I read this Atomic Habits in May 2020. I didn’t take any notes, I don’t really remember much about the book, but two years later when I look back I have had habits that I didn’t think I ever would. I have brushed and flossed my teeth every day since then, I have over a year streak in Duolingo, I read every day. I use to beat myself up for not remembering everything I read in a book. Maybe I should be trying harder to remember all the details of a book?
Perhaps when reading books where you are already confident in the material, reading acts to reformatting and regrouping your memory. Assuming memory is frequently triggered by other things what you do when you read a recap book is that you create triggers in a more central location so the book’s lessons will more easily be acted on. So reading the book didn’t generate any NEW ideas for me, so its harder to remember, but what it did was group the memories in a way that I can easily access them when thinking of neighboring ideas.
photo from https://boysandgirls.ie/news/atomic-habits/