Many people in our community read a lot of books.
And they wear their reading list as a badge of honour, like the more they read, the smarter they’re becoming.
That’s only partly true, and only sometimes.
There’s no optimum number of books to read, but maximising the returns on the time you spend doing it is essential.
Here’s my 3-point plan for getting more out of your literary consumption:
- Only read books you need to read. Identify a skills, knowledge or entertainment gap and use a book to fill it.
- Read without going back. Re-reading kills the absorption of information and slows you down like crazy.
- Pause at the end of each chapter and write a two-line summary from memory in your journal. You’ll create a mini-reference work to look back on
Since I’ve been following those steps, my actual book numbers have fallen, but I’ve had some stupendous revelations from the ones I’ve read.
Try it, and let me know how you get on.