I know what you mean. Like I said memories do fade. But this guy can't remember anything regarding any of the books he's claimed he's read or any of the languages he claims he used to speak.
You'd have to know the guy but you might know his type--complete bullshit artist.
He claims that before getting kicked out of the military that he had been selected for special forces. Oh and why did he get kicked out? According to him it was his "bitch of an ex-wife's fault" makin' trouble for him. Others who have known him since high school say the real reason he got kicked out was for beating his wife and other issues like DUI. I don't know all the details but he got himself kicked out of the military from what I heard.
He also looks down on those who are only single or double majors. You see he's a triple-major: math, physics, and electrical engineering. But that's not all he's going to get three PhD's in physics, math, and electrical engineering at MIT no less.
When we were all in calculus 1 together he was all talkin' shit about how he was going to blow the curve and that he'd have the top grade in the class. Dude got a fuckin' C. He's not an idiot but he's not as brilliant as he thinks he is.
He also claims to have had flashes of brilliance which are eerily similar to stories about well-known academics.
Specifically he claims to have figured out how to easily add the sum 1 + 2 + .... + 100. His story is suspiciously similar to that of Gauss who is said to have done this at a young age. In case you're not familiar with math, Gauss is considered by many to be the greatest mathematician of all time and even historians doubt that this story of Gauss adding 1 to 100 ever actually happened.
He also claims that in his English class that his teacher was saying that although in the English language there are several examples of a double-negative being a positive that there are no examples of a double-positive being a negative to which he boldly replied, "Yeah yeah."
This story he told about himself he ripped off from this story about the American philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser (note: it's the first quote listed). And I will say this story is often told as a joke but he wasn't telling it as a joke, he was telling it as if it actually happened to him personally.
So yes people do forget books but this guy is totally full of it.