Cleaned out the attic last week.

[conuly]

Not me, though I did help a bit - Michelle and my mom.

We have a lot of books. Five or six or seven or more garbage bags were filled with unsalvageable books (due to various animals living up there and gnawing on them or worse), and that's nothing compared to the boxes filled up and hauled down, nor even the books that were downstairs from the start. (And don't get me started on the boxes upon boxes of books we donated to various schools from preschool up on through the eighth grade!)

We had two or three (or more) copies of several of these books (but not, by any means, most of these books) simply because as we lost one copy, we just went out and bought another. Why not? And as we're moving the tons (ton, anyway, and I don't consider that to be much of an exaggeration) of books, I happened to glance at a few of them that had fallen open. And most of the time, if I'd ever read that book more than, say, once (and I read almost all books more than once, eventually), I could recognize it on the basis of a few words. Half a sentence, tops.

It gets better. I see the cover of a book. I pause for a second, then I immediately recall the general gist of the story, three specific scenes, the year I bought it (I was twelve), and the fact that I've only read it two or three times because it wasn't a great book anyway. In fact, I'd forgotten all about it until I saw it.

...

All I can say is, if this is what I'm spending my memory on, it's no wonder I'm so bad at recalling names, faces, and my approximate location in space.

I'm talking literally thousands of books I've read in my lifetime (well, some of them were pretty short), and though the sample I spontaneously remembered whole plotlines of wasn't nearly large enough to qualify as a representitive sample - that's a nifty little parlor trick I've got going on here.

Comments

I can do that too.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

And I'm terrible at names and faces. (?)

But yeah, I own literally thousands of books, I've read thousands more that I no longer own or checked out from libraries, and I can recite short passages from books that I haven't seen since the school library got rid of them when I was in fourth grade.

Funny thing, the human mind, isn't it?

[adina77.livejournal.com]

I am determined to stop by this weekend and I hope the weather will cooporate and I am not sleeping a whole day.

Plus I need to remember the keys. I keep forgetting them ever since I put everything on separate keychains.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Hey Amy,

Could you do me a big favor and make sure to bring Connie's laptop this weekend? I have someone to fix it but I need to get it back. My mom has my number if you want to set a time up. Thanks!

~Jenn

[adina77.livejournal.com]

Will do. Rob can fix it but his job has him there till late!

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I just really want to get it fixed ASAP because in the meantime my mom hasn't been able to get her laptop back from Connie LOL, and she needs her computer back so she can get her work done.

[adina77.livejournal.com]

::nods:: When I get home from work today, I'll mention it to him.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Listen, regardless of whether Rob fixed it or not, I NEED to get that computer back. It has been many months now. Please set a time when you can bring it over, or when I can come pick it up. Please email me at jennifer.felder AT claimscon.org with the address and your phone number and I will arrange a mutually convenient time to pick it up if you prefer.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I think most people are capable of tricks like this. It's just how that memory gets used really varies. When I was a child, I could easily pick out which comic books I'd read and which I hadn't out of the vast amounts. My brother couldn't do it quickly. He'd by duplicates and be annoyed at getting ones he'd read, and sometimes miss ones we hadn't. Since we liked the same comics, he liked having me there to sort through them. I could quickly go through huge masses sorting them.

When I was older, I dropped that info mainly, and had huge tracts of various musicals memorized.

Now, I mainly have fascinating facts, tidbits, and memories about countless people. My memory scares my partners. And that's now... my memory is bad; disability-issues.

But it's not just me or you. Lots of kids have a pet topic they know vast amount of facts about. I have a friend who knew stunning quantities of astronomy at, I dunno, around age 7. I knew a lot of dinosaur trivia. It's just not unusual to find a kid with a pet interest and more knowledge than most adults on it.

And yes, I wouldn't be at all surprised if most people use that memory for birthdays, appointments, social etiquette, etc. Although burr86, I think, has used his to have detailed and scary recall of LJ FAQs.

I can do that too.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

And I'm terrible at names and faces. (?)

But yeah, I own literally thousands of books, I've read thousands more that I no longer own or checked out from libraries, and I can recite short passages from books that I haven't seen since the school library got rid of them when I was in fourth grade.

Funny thing, the human mind, isn't it?

[adina77.livejournal.com]

I am determined to stop by this weekend and I hope the weather will cooporate and I am not sleeping a whole day.

Plus I need to remember the keys. I keep forgetting them ever since I put everything on separate keychains.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Hey Amy,

Could you do me a big favor and make sure to bring Connie's laptop this weekend? I have someone to fix it but I need to get it back. My mom has my number if you want to set a time up. Thanks!

~Jenn

[adina77.livejournal.com]

Will do. Rob can fix it but his job has him there till late!

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I just really want to get it fixed ASAP because in the meantime my mom hasn't been able to get her laptop back from Connie LOL, and she needs her computer back so she can get her work done.

[adina77.livejournal.com]

::nods:: When I get home from work today, I'll mention it to him.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Listen, regardless of whether Rob fixed it or not, I NEED to get that computer back. It has been many months now. Please set a time when you can bring it over, or when I can come pick it up. Please email me at jennifer.felder AT claimscon.org with the address and your phone number and I will arrange a mutually convenient time to pick it up if you prefer.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I think most people are capable of tricks like this. It's just how that memory gets used really varies. When I was a child, I could easily pick out which comic books I'd read and which I hadn't out of the vast amounts. My brother couldn't do it quickly. He'd by duplicates and be annoyed at getting ones he'd read, and sometimes miss ones we hadn't. Since we liked the same comics, he liked having me there to sort through them. I could quickly go through huge masses sorting them.

When I was older, I dropped that info mainly, and had huge tracts of various musicals memorized.

Now, I mainly have fascinating facts, tidbits, and memories about countless people. My memory scares my partners. And that's now... my memory is bad; disability-issues.

But it's not just me or you. Lots of kids have a pet topic they know vast amount of facts about. I have a friend who knew stunning quantities of astronomy at, I dunno, around age 7. I knew a lot of dinosaur trivia. It's just not unusual to find a kid with a pet interest and more knowledge than most adults on it.

And yes, I wouldn't be at all surprised if most people use that memory for birthdays, appointments, social etiquette, etc. Although burr86, I think, has used his to have detailed and scary recall of LJ FAQs.