What was that book about again?

Every week, my son has trouble coming up with a book to use for his reading homework. And this baffled me. I mean, he is always reading. Sometimes, he is re-reading a book that I saw him read the week before. And, I ask him questions about the things that he reads, so I know he is really reading them.

But then I came across this article explaining why some people forget most of the books they read. Basically, because we binge entertainment - books, shows, podcasts - we don't continuously reference the information over time. So the plots only live in a working memory space, not our long-term storage.

Let's put it this way: There was some real value when you were told to read a book over several weeks and then discussed it as a class over time.

I binge read a lot of books, and I am trying to figure out why I don't have this problem. With the books I like - truly like - I have no trouble referencing the plot or the characters. Maybe it is because I often find myself thinking of those books later on and analyzing them in my head. I do the same with movies.

But, yes, I have also been in the situation in which I have completely forgotten the plot of a movie or a book, but those are usually ones that I didn't really like to start with.

But back to the homework thing.

I can't tell if my son has this issue yet or not - he devours books so quickly, I wonder if the details aren't making it to his long-term memory banks. And, if so, that would explain why he re-reads books.

Then again, I just asked him why he is re-reading Calvin and Hobbes for the upteenth time, and his response was, "I just like it."

Oh well. Maybe the real problem is that he would rather read his books then do homework on them.

Do you find that you are able to hold onto the details of the entertainment you devour? Tell me in the comments.