On Forgetting What We Read

On 2/24/10, I posted on the problem of forgetting the contents of many of the books we read. Several friends have told me they have this problem, and I often do as well. My newest rationalization of this phenomenon is that those of us who read a lot have too much to keep track of and therefore are more likely to forget what we read than people who only read a couple of books a year. Self-serving reasoning, no? I was pleased to see in last Sunday's (9/19/10) New York Times Book Review an essay by James Collins (author of the charming novel "Beginner's Greek," which I recommend) titled "The Plot Escapes Me." He ruefully reflects on the fact that he forgets much of what he reads, and then wryly asks the question, "Why read books if we can't remember what's in them?" He seeks professional expertise from Maryanne Wolf, a professor of child development and author of "Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain." She reassures Collins -- and by extension, us -- that "I totally believe that you are a different person for having read [his latest book read]," and continues by saying that reading creates pathways in the brain, strengthening different mental processes. She says that "we can't retrieve the specifics" of books we read, "but to adapt a phrase of William James's, there is a wraith of memory." I very much like the phrase "a wraith of memory" and find it resonates with my own experience. Wolf concludes by saying, again reassuringly, that "It's there [in our brains]. You are the sum of it all." Thank you, James Collins, for raising this question, and thank you, Maryanne Wolf, for your answers.