Well, I love reading books ever since I was a kid.
If I had to choose which medium to consume for the rest of my life, I’d choose books.
Yet, reading is useless, and it didn’t change much in my life.
I used to read before bed, didn’t really mark anything relevant, and even if I did I would never revisit the things I thought were important to me.
I also used to summarize everything I’ve learned after reading – still never revisiting or using those insights.
So my understanding stayed the same except for some facts I could memorize.
Until I understood that your intention determines the quality of your reading.
What do you hope to get out of this book?
Does it remind you of anything else you’ve already seen?
Are you just reading it because the Self-Improvement Bros told you to?
If you want to make your reading meaningful and come to the same level of understanding as the author you don’t have to read, but study your books.
This starts with picking a book YOU want to study out of curiosity.
How to pick the ‘right’ book
Well, there is none. Don’t worry about picking the wrong one or reading something unknown.
It doesn’t even matter if it’s fiction or non-fiction.
The most impactful books I’ve read have always been stories I could relate to.
Your mind automatically connects the information in the book with your own situation.
You can trust this filter.
Fear of reading the wrong book always stems from comparison with other people or books.
But the lessons you need are already within yourself, books are just signposts to discovering them.
You are exactly where you need to be, on your unique journey and it matters way more that you are present while reading than what’s the exact book.
It’s your mind you are training, not the book.
Consciously decide whether you’re reading for entertainment or understanding.
I’m still reading for entertainment because that helps me to read more and to switch to something different when I have to get my motivation back on track.
How to approach a book
I’d recommend buying a physical copy of the book you want to study to have a better conversation with the author.
Yes, I’m taking dedicated time throughout my day, at my desk – not in bed, to have a conversation with the author.
And Im doing this simply by having a pen in my hand in case an idea strikes which I can then quickly scribble into the margins of the page.
You also want to underline the authors’ arguments so you can pick the book apart and better understand its structure.
You’re basically trying to build your own outline of the book.
It’s a necessity to understand the arguments so you can criticize or quote them in your own work.
But never stop reading a book because you don’t understand what the author is trying to tell you, that’s the best thing that can happen to you since there’s an obvious gap you can fill with learning more.
I’ve read a lot of books that I fully understood the second time around.
Approach hard books by skimming through them at first, speed reading some passages and just getting a big-picture understanding of the entire work before really taking the time to digest them.
Don’t love your books
I know this won’t sit well with some of you, but don’t love your books too much. Make them your own. Write in them, break their spine, put tabs into it, everything that helps your understanding.
Books aren’t some holy objects you put on a pedestal – absolutely demolish them.
The point is, while I’m reading, I’m at least equally as much writing.
At first, I’m writing straight into the book. As the space runs out or there’s a particularly interesting idea, I put them into my Obsidian Book-Note.
There are a few simple instructions to guide me through it.
I won’t flesh out the ideas immediately, but it’s a place to archive the most important insights. If similar ideas appear as I work through the book, that’s when I get into writing essays or whole video scripts about a topic.
Obsidian (My note-taking app of choice) is brilliant because I’m able to connect different books and notes with each other to strengthen my understanding even further.
The more notes, the bigger your web of ideas that all relate to each other. And the easier and faster your research process.
Quick-Hit Bottlenecks
As you can see, studying books is intense and takes a lot of time but It’s a non-negotiable if you want to take your learning to the next level.
To give you an easy-to-follow checklist for your reading, use this summary.
- Pick a book that spikes your curiosity
- Skim through the book, and determine if you’re reading for entertainment or understanding (This also tells you how fast to get through the book)
- Have a conversation with the author – make the book your own, write into the margins or a book template.
- Underline the arguments of the author to build your own outline
- Reflect on the book by filling out the template and connecting it with other books or topics you’ve already worked with (if there’s any)
- Figure out what you can apply to your own life
- Teach it to others to profit from the Feynman Technique. (YouTube Videos in my case, but you can also talk to yourself.)
After all of this, there’s a pretty good chance you understood the book, and even if not that’s great because there probably is infinite re-readability so you can keep learning from it in every single phase of your life.
This is the exact system I’m using. This Video serves as a quick overview. If you’re interested in my Obsidian Workflow and Templates let me know in the comments below.
I kiss your heart