my experience:
- intro and prehistory: huh cool
- february: this is the coolest thing I have ever read, revolution is possible :bloomer:
- march-september: non-stop leftist infighting
- october: this is the coolest thing I have ever read, revolution is possible :bloomer:
- epilogue: and they did not live happily ever after :doomjak:
overall 7/10, took me way to long to get through the middle, especially like august/september
shoutout to @discontinuuity for the recommendation
I liked it very much, but I feel like I have a massive problem with historical non-fiction stuff. I read it, understand it, then immediately forget about it after I'm done. I couldn't tell you the events of the book, even though I can easily narrate the plot of a fictional novel. Same goes for the Revolutions podcast, which I love listening to, but it seems like I simply can't keep track of anything and commit chains of historical events to memory. That's true for most historical narratives for me, and it bothers me a lot, I feel like I never learn anything.
Am I stupid? Should I rethink my approach to this kind of material, or should I just lean into it and tap into my potential for bimbofication?
No you're not stupid. This question actually comes up a lot on r/books on reddit. The best answer I've seen is reading is alot like eating. You probably can't remember what you ate last week but it kept you alive and healthy. Personally I believe you can't really tell how a book changes you but I believe every book a person reads affects them a little bit. When you finish a book you don't need to write a 5 page essay on it. If you enjoyed it then it's worth it. Or you could take notes on or annotate stuff you read. That's also an option if you really want to be able to call back on stuff.
If you really want to remember the material, take notes. It makes reading go slower, but it's basically the biggest thing you can do to retain non-fiction readings. The other one is discussion, but even when I was doing my socialist book club I made sure to take notes on the readings.
Not only do notes allow you to look back over what you thought about when you read it, taking notes is scientifically proven to help retention even if you never look at them after you write them.
EDIT: Take notes IN the book too. Use the margins, highlight shit, put a sticky tab in there. Future you will thank you.
I've learned a huge amount from the Revolutions podcast, but I have to say that yes, a lot of the details fade. If I really wanted them to stick, I could take and review notes, but that would take more time. What I have instead are a lot of general threads, patterns, anecdotes that are particularly interesting or relevant to today's immediate conditions, cautionary tales, and a better understanding of the kinds of people that live through a revolution.