[throwaway_isms]

It may sound ridiculous but I always thought I was a good reader, a tad slow but really good with comprehensions/recollection.

Then I went to law school and ever since I have said tongue-in-cheek I didn't know how to read until law school. I terms of recall, many classmates would highlight and write notes in the margins, but I would typically draw pictures of the case.

Coincidentally law school (at least my 1st year when I went) employed the Socratic method, it is certainly not everything regarding deep thinking or wisdom (probably nothing is a better teacher than experience itself) but it forces you to confront your own ideas, beliefs, and biases (good and bad). Lawyers are often the butt of jokes, and in most cases they deserve to be, but having insight into a wide breath of legal opinions spanning a few hundred years and the legal minds that wrote them does tend to reveal how shallow and poorly thought out most people's ideas are with respect to issues they feel so strongly about in the law (1st amendment rights, 2nd amendment), and its not even that I always disagree with someone's ultimate positions or conclusion, just how there is no meat on the bone.

I am not really sure how you might go about understanding my experience, but maybe you could find some law classes that have been recorded and put on youtube, find an are of the law you are interested and watch a few classes (1st Amendment, criminal law, torts, contracts might be good if they interest you)

[srckinase123]

Always been fascinated by the precision and logic of legal writing. Could you go into more detail on how you would take notes and process the information and encode it into long-term memory? And how someone can improve their reading comprehension and recall of dense texts.

[throwaway_isms]

There is a process all law students are taught when reading case law I.R.A.C. (pronounced like the County Iraq). It stands for Issues Rules Application Conclusion. So there was a method to the madness that was provided to us.

So those would be the types of things students highlight/annotate in the margins, whereas more than 50% of the time I would draw pictures. That said I don't think I have ever met anyone who says making notes or even rewriting what they read doesn't help them memorize it, of course memorizing isn't always the goal.

Coincidentally the school I went to was majority Hispanic so one day in my study group there was an interesting discussion about the language everyone thinks in, no one asked for obvious reasons, but what I found interesting was I realized I don't really think in words but images.

To each their own, but thinking in images and drawing pictures for notes went hand in hand with recalling a given case/case law when examining or issue spotting a given set of facts in the future. I think the take away is not to do as I do, but consider your biases, strengths, weaknesses and work on them accordingly and leverage them to your benefit, and don't be afraid to adjust your own strategies as your skillset develops.

I am lucky in that I have that natural curiosity that I see talked about a lot on HN, I might even go so far as to say I am passionate about learning in general.

[m463]

I will say law is an interesting juxtaposition between educated thinkers and human nature.