The Secret To Remembering 5 Times More Of What You Read

Picture this; you’ve finished a nonfiction book full of fascinating insights and wonderful ideas. But two weeks later, you can hardly remember anything. 

Statistically speaking, you’re not alone. Studies have shown that if you rely on reading to learn something new, your brain only retains 10% of new information. If this sounds like you, then you may be stuck at the top of what education experts call the “learning pyramid.” 

This educational model, first theorized in the 1960s, is used by experts to describe how much we learn from different types of study, with passive actions like reading and learning at the top and active methods at the base. 

If you’re stuck at the top of this pyramid, recalling only a fraction of what you learn, the Blinkist app can help you remember so much more.

A Book Explained in 15 Minutes

The Blinkist app shares powerful ideas from nonfiction books in bite-sized explainers you can read or listen to in about 15 minutes. There are 5,500 books to choose from across 27 categories, including psychology, history, and personal development.

Read and Listen With Blinkist To Remember 20%

Let’s start at the top of the Blinkist learning pyramid, where the app uses audio and visual content to help you remember more from what you learn. For instance, the Blinkist app offers explainer packs for thousands of nonfiction books across multiple exciting topics. Each explainer is provided in text format, so you can read (and re-read) the key ideas from a bestselling book. Then, take your learning to the next level and remember more with Blinkist audio explainers, each narrated by a professional voice-over artist.

By combining Blinkist’s audio and text explainers, you can maximize your learning potential and remember up to 30% more from what you learn. Plus, each Blinkist explainer is designed to be enjoyed in just a few minutes. This means you can read one passage and immediately listen to the accompanying audio to ensure each key idea never gets forgotten.

Reflect By Taking Notes And Remember 30%

Now, let’s descend toward the middle of the Blinkist learning pyramid, where more active study methods can help you remember even more. 

Taking notes is a tried and tested way of remembering more from what we learn. In fact, according to a recent study, just highlighting text in a book helps us remember it and recall it later. This is why Blinkist allows users to highlight important text from an explainer pack and share it instantly. So, you can save it for later or even spark a discussion with a friend. Highlighting saves time while re-rereading and could help you remember up to 50% more from what you learn.

Discuss With A Friend And Remember 50%

At the base of the Blinkist learning pyramid, more “active” methods of learning can help you remember so much more. According to education experts, discussions can help us recall as much as 70% more from what we learn. For this reason, Blinkist just added 2 more features to amplify your discussions and idea sharing. 

First, any premium user can share a book blink up to 5 times with anyone for free – no app needed. You simply hit share to send a text or email to anyone you like, and they can listen to it straight away.

Second, since Blinkist just had its 10-year birthday, they’re celebrating by gifting every new and existing user 1 additional account – yes,  2 premium accounts for the price of 1! Now, you can take your discussions to the next level with Blinkist Connect and give a whole account to your favorite person at no additional charge.

Experience – Most Users Remember 75% Through Making Real-life Changes

At the base of the learning pyramid, more of what we learn is remembered when we experience it for ourselves. To help us remember the core ideas from each explainer pack and present them in a way we can all understand, the Blinkist content uses real-life scenarios and examples scientifically proven to help us better retain information. 

Where relevant, Blinkist makes any advice relatable and easy to implement, so users can apply what they learn to their own life. In fact, in a survey of 3,500 users in the US, Blinkist found that 87.5% often make changes to their lives based on what they learn on the app.

Learn And Remember More From Expert Guides

Once you’ve read the explainer for a particular topic, listened to the audio version, highlighted the key parts, and discussed it with a friend, you can take your learning even further with Blinkist’s new expert guides. 

In these guides, experts like Dawn Madsen explain the key ideas and recommend explainer packs to give you a solid understanding of their topic. Each guide is an active learning journey with exercises to complete at key steps along the way. This means that for every new piece of information you learn, you have to use it in a way that is unique to you, boosting how much you remember in the process.

Remember More From What You Learn Today

So, you’ve seen how the Blinkist app can help you climb down the learning pyramid and remember more from what you learn. So, why not download it today? Then, start sharing what you know with friends and spark a discussion that you will remember for years.