really weren't that good anyway. Unfortunately, I've lost some journals, so I've got gaps in the record. But it's still pretty cool.

[avani.livejournal.com]

I've been putting little reviews on Goodreads for many of the books I've read over the last 2 years. http://www.goodreads.com/

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Huh. I don't have trouble remembering most of the books I actually liked, but doing book reports often ruined a book for me. Some teachers just seemed to want us to analyze each book to death.