I suspect that football fans who know many statistics about games and players do not purposely sit down to memorize them. I bet they simply remember what they are interested in, more or less, without studying and without trying. Many of my days are connected to reading news articles, watching videos and listening to talks, online and in person. Many of the organizations and activities are titled "learning". I see references to "keep on learning", "the joy of learning" and "the importance of lifelong learning."
As I understand the way our brains work, we become aware of things automatically and some of those things register in our minds as important. We don't have to note that we didn't expect that to happen in the end of the novel. We didn't expect it and we got a surprise. If it was an impressive surprise, we will remember it. We might try to make a mental note to remember the name of the author and the title of the book but we might not think that is important.
I wonder if students who TRY to remember information do themselves a disservice and if teachers and presenters who urge their audiences to remember actually lower the amount of retention of material. My thought is that storing the idea in memory can probably be enhanced by concentrating right on the idea to be remembered. Even though in words, "remember this" and the fact or idea to be remembered seem highly related, the admonition and the fact can be very different items. It is going to be more valuable to say to yourself that "Annapolis is the capital of the state of Maryland" than to look at the fact in print and say to yourself "Remember that." This is another example of the value of a bit of relaxed concentration on what you actually want to do rather than giving yourself orders.
When I read, I try to pay attention to clever or insightful remarks made by the writer. I often ask myself if I would have thought of getting that information or writing about it in the intelligent way the writer has. When I come to an especially good part, something I might highlight if I were using a highlighting marker, I send that passage to Twitter. I think that the special attention, being on the lookout for worthy passages, increases my concentration and my attention.
My rule, as a retired reader, reading for pleasure, is to check from time to time to see if what I am reading is paying off. If so, keep reading, maybe a little faster if I am a bit bored or a little slower if the text is really good. If not, switch to something else.
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