I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0
Very interesting post on choosing books -> I Went from Reading 40 Books a Year to Reading 0
In short, the blog post author argues that reading more (especially non-fiction) can often be a form of procrastination, distraction, or performative status gaming. Gathering information can prevent action, which is where the big leaps of understanding come from. He’s shifted his approach –
This realization led me to shift the way I read books.
Instead of focusing on finishing a bunch of books on random topics, I focus on this:
Figure out the type of river I want to dip my toes in – i.e., find a topic I want to master and read materials related to this topic – and then figure out ways to implement what I’ve learned into my life.
For years, I was a “read and move on” reader.
I read books, and I quickly moved on to new ones without doing much with the information I’ve gathered.
Now, I try to be more a “read, study and implement” type of reader.
I pick a topic, find materials – not only books – on the decided topic, and I study them. By studying them, I don’t mean reading them only once. But going through them multiple times while taking notes and while trying to find ways to integrate the information gathered in my relationships, business, and daily routine in general.
The core concept here is to not move towards another topic until I feel confident that I’ve done enough updates in my life and/or business with the current topic.
I don’t know if I fully agree, but I absolutely think it’s true for a certain class of books. And instead of random “books to read” – I’m slowly shifting to more fiction and batch reading topics.
