1. Mediums of mnemonics 2. Mark(ing) books 3. My holy grail
I've done too much reading in my life to have nothing to show for it. Thousands of books and at least hundreds of millions of words, all reduced to a few names and sometimes not even that! It really sucks and I wish I'd had the foresight to write up my thoughts, both as a kid and as a teenager. In any case, my perspective both on landmark prose and MTL slop is forever lost.
:/
I really hate the idea of rereading things, it's basically the antithesis of what I stand for as a novelty seeker and reading some summary just doesn't cut it either. So then have I wasted *probably more than ten thousand hours reading? I don't think so. I wasn't completely accurate about reading summaries. Reading a summary certainly doesn't compare to reading the actual thing, unless... you've read the actual thing! It's a lot like a photograph, you can almost relive the moment and with some thought, what preceeded or succeded it. With no more than eight photos you can relive an entire day. Kind of like the memory orbs from Inside Out.
It really can't compare to the first time you read or experience something but it's a nice feeling. I see the counterpoints of living in the past and what not but I just can't stand the waste of both my past self's time and of all that residual memory. I suspect also that it's healthy brain-wise, a mental stretch if you will.
Okay, so how can we make these mnemonics? Most people don't really summarize books. Not wholly anyways, it's almost always just a blurb that gets you excited to actually read it. At least that is what I assume at my current brainstorm-y stage. Note that I want to create these mnemonics not just for fully fledged books, but also web novels, manga, manhwa, and everything else I've enjoyed enough to at least vaguely remember.
Given that this would take me forever to do fully and that I don't have the temporal capacity, this is clearly a task fit for an agent.
Agent building in progress.
... is a collection of all the media I've ever consumed, packed away into thoughtful mnemonic-like artifacts that can be quickly reingested, but also be analysed and interpreted into various insights about me. Things like overlap and perhaps some social element would probably help with these insights, while generally being cool and yielding network effects.
Example raw artifact:
I've just reread I sold my life for ten thousand yen per year. It's amazing. I had remembered it as being vaguely positive, but I could not have at all anticipated any of that. It's roughly 17 chapters, and covers such a great arc + a half in that time. I have to say the .5 chapters are really both fantastic and thought provoking. The first one revisits the preceeding chapter albeit from Miyagi's perspective and was a little odd and edgy but overall interesting. The second one concludes the whole series and it features two new characters, a dad and a daughter, in the sort of original premise. It's a completely different take that is also incredibly thought provoking, and almost answers, very well, the meta questions you'd initially have. The first half, from chapters 0-10 follow a pretty predictable doomer mindset you'd see in something like punpun, but over time you both get questions and answers and realize that it's far more layered than just reconnecting with MC's childhood soulmate. Of course the realization really sets in, and very sharply, but it's sort of alluded to in the first .5 chapter and also throughout with the sheer proportion of screen time, also I guess a rejection of the trope. I wouldn't say the prose is a strength, though this may be due to translations, and at times there are some slightly corny commentaries, even structurally it's kind of bizaare and unrealistic. And despite all of that, it was quite moving. I finished the whole thing in about two hours and fifteen minutes, tachi keeps track, so it runs about as long as a movie. I realized that I took a lot from it initially, even unknowingly, specifically with the folding of cranes, though I stopped doing this a few years ago, and a general appreciation for vending machines, though this has somewhat merged with my existing love of parks and trains. What I particularly like about it is that it asks those questions you have in the back of your head whilst also not leaning on it too hard as a crutch for depth, this was maybe the most realistic part to me. The main message for the latter half too about just doing things out of enjoyment, not caring what others think. Where I'm a little unsure is the very perfectly shaped ending, with her choice to also sell the rest of her lifespan. Admittedly, the reasoning behind the complete 180 in personality is relatively well explained throughout, but a lot of magic goes a long way in having her actually suddenly become visible and not be some illusion but I don't hate it. I guess this stamps out any fan theories, sort of like the last .5 presenting the alternate decision to the initial premise of choosing to sell your lifespan. I'd like maybe to see some other spin offs on each of the potential choices, e.g. selling health, but that doesn't make for as interesting a story I guess. [once ai gets advanced maybe give it a try] Given how fresh my thoughts are here in this paragraph you can probably tell I've mellowed down from the initial excite about it. Obviously, it is still great and certainly not every series moves hearts, especially in such little time. I guess I don't even have to give a rating, it should probably be inferred by semantics. No doubt I would recommend. I wonder how many new thoughts were derived from reading it, I think you can at least distill this paragraph into clear structural or otherwise technical insights though. Probably attach the screenshots too. I also listened to some music the MC was listening to while reading it which was a nice touch, though the algo moved quick. How nice.